Page 48 of Oath of the Wolf
“Your woman is dead!And you’re planning to feast?”Tolvir cried, lunging toward his father.
Ovrek grabbed the boy by the back of his tunic, slamming him against the outside of the house.“One day, gods willing, you will be king, and when that day comes, I hope you have learned that kingship comes before everything.Everything.”Ovrek shoved his son aside, stepping from Gistrid’s longhouse.“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Tolvir fumed, fists clenched at his sides, but what could he do?His father was Ovrek Fork-Beard, unquestioned ruler of Valdar.
Sifma turned, hiding behind her veil as she faced the motionless corpse once again.
The king stormed away, two men following in his wake, the other two ready to escort Brynn back to the tent she and Cenric had been sharing.
Brynn held onto Cenric’s arm.“Be careful,” she pleaded.She was afraid, he could tell, but was she afraid for herself or him?Brynn might not understand the language, but she could probably guess what was happening.“Please.”
Cenric put an arm around Brynn.“Ovrek wants me to meet him in the main hall after this.”
Brynn touched his chest for just a moment.“Then you will go.”
“After I see you back to our tent and make sure you have your own servants.”Cenric hated everything about this.Everything.
Ovrek’s concubine was dead, Cenric’s wife was being implicated, and not even his old friend seemed willing to hear them out.As he walked back to their tents, shadowed by the guards, Cenric wondered why things always had to be so complicated.
Would Ovrek believe Cenric when he said that Tullia had poisoned Gistrid?Even if father and daughter were currently at odds, Ovrek had always been fond of her.Would he believe Cenric or assume they were desperate lies?
9
Brynn
Shehadbeentoolate.
Brynn had tried to warn Gistrid and her handmaidens.She had tried to do the right thing, but Gistrid must have been poisoned again right after Brynn left.Had Tullia decided she wanted Gistrid dead after all?
Gistrid might have been a self-serving, spoiled brat for all Brynn knew.It might have been true that she had wanted to use Ovrek.Brynn still didn’t think she deserved to die.
Cenric left Brynn with the two guards standing outside.She heard him growling to them in Valdari, probably threats.But she could protect herself from them.Neither wore armor and their tunics were made of wool.It would be easy for her to use spells to fell both men.
Brynn could fight her way out of this, but then what?Down the beach, their ship had been blocked off by two others.Daven and the rest of Cenric’s thanes had been “invited” to sup at the feast being held for the jarls’ men.It seemed they were all being watched.
Even if they could escape, Ovrek was about to invade Hylden.If he thought she had murdered his concubine, he would try to kill her.According to Cenric, they needed to give their allegiance to Ovrek to save Ombra, to save their own lives.
Brynn considered killing Ovrek, but quickly dismissed the idea.
Killing Ovrek would only create a power imbalance in Valdar.It might delay the invasion as men squabbled to carve up his kingdom.She doubted Tolvir had the skill or maturity to keep the kingdom in a unified whole.As for Tullia, she was too unpredictable, too unknown.Brynn had no idea if she had the support to seize control of Valdar and even if she did, she might turn out to be worse than Ovrek.
Even in Hylden, where rules for succession had been in place for generations, the death of a king was a bloody affair.Perhaps that discord would be isolated to Valdar, but it might not.For all Brynn knew, it might result in more raids and invasions into Ombra as men starving in the wake of the unrest tried to feed themselves and their families.
At the same time, another king might take Ovrek’s place, one just as set on conquering Hylden but without the fondness for Cenric this one had.Brynn did not know Valdari politics well enough to know if there might be another jarl powerful enough to do that.
At the very least, Tullia had known who poisoned Gistrid the first time, but had she been responsible for Gistrid’s ultimate death?Could someone else have done that?
Unsurprisingly, Tullia’s thrall had disappeared.That did not mean that Tullia was guilty, though.
Brynn stared into the glow of the hot coals in the small pit that served as a brazier, Guin’s head resting in her lap, snoring peacefully.
Assuming someone other than Tullia had poisoned Gistrid, who could have done it?
Gistrid had been poisoned when Istra was filled with people.More people than ever, it seemed.From what Ovrek said, jarls and all their attendants as well as farmers, fishermen, and everyone in between would be here from across the country.
It could be anyone.Anyone.
From what Brynn knew, Ovrek had been king for barely a decade.That was not nearly long enough for past grudges and wounds to be forgotten.
