He gazed at the man who had just spoken.

“ The custom?”

“ You have been away too long. Have you forgotten about Conchobar’s right?”

“Conchobar’s right… Right of the first night, eh?”

He tried to suppress the feeling, but he saw the veins in his arms swell blue and felt his cheeks getting hot. The man staggered backwards and he saw how some of the servants left the room.

His left eye closed and his right one peering at the speaker, he heard how his breath turned into a hiss as if someone had poured a bucket of water upon the fire.

His fist closed tighter around the barbed spear and he noticed how the man in front of him trembled. His heart beat fiercely and he felt a growl escape his lips, an animal’s sound.

“ Setanta!”

It was Cathbad’s voice.

“ Setanta, control yourself. You are in the house of Conchobar here. Keep your war spasms for the battlefield.”

He turned towards the druid and pointed the weapon at the old man.

“ Conchobar shall not have Emer!”, he cried.

“ It is the custom of the Ulaid, Setanta. You have broken many rules and every time we have forgiven you, but this time even you should bow to the geisi of our tribe.”

“ Geisi? Geisi? What geis could harm me? I am the Hound of Culann. I’m the son of Lugh, immortal, invincible! Let Conchobar come here and compete with me.”

“ He is your foster-father. Show him respect.”

“ Foster-father…”

“ Son of Dechtire, sister-son of Conchobar, lower your spear. Now!”

There was something in the druid’s expression that showed he had a power beyond the warrior’s understanding and somehow he managed to overcome the anger.

“ I want you to be present there tonight, Cathbad.”

“ Where?”

“ In Conchobar’s bedroom. You will make sure he shall not touch a single hair of Emer.”

“ Setanta…”

“ He may sleep with her in one bed, but I shall place my sword between them and if Conchobar dares to even touch the iron of its blade, it shall draw blood.”

-

She had undressed herself and entered the king’s bedroom. Here she stood before the two old men, Conchobar and Cathbad. The first one looked grim, the other was friendly.

“ Lie down Emer. I promised Setanta to make sure the king shall not touch you.”

She looked at the fearsome blade which lay on the bed. It was her lover’s weapon, the sword he used to hew off the heads of his opponents. The sword radiated fear and bloodshed, yet she had to sleep next to the dreadful thing.

“ Sleep well”, Cathbad said with  a smile and he took his position at the end of the bed.

Soon Conchobar was snoring, but Emer could not find rest.

She looked at the shiny iron next to her and thought of this Aife.

Setanta had pressed this sword against her throat, so it was said, and then she had yielded, the woman warrior. They had made love. As a peace offering? Or had he forced her to? What had this Scatach taught her man? If only her father hadn’t ordered him to go to Scotland, he would still have been innocent. She would have been the first and only one to sleep with him.

What was this Aife like? A warrior woman couldn’t be pretty, could she? Probably muscular and fierce, with woad on her face and loose hair like a witch, unkempt and wild. A predator luring men into her nets, just like this Medb woman of Cruachan. Yes, she had to be like Medb, who slept with about anyone and raided the lands of the Ulaid.

What could her Setanta see in such a woman? Yet he had slept with her…

Emer looked at the king next to her. He was fat and he snored, but it was clear he must have been handsome when he was younger. At first she had been repulsed at the thought of having to sleep with him, yet if Setanta could sleep with Aife, then why could she not sleep with Conchobar? Was he the only one allowed to be jealous?

The first night of her marriage and here she lay awake, naked, next to an old king, with a sword between them and a druid constantly looking on, thinking of that other woman...

Setanta should know how much she endured just to be his wife…