The room went still.
Aingeal looked at Reginald.
He had not moved. The arrow’s message might have been a sentence read over another man. Only his eyes had sharpened, fixed now on the map spread across the table.
“What do you see?” she asked.
At once, every face turned toward him.
Reginald came forward only when she gave the smallest nod. He did not touch the map until Tomas shifted aside and made room. He pointed to the western holdings. “The offer is not meant to be accepted.”
Seamus barked a humorless laugh. “Then why make it?”
“To divide the room.” Reginald’s finger moved to the north ridge. “If you cast me out, you lose my eye and prove the scandal can command you. If you keep me, Mael Ruadh has his excuse to gather men beneath a holy grievance.”
Aingeal felt the cold clarity of it.
Tomas whispered, “Either choice feeds him.”
“Unless we make a third,” Aingeal said.
Reginald looked at her then, and something passed between them.
“We send answer?” Brennach asked.
“Yes,” Aingeal said. “Not apology. Not defense.”
Father Cillian leaned forward. “Then what?”
Aingeal rested both hands on the table. “Invitation.”
Seamus stared. “To Mael Ruadh?”
“To every man he hopes to sway.” Her voice steadied as the shape of it formed. “At noon tomorrow, I will hear his grievance before witnesses. Let him come beneath safe conduct with two men only and let the neighboring landholders come hear whether this is zeal for God or hunger for my borders.”
Tomas’s brows lifted. “You would draw them here?”
“I would draw them into daylight.”
Reginald’s gaze stayed on the map. “He may refuse.”
“Then he looks afraid to speak openly.”
“He may accept and use the hall against you.”
“Then he enters my hall.”
That drew the faintest movement at the corner of Brennach’s mouth.
Seamus did not smile. “And while we polish words for guests, he moves men through the marsh.”
“Yes,” Reginald said.
The agreement made Seamus turn sharply.
Reginald pointed to the eastern causeway. “The parley is smoke. The real strike comes while the lords gather, or while the castle’s attention turns inward. He will expect you to keep your strength at the gate for show.”
“So what do we do?” Tomas asked.
