The child’s father let her go and the girl rushed up to Tullia, staring in awe at Tullia’s silver temple rings.
Tullia spoke to the little girl with one hand resting on the child’s back.
The girl reached for Tullia’s temple rings, her chubby hands grasping the shiny rings with their ornate beadwork headband.
The girl’s father and Tullia’s guards all gasped in unison, but Tullia only laughed.She unhooked her temple rings from her headband and handed them to the child, presenting them like a sweet treat.
The girl snatched them up, squealing.She threw herself at Tullia, embracing the noblewoman with glee.Tullia returned the embrace, clutching the girl’s small frame.
When the child finally rushed back to her father, he bowed, murmuring his thanks to Tullia.He humbly backed away, no doubt trying to disappear before his child asked for more of Tullia’s jewelry.
“I love children.”Tullia sighed as she watched the child toddle off with her prizes.
“You are quite generous, lady.”Brynn suspected both Tullia and Ovrek liked to be complimented.
“I had a little girl.”Tullia’s smile faded as the child disappeared into the crowd.“Such a pretty thing.She had a laugh bright as dawn and hair dark as my husband’s.”
“What was her name?”Brynn asked.
Tullia turned to Brynn.Her brow creased ever so slightly.“No one has asked me that.”
Brynn knew all too well.“My son’s name was Osbeorn.”
Understanding flickered across Tullia’s face.“I see.”The Valdari woman seemed to consider something for a long moment.“Idenna,” she said at length.“Her name was Idenna.”
“She sounds lovely.”
“She was.”Tullia finally stood once again.“But that’s the way of things, isn’t it?Little ones die because of fevers—or accidents or no reason at all.”Her mouth moved, but this time it was more of a grimace.“To be a woman is to bear children and to bear children is to lose them.”
Brynn wanted to argue with that but couldn’t.Most women would conceive at least once over their lifetime and most would bury at least one child.Brynn’s own mother had lost a daughter between her and her elder sister.It was so common that some parents would give a new child the same name as their dead older sibling.
Tullia seemed to shake herself, like she was shaking off the sadness of her daughter’s memory.“It’s best not to place too much hope in little ones and that’s what Gistrid has yet to learn.”
“How do you mean?”Brynn thought she had an idea, but she wanted to see how much Tullia would confirm.
“Even if she were to bear a son, it’s no guarantee.What’s more, it’s doubtful any son born now would be a man by the time my father dies.”Tullia canted her head.“But you know this, don’t you?”
“It sounds to me as if Gistrid is not a threat, then.”
“Well, not to me.”Tullia exhaled.“Though I would not mourn if she were to meet terrible misfortune.”
Brynn shifted awkwardly.She knew so little of this woman and the world she came from.It made her feel as if she was walking blind through a field, never knowing when she might fall into a ditch.“You are very honest, lady.”
“I am,” Tullia agreed.“At least with people who are my friends.”
Taking a chance, Brynn asked, “And Gistrid is not your friend?”
“She is not,” Tullia answered as the joy from her interaction with the child disappeared.“But she is of no concern to me.”
“I would prefer to be your friend, lady,” Brynn said honestly.
Tullia’s face broke into another grin—the one Ovrek seemed to have given both his children.“Good!I’m happy we understand each other.”
Brynn did not think she understood Tullia at all but chose not to say that.
8
Cenric
