Holder of Lightning

And he faced her now.

The Banrion's tsk was a torrent of cold water into the heat. Jenna and Aron both turned to her to find her shaking her head. "This won't do," she said.

"The Rl Ard would be laughing himself silly, seeing the Inishlanders at each other's throats as usual. This is exactly what he wants. It's time to set aside your grief, Brother. Are you planning to demand eraic of the First Holder? Well, she has no blood payment to give you and we need her as an ally."

"I don't need her at all, Sister," the man retorted, swinging around to her angrily. "It's you and the fools on the Comhairle who think that. We don't need her. The Rl Ard also knows his history and will recall that every army the Tuatha have sent here has been broken by the Inish. It-and, unlike you, I think it's no certainty, Aithne-the Rl Ard manages to get the tuatha to work as one and come against us, we will break them again-without Lamh Shabhala." His gaze flicked toward Jenna. "And don't trust the Order, which has already failed Inish Thuaidh by losing their clochs to the Tuatha. In fact, Sister, I find it interesting to note that it was within a few weeks after the clochs na thintri were stolen from the Order that the First Holder chose to open them."

"I knew nothing about that, Tiarna," Jenna told him. "And I didn't choose the timing of the Filleadh."

A sniff. The huge man pulled himself up to his full, towering height. "So you say, Holder. Yet if I were the Rl Ard. . how convenient for me that the First Holder would show herself to be a threat to the Riocha; that she would dare to kill a Banrion and destroy a keep; that she would then flee to Inish Thuaidh. Curious, too, that along the way the person sent to pursue her would be the very tiarna who shares a bed with her mam-and she just happens to defeat him publicly in her flight. Wouldn't it be tragic if during the battle Lamh Shabhala suddenly turned against us, as it was intended to do all along."

"This is insane," Jenna protested. "You're concocting a conspiracy where none exists."

Aron ignored Jenna, his voice riding over hers. "Why, if I wanted to create an outside threat to pull the Tuatha together just when they were starting to war among themselves, I could ask for nothing better. What does it cost, after all? Only the death of a sickly woman who would proba-bly die soon anyway of the consumption in her lungs, and whose husband already has the children which were all he ever wanted from her."

"Aron! "The rebuke was sharp. Aithne pushed herself up, the chair scraping back as she confronted him. "This is not why we came here. We were in agreement, we were going to put together a plan… "

Aron towered over his sister: a mountain standing before a wisp of cloud. "I listened to you once before, Sister, when you told me that it would be good for Inish Thuaidh and for Cianna to have her marry Ri Mallaghan. But I do agree with you that there’s a threat to Inish Thuaidh looming." He pointed at Jenna. "The threat stands there. I know that now. I came with you because I wanted to see her. I wanted to listen to her voice. I wanted to look into the eyes of the person who killed my child before I made my final judgment. Well, I’ve looked, and I’m not im-pressed. I see no remorse or sorrow in her gaze, and I tell you, Aithne, that if you go into battle expecting her aid, you will find yourself crushed between the cloudmages of the Tuatha in the front and Lamh Shabhala at your unprotected back-because that’s exactly what they plan for you to do."

Tiarna," Jenna said, her hands wide, "I’m sorry for what I did. Truly. I wish I could undo it, but-"

Aron spat, deliberately and loudly. The globule pooled on the wooden floor a scant fingertip from her feet. "I have no more to say to you, First Holder," he told Jenna. "I’ll give you the warning you were too cowardly to give poor Cianna. From this day forward, I am your enemy. Remember that" The door shivered and trembled on its hinges as it slammed shut be-hind the man. The sound rang in Jenna’s ears for long seconds.

Chapter 44: Juggling Possibilities

THAT evening, Rl MacBradaigh declared that the Feast of First Fruits would take place in three days.

"What," Jenna asked Ennis, "is the Feast of the First Fruits?"