“Good thing he has a son.”
“A toddler,” Selene corrected. “A child who will no doubt disappear the moment his father is dead.” Selene said it with morbid certainty. “You know how these things go.”
Brynn did know. Peace lasted as long as a king was alive. When he died, new contenders arose. Even men who had sworn to serve their ruler’s son would scramble for the right to be called king.
It was also custom to kill all the male relatives of the late king, just to be safe. That was what Brynn’s grandfather had done when he had seized power after Offa.
When Aelgar had risen to power after Brynn’s father, most people had been surprised the sickly brother had managed to draw enough support. There had been fighting across nearly every shire, except here in the north, it seemed.
Many aldermen and warlords had tried to subjugate their neighbors, to assert dominance and carve up a piece of Hylden for themselves, but the sorceresses had backed Aelgar. Thathad been enough. Kingmakers, they were called now, though butchers might have been more accurate.
The slaughter of the two hundred or so animals in the coming days would be nothing compared to the bloodshed Brynn had witnessed. She and the other sorceresses had carved a path of destruction through Aelgar’s enemies like threshers in a field. Never before had the sorceresses gone to war like that. Brynn hoped they never would again.
Most of Aelfwynn’s warrior women had died that day along the Cerin. They had paid for their loyalty in blood.
In exchange, Aelgar had agreed to find husbands for their daughters, sisters, and nieces among his thanes and aldermen. To honor them forever in his household and lands.
He had made good on his promises so far. All the same, he had been too happy to ship Brynn off to the farthest corner of his kingdom at her earliest request. She was a liability to him. Everyone knew it.
“You will find a new king,” Brynn answered, looking down at Guin. “I am sure there are volunteers. Every contender will be trying to win over the Istovari first.”
“Many of them now have Istovari wives,” Selene sighed. “It makes the situation delicate.”
“It is not my problem.” Brynn let those words hang along with the implication that her mother would have to deal with this alone.
“Torswald of Orland has made us a generous offer in return for our support. As soon as you get another child by Paega, you can marry Torswald instead.”
Brynn’s spine stiffened. “No.”
“Have you consummated this marriage yet?” Selene demanded.
“Of course,” Brynn snapped. As soon as the words were out, she wondered if she had said them too quickly.
Selene sniffed. “Don’t act so offended. It did take you years the first time.”
Brynn had to force her jaw to unclench. “You think a northern savage would leave his broodmare untouched?” She threw her mother’s words back in her face, knowing as well as her mother did that there was no way to prove Brynnhadn’tconsummated her marriage to Cenric.
Selene studied Brynn, brows raised. The silence lasted a moment too long, but Selene let the matter drop. “Your uncle is not long for this world, my dear. One way or another.”
“I said no.” Brynn’s jaw clamped down hard. “Keep me out of this.”
Selene stood, coming toward her daughter, a look of rapture on her face. “Torswald is willing to make you queen, Brynn. He will keep the title of alderman.”
Panic began to claw up her throat. It was happening. Her mother was trying to drag her into a scheme again. One that would entrap her for longer than a war, or the lifetime of a single broken old man. Brynn clung tighter to the puppy in her arms, the reminder of her new life in Ombra.
“Hylden does not have queens. We never have.” Not even the wives of kings took that title.
“That can change. Things can always change.” Selene’s eyes took on a feverish light. “Everything we have worked for, Brynn. Generations of planning, of seeing plans fall apart, of making new ones.”
Brynn shook her head. “I will not do it.”
“Do this for your people, child. For your family. Do this for your mother.”
“You wanted me to fight in the war, so I did. You wanted me to marry Paega, so I did. You wanted me to have a child by him, so I did.” Brynn almost choked on the words as memories bubbled up.
Paega had been impatient and rough.You asked for this,he had said,stop crying. At least he had gotten it over with quickly and they had only had to do it for a few months before she conceived.
Brynn knew the kind of appetites some women endured and maybe she was lucky, but she had never felt so. The pain of being unwanted was a sting that had never lessened.
