Catrin sniffled, her eyes reddening as tears threatened. She set down her cup, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t take it anymore,” she whispered, sniffling again. “She should have said something before the Fianna left!”
“Catrin,” Niamh placed her hand on the girl’s trembling shoulder, “I need you to tell me what happened. Start at the beginning.”
Niamh would havepreferred to leave Catrin to quietly sip her curative while her headache subsided. Instead, she had no choice but to bring Catrin along with her to Dallan, who insisted she also attend the meeting he called in the solar. Niamh had no doubt that the poor girl’s head ached from the strain of keeping such a secret. Hopefully, once they sorted this out she’d find some relief.
Well before midafternoon, the small solar at Thurles was packed, all the seats taken and a few folk standing. Catrin andNiamh sat while Dallan escorted Brona into the room. They had all met prior to decide how to handle the situation before summoning her to join. Cormac stood between the chairs and the blazing hearth, arms crossed over his chest. In spite of the seriousness of the meeting, Dallan winked at Niamh just as Cormac started to speak.
“Brona,” Cormac began once the queen had taken her seat. “Some new information regarding the attack came to light recently, and I had hoped you or your daughter might be able to help me sort it out.”
Niamh smiled encouragingly at Catrin, who looked as though she wanted to hide behind her chair. The girl’s face was paler than the first snow of winter.
“Oh?” Brona replied, sounding utterly disinterested.
“You and your late husband invited Aodh to visit Thurles, did you not?”
The queen’s eyebrows shot toward the ceiling, her lips twitching. “Wherever did you hear such a thing?”
“It matters not,” Cormac replied tightly. “What matters more is your reason for inviting him. Is it true that you intended to hold him captive through trickery, luring him here under the guise of a potential betrothal before turning on him?”
Brona’s face hardened. “I will not sit here and endure such spurious accusations.”
“You deny it, then? That the attack on Thurles was in fact an act of self-defense by Aodh?”
“Of course I deny it!”
Niamh couldn’t recall the last time she’d heard the queen raise her voice.
“We sent a messenger to Aodh, asking after the circumstances once we caught up to him,” Cormac told her. “We asked your household staff for their accounting of events. Weasked your fighting men who yet live. All told the same tale, that Aodh arrived peaceably days before the attack.”
Though Niamh knew he hadn’t done any of those things, she was grateful for Cormac’s efforts to cover up Catrin’s betrayal of her mother’s secret. The young princess had been sobbing by the time she related her tale to him, and he had promised to do his best to conceal her part in all of it.
“I admit,” Brona began cautiously, “that my husband and I had planned to capture Aodh and bring him to Brian as a gift. But Aodh had no knowledge of our intentions. He attacked without provocation.”
“On the contrary,” Cormac corrected her, “someone warned him the night prior, and from what I’ve heard your husband actually attempted to have him, an invited guest, taken prisoner.”
Catrin had begun her tale to Niamh with that bit—that she’d felt so badly at her family’s dishonorable betrayal that she had warned Aodh of their plans. Niamh could tell that Catrin’s obvious infatuation with Aodh played a large part in her decision as well.
Cormac didn’t wait for the queen to muster a response. “We must know the precise terms of the agreement you struck with him involving your daughter. Does he intend to marry her? Was it a betrothal?”
Though Niamh wasn’t as well-versed in the matters of noble marriages as Dallan, she knew that such an alliance made without Brian’s approval could wreak havoc on the kingdom. A match with Aodh, King of the Uí Neill, one of the nine kingdoms, needed Brian’s involvement.
“Aye,” Brona ground out. “But not to Aodh. He was taking her as a peace offering to Eochaid.”
A collective gasp filled the solar.
“You traded her to Ulidia?” Cormac’s voice wavered. “You know that man is a traitor, even to his own people.”
“And what choice did I have?” Brona replied. “Die alongside my daughters, or exchange one and end the bloodshed?”
“The bloodshedyoustarted,” Dallan reminded her.
“He wouldn’t have killed us,” Catrin muttered, her eyes fierce. “He would have killed you, mayhap, but not Cara and me. You traded her for your own life and you know it.”
“I gave her a choice!”
“I’ve heard enough,” Cormac declared over the increasingly tense conversation. “Brona, you will be confined to your quarters until Brian arrives to dispense judgment.Youare responsible for the deaths of your people and the endangerment of your daughter. Diarmid, Dallan, guard her door. I’ll send word for Brian.”
She watched Dallan’s handsome face grimace as he walked out of the solar behind Brona. Niamh knew the feeling all too well. She, too, could hardly wait for Brian to arrive so that he would be off guard duty and back in her arms.
