Chapter 20
E very second of the morning dragged past like a nightmare. As Bethany prepared for her wedding, she felt like she was in a daze, only ever half awake. A group of maidservants had come to prepare her for the wedding. They dressed her in that bright red dress, tightening it around her waist with a gold-embroidered belt. They pinned up her hair and draped her in jewellery - a circlet on her head, bracelets on her arm all the way up to her elbows. They even added anklets above the delicate little slippers. Bethany felt almost like a doll, she stood so passively as they dressed her.
She nodded at her reflection in a small copper mirror. That blurred, golden woman looked as dreamlike as she felt. Intellectually, she knew she looked beautiful in this dress. Probably the best she had ever looked. But none of it felt real. It was as if she wore another woman’s body, as if she was trapped in someone else’s life. How could this really be happening? She still did not know what she should do, or even what was about to happen. Would Dubnus reveal the truth? Or would she find herself married to a king? Just a few days ago, Bethany had finally taken control of her own life when she left Lucan. It seemed that she’d lost that control almost as soon as she seized it. That damn time machine had brought her nothing but grief after all.
Still in a daze, she followed the maids up to the inauguration site. Someone would stay in the room to watch over Matthew, they told her.
Up here, by the footprint, she was supposed to stand beside Comgall as he was united with the kingdom as king. That was the entire point of the footprint - it allowed him to sink an inch or two into the living rock. To unite with the earth. Or so Bethany gathered from her half-hearted eavesdropping. No one had bothered telling her very much.
As Bethany took a step closer to the open space where Comgall would soon appear, she got her first sight of the footprint, now that the tent was gone. It startled her straight out of her strange, half-asleep state. Every inch of the carving hummed with power in a way it did not in the modern day. Bethany could sense it even when she closed her eyes, as if some force brushed up against her skin. She shivered.
No one greeted her or welcomed her to the site. It was as if she had become invisible. Surely, these people all knew who she was, but no one so much as acknowledged her presence. The maids stood behind her in silence, apparently with no purpose other than to make her look important. It only made her feel trapped.
The open area down below the rock began to fill up with people. No doubt everyone in Dunadd, and most of the surrounding countryside, wanted to watch the inauguration of their king. Everyone stared up at the footprint rock, high above them. Bethany hated sensing all those eyes on her. Combined with the uncanny sensation of the carving, she could barely control the shivers rippling over her skin.
At last, Comgall arrived. Bethany felt a strange mixture of fear and relief as his familiar face appeared through the crowd. His mother Maible and brother Tomás walked slowly behind him, all three of them splendidly dressed in rich colours, gold jewellery, and luxurious furs. Comgall acknowledged Bethany with a nod as he walked past her, but said nothing. His relatives did not even look at her.
Down below, hidden in the crowd, someone began beating a drum. The steady beat, deep and sonorous, sounded again and again, hypnotic and entrancing. Bethany found herself swaying slightly as Comgall took his first step towards the footprint. But the king’s frown only deepened with every drum beat. Something was wrong.
Then Bethany realised. Dubnus should be here. There could be no inauguration without the priest. Where was he?
Her stomach lurched. Oh, no . Not here. Not in front of everyone. Surely, he would not compromise Comgall’s inauguration like this.
But all her worst fears came true. A ripple of whispers spread through the crowd. Dubnus came pushing his way through until he stood at the base of the rock, gazing up at Comgall and Bethany with his arms flung wide. The drumming stopped.
“Greetings, my king, and apologies for my lateness,” he called up. Then he turned around to face the crowd. “Good people of Dunadd,” he called out, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “I regret to inform you that today’s inauguration must be postponed while another matter is dealt with.”
Bethany felt like she might faint. Her heart pounded so loudly in her ears that, for a moment, she thought the drumming had started again.
Dubnus stared up at her, a smile spreading across his face.
“The woman who stands beside the king is a fraud!” he shouted.
Gasps spread through the crowd in an ever-expanding ripple.
Please, let them laugh this off like last time . That was Bethany’s last hope.
But Dubnus’s smile did not falter, and no one laughed. Slowly, elegantly, he gestured to someone beside him. A slender, red-haired young woman stepped forwards, her head proudly lifted as she stared up at Comgall and Bethany.
“This woman,” Dubnus announced, his voice echoing around the rocks. “Is the real Princess Eithne.”