Tullia seemed to find that funny.“Neither would I,” she snorted.“But everything has its time.Even the Grandfather Yew.”
“You knew?”Brynn blinked in realization.“You knew it had died?”
“Yes,” Tullia shot back, bitterness stinging in the words.“He cut down three of the Grandfather Yew’s offshoots late last summer.All for that ghastly ship he named after my mother.”
“Do you know about the monsters?”Brynn asked, a thought occurring to her.
Tullia locked her gaze on Brynn.“What monsters?”
How to tell this woman that her father’s actions were about to unleash the creatures of nightmares on Istra?On the whole island?The men sent to confirm Brynn and Hróarr’s report had still not returned.
“Ovrek is my friend.”As soon as the words were out, Cenric turned to Brynn.
Squeezing his hand, Brynn offered reassurance.
Brynn did not see Ovrek as a good man.He was an inseparable mix of generosity and greed, kindness and cruelty, vices and virtues balanced on a knife’s edge.From what Brynn had seen, Tullia was almost a mirrored reflection of him—neither good nor bad, complicated and simple all at once.
Tullia had claimed that she didn’t want Ovrek to invade Hylden, but what if she chose to lead an invasion herself?For that matter, what was to say that she would be the one to take control of Valdar, not one of the many jarls who had been Ovrek’s rivals?
“Ovrek has always dealt fairly with me,” Cenric continued.“I will not betray him.”
“Always?”Tullia’s brows rose at that.“My father has been desperately trying to find a woman with king’s blood for my little brother.Did you know that the night after you arrived, he discussed taking your wife for Tolvir?”
Brynn’s skin crawled at that, like pond scum had been poured down her back.
“Ovrek wouldn’t,” Cenric growled.“I’d kill him.”
“Now you’re getting it.”Tullia winked at him.
Cenric blanched.
“My father didn’t intend to rob you outright, just a forced trade.He meant to compensate you with me, I believe.”Tullia’s tone turned hard, bitterness creeping in at the edges of her words.
Cenric went very still.Something in Tullia’s allegations must have rung true.
Tullia made a dismissive gesture.“My mother was able to talk him out of it, but if he gets the idea into his head again, who knows?”
Brynn gripped Cenric’s arm to stop him from doing anything rash.They had only Tullia’s word for this.While they might not be able to trust Ovrek fully, this woman was trying to get them to murder her father.
“Before the wine,” Tullia repeated, stepping back.
“And if we don’t?”Cenric pressed.
Tullia shrugged.“Then take your chances with my father.”
“You’re not going to threaten us with retribution?”Cenric pressed.
“Why ever would I do that?”Tullia gazed across the water.“My father will never believe it if you tell him of this conversation.And I already have plans to deal with him if you do not.”Tullia turned once again to the pair of them.“But I like you, both of you.It’s maudlin, I know, but you seem to be in love.”Her gaze drifted down to their clasped hands before returning to their faces.“I’m risking much by offering this, but my offer stands.”
Brynn didn’t know what to say.Cenric remained silent at her side.
“Very well.Think on it.If you plan to throw yourselves on my father’s mercy, keep in mind he has very little.”Tullia smiled warmly, gesturing for her servants to follow her.She swaggered away, not looking back.
That left Brynn and Cenric alone on the beach with their dogs and the Valdari guards a few steps off, ignorant of what had just transpired.
Cenric stared ahead for a long moment.“Ovrek wouldn’t betray me like that,” he insisted, voice hard.“She has to be lying.”
Brynn squeezed his hand back, neither arguing nor agreeing.“She must have been the one who put Egill and his son up to their attempt.”
