Alwy knows what to do
Alwy Hogge was just heading in to bed when he thought he heard a cry.
“Did you hear that, Gunnie?” he asked his wife.
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Egelric finds Elfleda
Egelric found the house quiet but lit when he arrived home in the twilight. Yet Elfleda was not there—and Iylaine was lying still in the middle of the floor.
A surge of terror went through him and nearly knocked him off his feet, but then he saw her breathe.
Egelric comes for Iylaine
“Oh, Egelric,” Gunnilda murmured when she saw him. He looked so terribly sad.
“Good evening, Gunnilda,” he said politely.
Egelric and Elfleda fight
Iylaine was still awake when Egelric got home, late as it was. But he didn’t feel like arguing with Elfleda over that tonight. Gunnilda said that Baby was good about taking naps during the day, so he supposed she would make up the lost sleep.
But Elfleda apparently wanted to argue. “I hear you were out in the fields today, and riding around with that black-haired brat of the Duke’s,” she taunted. “Is another man’s son good enough for you, Egelric? Or is he another man’s son?”
Egelric kneels
Matilda stood quietly contemplating her husband’s arms. A tree—an uprooted tree, she thought. It suddenly seemed terribly fitting. Would she ever see her old home again? See Alred? But she would not cry—not during the day.
She quickly sat and composed herself as she heard footsteps coming down the corridor. “Enter!” she called, before the visitor had had time to knock.
Ethelmund wakes early
“Ethelmund—what are you doing? Is it morning already?” Githa mumbled confusedly. She felt like she had only just gone to bed and already Ethelmund was up and dressed.
“No, dearest, it’s still dark outside. Go back to sleep. I got up early to get some work done.”
The elves come
“What’s this?” Egelric barked, jumping up from his chair as two strangers burst into the room. “Dear God!” he cried, paling, as he got a better look at them. They were oddly dressed, but—their ears! “Elves!”
Where was Iylaine? he wondered immediately. She was still with Gunnilda—pray God that Gunnilda didn’t bring her home now.
Elfleda reveals her depths
“What’s Baby still doing up?” Egelric asked Elfleda as he came in late one evening. “You naughty girl, why aren’t you in bed?” he teased and patted Iylaine on the head.
“She didn’t want me to undress her. She only wanted you. She only ever wants you.” Elfleda sounded annoyed.
Iylaine talks to Gunnilda
Egelric had never been so happy as in those first days after the birth of his son, and would never be so happy again. Elfleda glowed with love, and Egelric with pride, and little Finn simply glowed.
Only Iylaine seemed to feel a little less than happy, and still said “No!” any time he asked her whether she wanted to see the baby.
Maud sends for Matilda
“What is it, Maud?” Matilda asked, slightly annoyed, as the Queen came into the hall. “Cenwulf told me you wouldn’t see him and you insisted on seeing me.”
Matilda had been disciplining a groom who had allowed one of her mares to walk around all day with a stone in her foot, and she was afraid that with this interruption the groom had gotten off far too lightly. She certainly hoped Maud hadn’t summoned her here to show “how Baby pulls off her socks all by herself” like last week.
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Chapters“If any of your children are capable of having a flight of fancy that even lifts both of their little heels from the ground, it will prove you a more whimsical man than I have ever imagined.”
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