Page 55 of Oath of the Wolf
Ovrek whirled on Cenric.“Your wife has attacked my men.”
Cenric yanked his arm free of Hróarr’s grip.“They attacked her first.”He indicated Tolvir’s burns.“She could have killed them and the boy.She fled instead.”
Ovrek cursed heartily.He turned away, rubbing his beard.Ovrek was a clever man.He had to see that if Brynn had been a spy, she could have killed Ovrek, Tolvir, and all the powerful men here last night.
“Brynn didn’t kill the girl.”
Ovrek raised a hand, telling Cenric to drop it.“We will find this wife of yours and I will hear her explanation for myself.”
“I will find her.”
“No,” Ovrek barked.“You will remain here.”He jerked his chin toward Hróarr.“You will go.”
Cenric glared at his cousin.Hróarr had never liked Brynn.To him she was a sorceress and a Hyldish pureblood who would be their enemy soon, if she wasn’t already.
“Bring the sorceress back,” Ovrek ordered.“Alive.”
“And unharmed,” Cenric spat, glaring up at Hróarr.
Ovrek heaved a sigh.“Always something.”He turned away.“Cenric, with me.”
Cenric had to obey.He had come with just a handful of his thanes and Kalen, and the Valdari had successfully separated him from his men for the moment.Hróarr was on Ovrek’s side.
Brynn was somewhere out there in the dark, and Cenric had no idea where she was.She didn’t speak the language, and she didn’t know the land.A part of him was impressed that she had managed to slip away as she had.A larger part of him was worried.
Brynn?Snapper asked.He sent the impression of her scent.Guin was with her and Snapper could track them.
No,Cenric replied mentally.Not yet.He hesitated, considering his question carefully.Is Brynn hurt?Ask Guin.
Snapper cocked his head for a moment as if listening, then snorted.Brynn not hurt.
His wife’s puppy would not condescend to speaking with Cenric, but she did sometimes answer questions from him through Snapper.They must not be far if Guin and Snapper could still communicate.
“You and that sorceress will have a great deal of explaining to do,” Ovrek growled.
“We have explained everything,” Cenric argued.“We have told you the truth.”
“You believe that woman?”Ovrek saidwomanlike it was an obscenity.
“Yes.”Cenric didn’t see why that needed explaining.
Ovrek stopped, confronting Cenric face to face.He was taller, but not by as much as when Cenric had been a youth.“Listen to me,” he seethed, the words grinding out through his teeth, “you’re going to have to choose between being a jarl and being a lovestruck fool.You make yourself my enemy by siding with her.”
“Brynn is not your enemy.”Cenric tried to keep his temper in check, tried to bottle his frustration, rage, and sense of injustice.
A few hours ago, Cenric had been ready to give Ovrek his allegiance with Brynn’s full support.Why couldn’t the wool-headed old man see that?Cenric almost told him as much but kept those words to himself.They would only be taken as desperate promises now.
But if Ovrek wanted to be enemies, that could be arranged.Cenric wasn’t going to grovel and beg for this man’s approval.
So what if Morgi had sent him a warning?He would make sure not to face Ovrek on that particular beach.
“A Hyldish sorceress arrives in my city.The next day, she pays a visit to my concubine, then both she and my child die.”Ovrek loomed over Cenric.The torchlight cast his face in an amber glow, but Cenric was sure it must be reddening.“Who should I blame?Queen Sifma reports that no one else but herself and the usual servants saw the girl.How would you explain it?”
It seemed obvious to Cenric.Either Sifma and the servants or all of them were lying, but he doubted Ovrek would want to hear that.
Cenric bit back his outrage, jaw tight.“I see.”
Ovrek inhaled and exhaled slowly, probably composing himself with effort.“Hróarr will bring your wife back and then…” He trailed off, then seemed to change his mind about what to say.“Then we will get to the bottom of this.”
