Instead, she kept her face lowered, trying to hold back her emotions. The man she loved was leaving, and she would not see him again.
Inside, her heart ached with the loss. Though she desperately wanted to be with him, she would pay any price for his life. Raine would accompany Lady Aoife back to her husband, and Strongbow’s position with the Normans was well-respected. If anyone could free Raine from King Henry’s forces, it was he.
She heard Raine murmur his thanks to the High King, and then the crowds dissipated. Carice remained where she was, and her father came up behind her. “Let me take you back to your chamber.”
She glanced up for the High King’s permission, and he gave a nod. Her father picked her up, and she allowed him to carry her back. As she rested her face against his tunic, she felt a sense of the world closing in. She was indebted to the Ard-Righ, and if he demanded marriage, she could not refuse.
Her father slowed his pace and stopped for a moment. Carice could not tell why, but when she lifted her head, she saw Raine standing there. His green eyes met hers with the intensity of a man who loved her. The sight of him cut off any words she might have spoken. Tears gleamed in her eyes, but she sent him a silent message.
I love you.
He touched his fingers briefly to his lips before he turned away.
“The chief of Carrickmeath is here to see you, Your Grace,” the servant announced.
Brodie Faoilin raised a knee in deference to the High King. Rory Ó Connor was standing at the top of a wooden raised platform to observe the land surrounding them. The winter air was warmer, and sun gleamed over the green hills of Tara. Brodie awaited permission to approach, and when it was given, he climbed the ladder up to the top of the platform. From here, they could see the grassy knolls covered with melting snow.
Ever since he’d left Carice’s side, his daughter hadn’t spoken. She had stared at the wall, curled up as if she wanted to die. Never had he seen such desolation on her face.
Although she had promised to go through with the marriage, it was clear that she didn’t want to live without the Norman soldier.
“Are you certain this is what you want?” he’d asked her.
“I would do anything to save Raine’s life. Even give him up.”
Brodie had tried to convince himself that she would get over the heartbreak, that she would learn to care for the High King. But the truth was, he knew her feelings too well. When he’d lost his wife in childbirth, he’d felt the same cold emptiness. And he’d have given his own life in her place, if it would have brought Saoirse back.
When an hour passed and his daughter hadn’t spoken, Brodie had spent time reconsidering the choices he’d made. Carice was all he had left, and he didn’t know how many years she had remaining. If he forced her to go through with this marriage, she would wither away and die of grief. And he didn’t want to lose her, too.
For that reason, he had decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I have come to offer compensation for my daughter,” Brodie began. “I will send a hundred cattle and fifty horses.”
Rory Ó Connor turned to face him. The man’s steel eyes were hard, as if he couldn’t bring himself to answer.
Brodie moved to stand beside the High King. “It is not only to apologize for my daughter’s actions...but also for the way I treated your son Killian.”
“I will expect you to give the cattle and horses to him, then,” Rory answered. “If your apology is real.”
The High King wasn’t going to make this any easier. But though Brodie had made many mistakes over the years, he believed it was possible to put them to rights. “If that is your wish.”
“You want me to let your daughter go, don’t you?” Rory said at last.
Brodie moved to stand by a railing and rested his hands upon it. “There was a time when I would have done anything to arrange a marriage between the two of you. What father would not want his daughter to be High Queen of Éireann?” He looked away toward the landscape. “But that is not what she wants.”
“She wants the Norman soldier, doesn’t she?” The High King’s voice was grim, and Brodie knew he had to tread carefully.
“I want to make amends, Your Grace. For everything.”
For a time, the Ard-Righ remained silent. It was all Brodie could do not to fill the space with pleading or offers for more. But this negotiation was for his daughter’s happiness.
“She would not have made a suitable bride for me,” Rory conceded at last. “I will put an end to the betrothal, and you will take her home. But—” He turned and leveled a stare at Brodie. “—you will tell her that it was Killian’s intervention. Let her believe thathecaused me to change my mind.”
The smug air upon the High King’s face was difficult to face, so Brodie turned his attention to the wooden platform. “So be it.”
Raine entered Carice’s chamber silently and saw her sitting in a chair facing the wall. Her back was to the door, and she didn’t seem to care that anyone had come inside.
The emerald gown she wore had slid against one shoulder, and Raine longed to touch his mouth to the bared spot. Hecould hardly move for fear that all of this would disappear, like awakening from a dream.
