"Do not be cruel, Brys! Madoc has never harmed you," Nesta said.
Brys of Cai turned his eyes to his younger sister. "I came to see you wed last winter, but he would not let me in, Nesta. Did you know that Madoc kept me from your wedding?"
"I knew!" she said furiously. "I thanked him for it! You bring evil with you, Brys. It clings to your robes like the stink of a cow byre. You did not come to do Madoc and Wynne honor. You came to make trouble. If you are as honest as you claim, then wish them well and go back to Cai! You are not wanted here!"
"Such passion," Brys of Cai said softly. "I always knew you had passion, sister mine. I will not return to Cai, however, until after the wedding. If it displeases you so, I will not perform the ceremony, Madoc. But I will remain."
Madoc's look was a black one, but Wynne gently pressed warning fingers into his arm, and he threw her a despairing look of agreement.
"How politic the blushing bride is," Brys noted. "Are you a peacemaker then, lady?"
"Nay, my lord bishop I am a realist, however, and I can see you have come to sow discord as Nesta accuses you. Whatever difficulties you three siblings have encountered over the years, I am not a part of it. I will not allow you to spoil my wedding. Swear to me upon that cross you show so ostentatiously upon your chest that you will not ruin this happy time for us."
"And if I do not swear?" he mocked her. "What will you do, Wynne of Gwernach?"
"I will give orders to have you escorted from Raven's Rock no matter the scandal," Wynne told him firmly.
Brys of Cai laughed. "I believe you would, lady," he said. "Very well, I swear upon the Holy Cross upon which our Lord died that I will keep the peace during these festivities, but not a moment thereafter." He chuckled. "My brother, Madoc's marriage is something I never thought to witness. I should not like to miss it."
"Come join us at the high board then, my lord bishop, and tell me why," Wynne replied, and then turned to Dewi. "Will you give up your place to the bishop of Cai, brother?" The boy nodded, and Wynne instructed a servant, "Bring another chair for the lord of Gwernach."
Brys of Cai took his place next to Wynne and, having accepted a goblet of wine from another servant, said, "Do you not know of the reputation enjoyed by the princes of Wenwyn-wyn, lady? I would think a virtuous Christian maiden fearful of marrying into such a house."
"I do not believe in the nonsense mouthed by ignorant fools about Madoc and his family. I have known nothing but kindness from him. Besides, I am considered a healer among the people of Gwernach, and healers are frequently the subject of gossip."
"Do you speak sorcery, lady?" Brys of Cai purred in dulcet tones. His blue eyes glittered.
"I speak of herbs and healing, my lord bishop. I speak of medicine."
"Women should not be healers, lady," was the blunt answer.
"Why not?" Wynne demanded, the anger in her voice barely restrained.
"It is not a Christian thing, lady," he said. "Women have been given the task of bearing new life. That and the care of their families should be their sole interest."
"Does the family of a great lord not include all within his care?" Wynne said sweetly. "Does not care of one's family include ministering to their ills and healing them of sickness?"
"You are clever for a woman, Wynne of Gwernach," Brys told her. "Perhaps you are too clever. It is never wise to be too clever."
"Do not threaten me, my lord bishop," Wynne replied in low, even tones. "I do not fear you. I know all about you. Far more than you know about me, I will wager."
"Knowledge can be a dangerous thing, lady, particularly if you do not possess the power to use it skillfully, and you do not."
"Not yet," she retorted, and was pleased to see a startled look spring up on his face.
Quickly recovering his equilibrium, he laughed. "You are a most worthy opponent, Wynne of Gwernach."
"But how sad that we must be at odds, my lord bishop," she answered.
"We do not have to be at odds, lady," he told her.
"As long as you are Madoc's enemy, Brys of Cai, then you are mine as well. I am bound to Madoc by many ties, some of which you cannot even imagine. He is my lord, my life, and my love. I shall never betray him," Wynne said with certitude.
For the briefest moment a look of unbridled hatred sprang into Brys of Cai's soft blue eyes, and then it was as quickly gone. What startled Wynne most of all was the fact that the hatred had been directed toward her. How could Madoc's brother hate her so? He did not even know her.
"I am pleased," the young bishop said, and she knew it a lie, "that your loyalty is so firm, Wynne of Gwernach. It shows Christian virtue, and perhaps such virtue will reform my brother of his evil ways."
"I shall indeed be a good wife in all ways, my lord bishop," Wynne murmured piously in similar tones. "Will you have some roast pig?" she asked, suddenly the good hostess.
A servant hovered by Brys of Cai's side, a platter offered. With a grin the bishop snatched a well-crisped piece off the dish and sank his teeth into it. Those teeth, Wynne noticed, were his one facial fault. They were slightly yellowed, and the incisors had a feral look about them. He had turned away from her and was speaking with another guest, to her relief. It had been an effort to repel his evil. Nesta was right. Brys of Cai had an evil way about him that was not just a little frightening, although she would not have admitted such a thing to anyone.
The marriage of Madoc of Powys and Wynne of Gwernach was celebrated the following morning at the early mass. The ceremony was conducted by Father Drew, who had traveled from Gwernach with Wynne's family. The only witnesses were the immediate family, for the chapel at Raven's Rock was small. The sun streamed through the small windows of the chamber, making bright puddles of light upon the stone floor. The candles twinkled golden upon the altar.
The bride was garbed in a cream-colored satin tunic dress decorated with small pearls that had been sewn in abstract patterns all over the gown. Beneath it she wore an under tunic of the same color, which was embroidered with little golden stars. About her neck were the pearls her mother had left her. Upon her feet were dainty kid slippers. Her single dark braid was woven with pearled ribbons, and her head crowned with a wreath of roses from a bush Madoc had potted the previous autumn and brought to the castle, that he might have roses for Wynne on their wedding day.
The bridegroom's full-skirted kirtle was of indigo blue silk brocaded in gold and belted in gilded leather. His scarlet braies were cross-gartered in gold, and he wore pointed red leather shoes upon his feet. His dark hair was clubbed back and secured with a jeweled riband. About his neck was a heavy chain of red Irish gold which matched the jeweled gold diadem he wore about his forehead.
Nesta and Enid wept happily as the pair were united. Mair, staring at her beautiful sister, dreamed of her own marriage one day. Dewi was frankly bored. Weddings were always dull, and he should have far rather been out hunting. Rhys clapped a comforting arm about his sniffling wife and decided that Madoc could never possibly be as happy with Wynne as he was with his adorable Nesta. Einion wiped a tear from his eye and then glanced surreptitiously about to see if anyone had noticed his lapse into sentiment. Brys of Cai glowered at his half brother and his bride through narrowed eyes and decided that he had never hated Madoc quite so much as he did this minute. Why was it that Madoc got everything that he had ever wanted? Raven's Rock Castle; a beautiful, loving bride. Why was Madoc the favored one and not he? It would not end until one of them was dead, Brys decided. Dead and buried deep.
The wedding celebration lasted the entire day long and into the night. The wedding party entered the hall that morning after the ceremony to be greeted by the friendly cheers of all their guests. The hearths in the Great Hall burned bright and high, taking the chill of the May morning away. The hall itself was decorated in flowering branches of hawthorn and Maybud. There were flowers everywhere, and the servants raced to and fro carrying platters of food to the diners before it chilled.