“What if he retaliates and raids Dyflin?” Finn asked. “Would Sitric then expect Brian to send reinforcements?”
“That old bastard can’t get his arse onto a horse anymore and everyone knows it,” Diarmid said of the King of Ulaid.
“Even if he can,” Cormac remarked evenly, “it would be Sitric’s problem, as this is his undertaking. He’s simply requesting our support.”
“And, by extension, Brian’s,” Dallan added.
Broccan, Illadan, and Cormac exchanged glances. Coming to some sort of silent agreement, Broccan, leader of Brian’s armies, stepped forward. “When Sitric visited last, Brian asked him to raid into the north by sea.”
“Then why are we even discussing it?” Conan didn’t try to hide his exasperation.
Cormac shot him a look of disapproval. “Because Brian ordered Sitric, not the Fianna. We didn’t want to make such a decision without everyone’s involvement, for if we decide wrong, then we risk Brian’s censure. All of us.”
“And what would you do?” Diarmid asked his eldest brother.
“I would join him,” Cormac replied. “It would strengthen a tenuous alliance, perhaps even increasing our chances of getting him to agree to the marriage, and it would serve Brian’s purposes as we understand them at present. Even if we discover later that he has, by some odd stroke of luck, changed his relationship with Ulaid, he would understand why we made that choice.”
“And,” Illadan added with a sly smile, “we didn’t want to appear overeager. Sitric is our friend, and right now he is our ally, but we don’t want him to mistake us as serving him in any capacity.”
The men discussed the finer points of their decision to accompany Sitric on his raid, dressing and starting the walk back into town. Cormac grabbed Diarmid’s arm, the pair of them falling to the back of the group until a good distance separated them from the other Fianna.
“How are things going with the princess?” Cormac asked.
“Fine.” Diarmid looked to his brother, trying to gauge whether Cormac sensed his half-truth.
“You’ve been quieter than usual today,” Cormac observed lightly.
“Everyone has quiet days,” Diarmid hedged.
Cormac looked at him, his expression—as usual—gave nothing of his thoughts away. Diarmid always thought Cormac was wasted as a warrior. He could have been a druid, scholar, brehon, or king with his even temper and sharp mind. “Cara is as beautiful as the rumors say,” he said, watching Diarmid carefully as he spoke. “I imagine that, once she warms to someone, she could be quite likeable.”
“I’m not going to bed the princess,” Diarmid growled at his brother.
“I didn’t say you would.” Cormac glanced at the Fianna, who were now nearly out of sight over the crest of a small hill. “I merely meant that any sane man could easily grow frustrated in such a situation.”
“How is it,” Diarmid grumbled, “that you always know what everyone else is thinking, without hardly even speaking with them?”
“I observe,” Cormac replied. “You’d be amazed how much there is to be seen if you actually look for it.”
“Well, wise, watchful brother, do you have any suggestion for what I ought to do?”
“Were I you, I would consider losing the wager and finding a willing serving maid.”
Diarmid’s mouth fell open. “You, who gives me nothing but criticism over my leisure activities, are suggesting I recklessly take a woman to bed?”
Cormac smiled at him. “I am suggesting that perhaps now is not the best time for the wager. Your situation is akin to a man who, drinking too often and too deeply, has agreed not to drink. Only for his friends to deliver him an entire barrel of the finest ale. Few men could resist such temptation.”
Diarmid considered lying to his brother outright, telling him how wrong he was, that Diarmid had no desire for Carawhatsoever. But, for the first time he could recall, Cormac was offering him advice without judgment, genuinely trying to be helpful and understanding. They may not have had the best relationship in the past, but Diarmid saw an opportunity for the future.
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” Diarmid said at last.
Cormac put a hand on his shoulder as they walked. “We need you. Whatever you’re doing is working. for a little while longer, and if you really need to, we can figure out another way after that. And in the meantime, find yourself a pretty maid. I will personally pay your debt to those two, as I feel partially responsible for you losing the wager.”
Diarmid raised an eyebrow. “Partially?”
Cormac laughed. “And I’ll take you out for a drink.”
He could manage a few more meetings with Cara. It meant a great deal to his brother, who was counting on Diarmid, recruiting him for something meaningful for the first time in his life. He couldn’t let Cormac down.
