“Daughter, we need to talk.”
“We are talking.” Brynn heaved up the bucket of water in her hands, pouring it into the stone trough running under the wooden fence.
On the other side, Edric along with most Cenric’s thanes and the men of the village worked to move the young cows into the pens.
Selene’s nostrils flared. “In private.”
Brynn glanced over to Gaitha and the other women currently at work carrying their own buckets up from the river. The cattlewould only be in the pens for a day or two until slaughter, but they would need water until then.
There was work to be done, and Brynn had to see to it all without Cenric’s help. Not only that, but her mother was proving persistent.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Brynn replied, picking up her bucket and heading back to the river. She raised her voice so Gaitha and the others could eavesdrop more easily. “And there is nothing you have to say to me that they can’t hear.”
Esa worked at carrying water just as Brynn did. The other women pretended not to listen, but Brynn caught their stares. She spotted Rowan among them, eyeing her with that narrow, suspicious stare. Brynn pitied Rowan. She truly did. She was starting to get an idea of just what Cenric put his women through.
“Brynn!” Selene flustered, lifting her skirts as she chased Brynn through the tall grass. “Why are you doing this? Are you trying to punish me?”
“How am I punishing you?” Brynn demanded. “I never asked you to be here.”
“Brynn.” Selene exhaled sharply, her first real sign of frustration all morning.
The woman had been relentless. Every time Brynn left the longhouse, Selene was there. She haunted her daughter’s steps, trying to persuade her of…something. Brynn still wasn’t sure what. She only knew it would involve her mother’s schemes, desires, and the plots of the Istovari Mothers.
Brynn came to the water’s edge and lowered her bucket beside several other women. The women watched Selene with raised brows, though none of them spoke.
Neirin hovered at Selene’s back, her faithful guard. At least Brynn’s mother wasn’t being followed by the twins today.
“You are the daughter of a king.” Selene crouched at Brynn’s side. “Yet you are here, fetching water for cows like a house girl.”
“What is your point?” Brynn drew up another load of water once again.
Brynn had told Cenric she was willing to work, and she had meant it. Anything to keep her from going back to Glasney.
“You are more than this.” Selene shook her head, seeming at a loss. “You were born for more than this.”
Brynn’s jaw tightened. Like a serpent, Selene had chosen the perfect time to strike. With one of the most brutal times for work out of the year and with Cenric gone, she was vulnerable.
“We can get this marriage annulled,” Selene whispered. “It’s only been a month. You can come with me and—”
“And what?” Brynn kept her attention on the path ahead, marching back to the water trough.
Selene made a frustrated sound. She jogged to keep up, her voice low. “Paega has agreed to take you back.”
More likely, Paega had said he wouldn’t stop Brynn returning, but finally she knew why Selene was here.
Brynn tipped her bucket into the trough that was now nearly half full. “Tell me,Mother,”Brynn spun on the woman. “Does the king know you are here?”
Selene gave Brynn a sharp look. “Paega is old, my girl. He probably won’t last much longer. You’ve kept him alive better than anyone expected.”
“Better thanyouexpected.” Brynn headed back toward the river. She had healed Paega’s ailments, treated his injuries without him ever once thanking her.
Selene walked after Brynn, probably looking like a fool to the onlookers. She had to hate that. Selene never liked being embarrassed. “This isn’t just about you,” Selene insisted. “Your marriage to Paega was a great thing for our people.”
When Brynn had married Paegafor the good of their people, she thought it was so that sorceresses could live in Glasney. Instead, her mother had made constant requests for resources. Gifts of grain, furs, linen, and sheep. The gifts had been requested for this sorceress, or that sorceress, and Brynn had happily obliged.
Glasney had been wealthy enough to afford it, but when they’d had a bad harvest two years ago and Brynn had not been able to send as much as her mother requested, they’d had their first real fight.
“Brynn, you can do nothing for us here,” Selene said.
