Malcolm gives his advice
“Little brother!” Malcolm cried.
Egelric, who lounged drunkenly on the couch, looked up at the doorway and grunted a greeting.
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Sigrid begins to hope
“What is it, Sig?” Synne asked hesitantly.
But she supposed she knew. There had already been some whispering and head-shaking among the ladies over the fact that Sigrid, who had been married over three years, had only one child. Synne always reminded them that Eirik had been away from her for a year all at once, and was frequently away ever since, but she herself was always reminded that a visit of a night or two was all it should take.
Alred comes with good news
“Good morning, where’s your wife?” Alred smiled. It was what he always said as soon as he set foot in the hall, even if his visit came in the afternoon. His greeting only ever varied if he met Lili first, and then, Egelric was told, it was: “Good morning, where’s your husband?”
“She’s playing with the boys,” Egelric sighed. “She and Hetty always do after breakfast, as you well know. You might go directly to them, and not bother yourself with me.”
Wynflaed is not sick
Wynflaed was too weary to kneel as she scrubbed the floor. She sat instead, and she leaned on one arm as she worked with the other, switching the brush between hands when the arm tired. It was not an efficient way to work, but it was the most she could do.
She told herself it was her own fault she was tired, since she had been out to see Sigefrith the night before. She should have known she would feel this way in the morning. It was her own fault. It was all her own fault. She should have known.
Sir Sigefrith makes a confession
Hilda was lying on her bed, as she was ever more often these days. Haakon had even thought to ask his father whether Mama was dying, since Heafoc had told him that his own little mother had spent all of her time in bed before she died.
To look at her, Sigefrith almost wondered himself. She no longer had even the sinister energy that made her seem to throw off sparks in his presence. All the fire had gone out of her.
Lili says she doesn't know
Sir Egelric’s steward was sitting with him when his visitors came, so he could not blame Ethelwyn for the interruption. He couldn’t blame anybody, for the visitors showed themselves in. It was Alred and the Earl.
After the briefest of greetings, Alred said, “I’m certain you’re already tired of men asking you where your wife is as soon as they have said good morning, but: Good morning, where is your wife?”
Sir Sigefrith fears the home lights
Sir Sigefrith stood at the edge of the birch grove. Though he shivered from anxiety as much as cold, he was tired enough to lean against a tree. He also rested his left hand on the hilt of his sword, and it provided him some comfort, as it always did, though he knew it would little avail him this night.
The house had been dark and still when he had last seen it. There had only been the small lamp on the kitchen table that Wynflaed lit when she waited for him, and it had gone out as soon as she had seen him. Now every lamp in the kitchen was blazing, and the little mother’s room was bright. Never had home lights looked so foreboding to him.
Bertie brings gossip
“Bertie!” Gunnilda cried, trying to hide her happiness—for she feared that Bertie’s swagger would only be exaggerated if he knew how much she adored him.
“Ma!” He kissed her on both cheeks and then on the forehead. She scarcely had to stoop to allow him to reach it these days.
Egelric finds a spider with butterfly wings
Egelric’s bedroom had a single window through which the sun never shone. It faced east, but the sheer wall of rock behind the castle rose up only a few dozen yards beyond it. Thus Egelric had learned to measure the hour of the morning not by the brightness nor by the angle of the light, but by its color.
Now the light was a coral pink which he only ever saw on Sundays. He did not rise early on Sundays, for the chapel in his castle was of even less use to him than the window of his bedroom.
Lili invites herself
“There’s a lady here to see you, sir,” Egelric’s steward bowed.
“A lady?” Egelric laughed and dropped his pen. “What will you invent next to interrupt me in my work, Wyn?”
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Chapters“He doesn’t have to get you on a battlefield, you know. He’s King—he can knight his horse if he likes.”
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