Her Heart's Desire by Merritt Allison

Author:Merritt, Allison [Merritt, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Demoiselle Books
Published: 2016-05-22T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Cyneburg tells me your wife is a beauty.”

Eoghann no more set foot outside the hut than Blanid spoke.

Her sightless eyes wandered over the frosty morning. “Is she with child yet?”

Forward. He grunted. “We hope. It's too soon to be certain. She may begin to suspect if her courses don't arrive as usual.” He knew little of a woman's time and didn't care to. He drew his mantle around his shoulders. “Shouldn't you be tucked away somewhere warm?”

Blanid snorted. “The cold steals the night's thoughts away from my head. It makes me gladder of the fire when I return to it. I endure winter's strengths to bring more appreciation to things I like better.”

He nodded, though she couldn't see it. “Many's the night I sat in the darkness and wished for a fire.” He glanced at the tumbled, scarred stone of his father's hall. “What happened after...”

“The Kentigern was murdered?”

“Aye.”

“Those of us fortunate enough to escape lingered in the forest a while. After the vikingrs, lesser thieves came to sift through the ashes and take whatever wasn't ruined. They didn't get much.” Blanid's white brows drew together. “There was talk of going south to Edinburgh or some other settlement, but we patched this rough village together instead. It's what the Kentigern would have wanted.”

“You think so?” Eoghann scuffed the toe of his shoe across the frozen mud. Diarmaid had believed their father would prefer them to ally with Cuthberht. “He was a hard man.”

“At times, though a leader must often be to protect what is his. It's a poor thing that your father died. There were rumors.” She pinched papery lips together.

“Of?”

Her thin eyelids slid over her sightless eyes.

“Diarmaid. And me.” He closed his eyes too. “We tried to win the country for the Saxons. Stood against Picts, Scots, and other Britons who dared defy us.”

“A reign of terror.” Disapproval rang in her tone.

The truth laid bare. Eoghann sucked in a breath of piercingly cold air. “Some would call it that.”

“But you?”

“I did as Diarmaid commanded. Was he not the Kentigern, whose orders should always be followed?”

“He never set foot here as such. Your brother was the Ironfist's dog through and through. Cairbre never waged war unless there was something to be gained from it. He seldom saw the use of fighting. Men respected him for the peace he allowed.”

“According to Diarmaid, we would seize control of Suibhne again. That was our intention. Suibhne and the Ironfist's armies.” They never stood a chance, not against a leader such as Hella.

“Your brother had the mind of a spoiled child.” Blanid rocked on her stump perch. “His life was taken from him and it ruined him as rain warps wood.”

“You shouldn't speak ill of your chief's son.” He couldn't keep the ice from his voice. “I am his blood.”

“Yes, my lord, but you saw it too. Diarmaid was no fit ruler for the subjects of Suibhne.”

“I would have followed him to my death.”

“Had he not tried to kill Ealasaid.” Blanid turned to face to him.

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