“Brynn.”Cenric cradled her face in his hands.“You don’t have to do this.”
Brynn sniffled, still fighting tears, but she smiled.“I love you,” she whispered softly.“I would do this and worse.”
“You would become a traitor to your king?”
“I have been loyal to my king for as long as I could remember,” Brynn whispered.“And I lost everyone.”She rested her hands over his.“If betraying my uncle, my whole country, is the price of keeping you, then…Eponine forgive me, but I will do it.”Brynn would be pragmatic enough to know they couldn’t repel an attack from several thousand Valdari.Not even with his thanes and her significant power.
Cenric wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest.Brynn clung to him, nestling close against his heart.
He had been so certain he should swear to Ovrek just a few minutes ago.Ovrek was stronger than Aelgar.Ovrek was closer.Ovrek was familiar, someone he liked, and a man he trusted to be generous and fair.
It had been obvious that he should pledge himself and his people to Ovrek.There had just been the vague fear in the back of his mind that Brynn might not approve.
Now he knew that Brynn would be with him no matter what he did, that changed things.There was a weight to that.He had the fate of his entire country on his shoulders, but now Brynn’s trust, too.She was deferring to him, letting him decide.
And if he chose wrong, they would all pay for it.
Cenric held his wife and wished it had not come to this.But it had.There was nothing more to be done than to choose which king they would support, and which would be less likely to abandon them to the wrath of the other.
“I could live a thousand years and never earn you.”
Brynn let off a sound that might have been a laugh or a sob.
Cenric tucked her under his chin, breathing in her scent, savoring the feel of her in his arms.Sometimes he was still surprised that she was his.He was never going to have a wife better than her and that was something Ovrek would never understand.
“What are we going to do about the girl who’s been poisoned?”Brynn turned the subject back to the most pressing matter at hand.
Cenric shifted, feeling as if these twisted intrigues were ropes, tightening around him like a spring calf.
Brynn moved away from him to tilt her head up.
“We tell Ovrek.Then he won’t be able to claim you kept it from him if the secret comes out.I don’t know if we can accuse Tullia, though.”
Brynn bit her lip.“I just want to make sure he doesn’t blame the girl for anything.”
Of course, Brynn was worried about the girl.That was who she was.Cenric, for his part, was far more worried about Brynn.He didn’t know how Ovrek might react if something befell the concubine and Brynn was somehow implicated.
“We can try our best.”Cenric couldn’t control what Ovrek did once he had the information, but it would be bad if the king learned they’d kept it from them.“Are you ready?”
Brynn adjusted her shawl.He noticed that the silver cuff from last night was back on her arm.Good.
Cenric rested a hand on the small of her back, guiding her out of the tent.It would have been preferable to have Hróarr and Vana’s help with this, but he didn’t know where they were.
Brynn stayed close to him, almost clingy.Esa stood to go with them.
“Watch Guin,” Brynn told her.“I will be back soon.I hope.”
Cenric grasped his wife’s hand, knotting their fingers together.She clung to him tight, anxiety radiating through her.
The thrall from Tullia followed behind at a respectful distance.She’d probably been told not to leave Brynn’s side.
It was late in the day, the shadows lengthening and the sun sinking toward the western sea.It sent golden streaks across the water like rivers of fire.
As they drew near Ovrek’s household complex, servants rushed past them.Girls carried bundles of sticks and boys rolled barrels of ale toward the hall in preparation for tonight’s feast.
Ovrek would be in the main hall soon if he wasn’t already, so Cenric led Brynn in that direction.She stayed close to him, almost like she was trying to keep contact.
Another servant ran past them, this one a young girl.
