Dubh-Linn: A Novel of Viking Age Ireland (The Norsemen Saga Book 2) by James L. Nelson Read Free Book Online

stranger to such things. Indeed, she had endured dozens of them, but this was the first at which she was ostensibly the center of attention. Her previous wedding had been held at Gailenga, on the Leinster borderland, at the home of her husband, Donnchad Ua Ruairc. In the presence of the high king, Máel Sechnaill mac Ruanaid, and on Donnchad’s express orders, the rí túaithe who gathered for the royal wedding had all had been on their best behavior.
      This time, absent the intimidating presence of Máel Sechnaill, and with one of their own the bride-groom, the minor kings felt no such restraint. The space was loud with shouting, laughter, arguments. At the far end of the hall a huge fire burned in the hearth, warming the already warm room and filling it with a weird, undulating light.
      Sitting beside Brigit at the center of the head table, as poorly behaved as any of the rí túaithe , actually worse than most, was the groom, Conlaed uí Chennselaigh, a minor king from Ardsallagh, which was a minor kingdom to the north west of Tara. Brigit watched him chew – not a pleasant sight - then ducked aside as he hurled a chicken bone at one of the rí túaithe seated at the long table down the center of the hall. The bone bounced off the head of the intended target and the man looked up, furious, but then on seeing who had thrown it he laughed, a great guttural laugh, and Conlaed joined him.
      Oh, Dear God in Heaven, preserve me , Brigit prayed. But of all the rí túaithe Conlaed uí Chennselaigh was not the most objectionable, and indeed he had a number of attributes in his favor. He was young, certainly no more than ten years senior to Brigit, who was herself eighteen. He was good looking in a thick, muscular sort of way. His hair was blond and his eyes blue, which was important for Brigit’s purposes, and he was far too dim-witted to try anything as ill-considered as exercising any real authority. Indeed, he was too dim-witted to even wonder why the beautiful daughter of Máel Sechnaill mac Ruanaid, the most sought-after woman in Brega, would show this sudden interest in him.
      Brigit sighed, softly, as she watched her husband wipe mead from his chin with the sleeve of his tunic. It was her own weakness and stupidity, she knew, along with some damned bad luck, that had brought her to this place. But she was the daughter of Máel Sechnaill mac Ruanaid, descended from a long line of tough, sometimes brutal kings of Brega, men who did what they needed to do and did not agonize over it, and she would do the same. The past three months had been very instructive to Brigit. The scales had fallen from her eyes.
      And so she had taken uí Chennselaigh for husband. He was one of the only men she could count on. She could count on him to spend his days in hunting and drinking and gaming and silently blessing his good fortune. She could count on him to avoid any sort of official duties or responsibility, to actually be grateful to her for her willingness to oversee the running of Tara and the lands that fell under its influence. She could count on the men at arms under his command and the lands of his kingdom to now be hers. Conlaed would not involve himself in the struggle for power that Brigit could see coming between herself, Flann mac Conaing, and his sister Morrigan.
      This fight for control of the Kingdom of Brega would have been hard fought in any event, but now with the Crown of the Three Kingdoms sent to Tara, the stakes were higher by far. The crown was an ancient thing, how old no one knew, but it was rumored to have been crafted by the druids before the coming of the new faith. It was now held by the abbot of Glendalough, and it had not left that place in living memory. But ancient law decreed that the rí ruirech , the high king who was given the crown would be rí ruirech not just of Brega or Leinster or Mide, but of all three, until such time as the abbot called for the crown’s return.
      The Crown was to