Matilda asks only one thing

Alred was surprised to find his wife sitting on the couch in their bedroom, alone, in the middle of the afternoon, and without any work to occupy her hands. It reminded him very much of Iylaine, who could sit for hours staring at the wall, and he did not like it. Matilda was even beginning to have the same sort of shadows around her eyes in certain lights. The eerie green glow of the colored windows of the bedroom was one of them.

“Only name what foul dragon has you imprisoned here, my lady, and I shall slay it.”

“Oh, Alred,” she sighed. “I was about to go down.”

“Where are the babies?” he asked as he sat beside her.

“I don’t know. Playing.”

“That’s an excellent idea. We might play a little ourselves, as long as nobody knows where anyone else is.”

She only shrugged, and so he did not press her.

“We had a bit of a scare with Sigefrith today,” he said, sitting back on the couch.

“Oh?”

“Edris’s horse threw her on the flagstones before the stable. Knocked her out for a while.”

“Oh!” That news, at least, animated her a little.

“She’s feeling better now, although she has quite forgotten why she ever came to the castle in the first place,” he chuckled. “Last thing she remembered, she was feeding the children their dinner.”

“Was Cenwulf there?”

“He was, and I tell you, Matilda, I think that the fall may have done her far more good than harm. It may have knocked a little sense into his head, by making him believe for an instant that he had lost her. He might appreciate her a bit more now. I do hope so.”

“But what about her baby?” she wailed.

“What baby?”

“She is expecting a baby in the spring!”

Alred shrugged. “She never mentioned it to me.”

“Of course she didn’t mention it to you!” she said with strange vehemence. “You’re a man, you don’t understand anything!”

“Does Cenwulf know, or is he a man too?” Alred asked dryly.

“Oh, you don’t understand, if you can make jokes!” she snapped. “How will you feel if she loses her baby now?”

Alred hesitated. She was becoming irrational again, and he had to be careful not to annoy her with irony. “Terribly sorry.”

“Well you might! Can you believe it? I lost my baby, Maire lost her baby, Githa lost her baby, Edris might lose hers, and Leila is expecting again and Leofric let her ride all over with it. We shall see what Sigefrith invents for Eadgith!”

“Matilda…”

“I wish you would leave me alone if all you care to do is taunt me with such things!”

“Matilda, please.”

“Only leave me alone! It’s all I ask of anyone! Is it too much?”

“No.”

“Very well,” she said, and she turned her face back to the wall.

“I suppose I shall go herd up the children and then try to get a bit of work done. Will we see you at supper?”

She did not answer. She had so thoroughly dismissed him that she considered him already gone.