Gawen stirred to anger. “Ye will no’ speak that word to me. Am I no’ only your father, but your chief? Have ye no’ sworn fealty to me?”
Adair had, not long after he turned thirteen. But that had been a formality, one that had not affected him overmuch. He had two older brothers to serve and carry the duties required.
“I—am no good, Father, at negotiating. I will be no use in Dalriada.” That dark land over the water that could be glimpsed from Erin on a clear, beautiful day. A place of risk and danger.
“Ye will be of every use.”For the first time in your life, so Gawen’s tone implied.
It made Adair flush with something akin to shame. “If Kendrick has denied Baen—no mean talker in his own right—and Daerg, who has a stake in Alba, why should he listen to me?”
“Because ye will not come at him with demand. Ye will come in kinship. Make him see ye in a good light. Tell him ye wish to stay there in Alba.”
“Stay? Ye are sending me awa’ for good?”
“To be sure, not. ’Tis Daerg who will go there to hold those lands for me. But ye can win Kendrick over, see. Make him think ye are the one who wishes to stay.” Gawen’s gaze flicked over Adair, not without a measure of disdain. “He will see no harm in ye.”
“But—” Dismay swept through Adair, full and strong. “I cannot leave here.” The land of his ancestors. He lived for Erin, his bones the rock of this place, the waters his blood. Each breath he took, the kindly breeze. How could he make his father understand that?
“Ye can and ye will.” Gawen once more rose from his chair. “Mayhap ’tis my own fault. Ye were so young when your mother died. Little more than a babe, and wi’ the look o’ her about ye. I found it hard to discipline ye the way I should, though, by the gods, I was firm enough wi’ your brothers. Adair, ye will do this thing. Go and pack your belongings. Be ready to leave by dawn.”
Adair stared at his father, aghast. “So soon?”
“The season is upon us; there is no time to waste. Baen does not know it yet, but I ha’ negotiated for him a fine marriage that will expand our holdings here. He will one day be a powerful chief in Erin. Daerg’s holdings must be secured as well.”
His gaze once more flicked over Adair. “When ye have secured Daerg’s claim in Alba, ye can come home.”
“And if I too fail?”
“Ye will no’.”
How could he be so certain?
As if he’d heard the question, Gawen leaned closer. “Ye will no’ fail as your brothers have done. And ye will no’ come home till ye have secured our portion of those lands.”
Chapter Two
Adair found hisbrother, Daerg, in his own quarters, sitting on the floor with a jug of ale beside his knee.
It had taken him some time to chase Daerg down. No one had seen him, which seemed strange. If he, Adair, had been away a matter of months, the first thing he would do was visit all his friends. But the fellows in the warriors’ hall had no idea where Daerg might be.
At last a young serving girl said she’d taken him a jug of heather ale at his quarters.
Daerg, clearly sunk into an unsounded depth of misery, barely glanced up when Adair came in. So dim was the chamber, it tamed the fire of Daerg’s flaming red hair and beard and washed his complexion to gray.
Adair hunkered down next to him, noting that Daerg still wore the stained and crumpled clothing in which he must have traveled. He’d come to his brother for information. Now concern moved to the fore.
“Brother, are ye unwell?”
They were not close, the three brothers—not so much as it might seem they should be. Too different in spirit, perhaps, for that. Yet Adair could not behold such misery without striving to lift it.
Daerg did not speak, merely tucked his head down more closely between his shoulders and squeezed his eyes closed, the gestures of a man shutting out the world.
“Come now, Daerg, it cannot be all that bad.” Daerg, after all, had come home, while Adair faced leaving Erin, the place of his heart.
Perhaps, aye, Adair should be angry with Daerg for his failure to secure his own lands. If he’d succeeded, after all, Adair would not have to take up this unwelcome duty.
“Speak to me,” he urged, sitting on the floor beside his brother.
“I ha’ failed Father.”
