Chapter 7 Brynn #2
“I see,” Tullia muttered, all traces of her former humor gone. “My father taught me. I helped teach the boys in my father’s army. Before Tolvir was born, he took me everywhere. Called me his little shadow.”
“My husband holds you in high regard,” Brynn added hurriedly. She didn’t want Tullia angry with Cenric. “I’d never heard of Berdun, either.”
In truth, they hadn’t discussed war overmuch in the past seven months of their marriage.
Their life had been filled with the slow season of winter, then the hurried preparations through the lean spring months.
It had been easy to forget for a time who they were, and that politics would always find them. For a few months, Brynn enjoyed peace.
“You’re quite fond of him,” Tullia noted, changing the subject. She seemed to do that frequently, ploughing hard into one topic and then equally hard into another the next moment.
“I am,” Brynn conceded.
“You chose to marry him?”
Brynn inclined her head. “I did. I am very happy with him.”
Tullia made an interested sound at that. “Is he a good husband?”
“Very good.” Brynn allowed herself to smile.
Tullia snorted. “Though I suppose you haven’t known anything different.”
Brynn almost corrected Tullia, but she didn’t want to argue.
They had reached the large field set with tents and wagons. Most of the attendants of the Althing had arrived by ship, but some had come over land.
Valdari voices chattered in all directions as men and women bartered.
The peak of the Valdari trading season was happening before their eyes.
Woodsmoke filled the air along with the scent of cooking meat.
A short, stocky horse was led past, pulling a cart piled with furs and a gaggle of children riding on top.
People bowed to Tullia, clearly recognizing her. She acknowledged only a few, but even if she had wanted to acknowledge all of them, it would have been impossible.
Tullia seemed prepared to drop the subject of Cenric, but Brynn felt the need to defend him, if indeed he was being attacked.
“Cenric is a good man.” Brynn hoped that would make her point without directly contradicting the other woman.
“He’s young,” Tullia replied. “Especially for an alderman.”
Brynn demurred. “We are of an age.”
Tullia seemed to consider that for a long moment, as if she’d never seen a man’s youth as a good thing. “Wouldn’t you prefer a more accomplished man?”
Brynn was no longer sure about the point of this conversation. “I am sure Cenric will accomplish much yet.”
“I suppose so. I wouldn’t have married him myself, but I’m sure you had your reasons.” Tullia sounded as if she couldn’t imagine what those reasons might have been.
Brynn didn’t want to defend her choice of husband, nor did she want to try to convince Tullia of Cenric’s virtues, so she remained silent.
“Gistrid was betrothed to my brother last autumn. Did you know that?” Tullia cast Brynn a pointed look.
She must know Brynn had been to see Gistrid and who had been with her.
“They were inseparable for a time, should have been married by now, but come spring, Gistrid and her kinsmen had grown more ambitious.”
“I did not know that.” Brynn knew next to nothing about these people, though she did now recall Vana had said something about Tolvir’s wedding and that it had been called off.
“Little whore wanted to marry my father instead.” Tullia scoffed at that. “But even though she refuses to look at him now, the fool boy is still besotted.”
That might explain why Tolvir had been the one to ask for Brynn’s help.
“Not that I blame her entirely,” Tullia admitted. “My brother is a waste of good air. He wouldn’t last a week without my mother to protect him.”
Brynn chose not to comment. She could think of several practical reasons why Gistrid might want to marry a current king over a potential future king, especially when Ovrek was the first and the Valdari had still not decided on their manner of succession.
“My father wouldn’t let Gistrid have the title of wife.
” Tullia smiled humorlessly. “Out of respect for my mother, you see.” She kept her gaze ahead.
“But he offered Gistrid concubinage instead and the little bitch accepted. Hopes to get a son so she’ll secure her position after my father’s death.
As if the man won’t outlive us all for spite.
” Tullia tossed back her head with a bitter laugh.
“She just wants to use my father. And both my parents let her. She’s like a seagull fighting for scraps of my father’s legacy. ”
That was not so different from what someone had once said about Brynn.
Brynn had been just a few weeks from the birth of her son when she had overhead her first husband, drunk and angry, ranting to one of his thanes about her.
A whore, Paega had called her. A little vulture just waiting to claim his lands and wealth, who had only wanted a baby to make sure she held onto them after his death.
“If the gods are just, she’ll die screaming in childbirth,” Paega had sneered.
“It would serve her right.” When Paega had thrown open the door and seen Brynn there, they both froze in shock.
Paega was the first to speak. “Brynn,” he had slurred, “you weren’t supposed to hear that.
” It was the one time he’d ever expressed anything like regret toward her.
Brynn had mostly stopped shedding tears over him by that point, but she had sobbed herself to sleep that night. To this day, she didn’t understand why Paega hated her so much.
Tullia shrugged as if none of it mattered. “I didn’t realize pennyroyal could be so devastating.”
“What?” Brynn wasn’t sure she had heard correctly.
Pennyroyal—used to repel fleas, cure some skin ailments, and induce miscarriage. It could also be highly poisonous.
“It’s nothing.” Had Tullia just confessed to poisoning Gistrid? “I had the chance to buy this one eunuch skilled in apothecary last summer. I should have bought him. My mother could use the help, I think.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Brynn asked softly. “I don’t understand.”
“Because you have a great deal of power, but no friends in Valdar, and you want what I want.”
No friends? That stung, but Brynn supposed it was true. Vana and Hróarr only tolerated her for the sake of Cenric.
“What is it that we want?” Brynn asked.
“To stop a Valdari invasion of Hylden.”
Brynn inhaled sharply before she could stop herself.
“Don’t act surprised. You’re clever enough to know that’s what’s coming. You think Ovrek built all those ships for trade?”
Brynn was close to the fire now. She needed to be careful lest she was burned. “Why would you want to stop that?” Brynn would expect Tullia would support the expansion of Ovrek’s domain.
“Any army led by my father now will be cursed.” Tullia watched two boys drag a pig along by a rope.
“What makes you say that?” Brynn tried not to sound too curious, but the certainty in Tullia’s voice was hard to miss.
“My father was too long abroad, I fear. The ways of the south have clouded his judgment.”
Brynn continued to walk beside the other woman, sensing that Tullia was choosing her words carefully.
“He has forgotten the honor due our ancestors, in particular the First of Fathers.”
Brynn remained silent. She didn’t know enough about the ways of Valdar to understand what that might mean.
“My husband confronted my father about his profanities.” Tullia’s tone turned icy, as if she was fighting to keep every hint of emotion from her voice.
“Ovrek did not care for it.” Tullia pointed to Lena.
“He plans to invade your country. He plans to burn your farms and make your sorceresses thralls.”
So, Tullia did know.
“He is doomed, but that does not mean he cannot do great harm to you and your people before the wrath of Havnar takes its course. It is in all our best interest to stop him.”
“I am not sure what I can do,” Brynn answered honestly.
“Neither am I,” Tullia admitted. “Not yet.”
A girl with wispy curls toddled along beside her father. She was still young enough to show her bare calves. Her dark brown tunic had been carefully and subtly repaired many times, but Brynn could see the signs.
The child stared with wide eyes at the sight of Tullia, tugging on her father’s sleeve. “Da!” the child cried. “Da!” She pointed furiously at Tullia, eyes wide in awe. She spoke a string of excited Valdari.
The child’s father tried to shush her, tugging her along. He ducked his head in apology to Tullia.
Tullia stepped forward, speaking reassuringly in Valdari. She dropped into a crouch, beckoning the child to her.
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.