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‘It is done.’ He raised her hand to his lips. ‘I will hold you to your word. What is mine stays mine. And you are mine for an entire year.’
* * *
His concubine. For an entire year. The enormity of what she had done, in front of everyone, thudded through Edith. She leant against the kitchen’s outside wall, trying to get her racing heart to slow down.
She’d agreed to be Brand Bjornson’s mistress. Not even his wife, but his mistress. Hilda could have made a better fist of it. Shackled to him as little better than a bed slave!
The scared faces of her household had made the decision simple. She couldn’t abandon them to life under Norseman rule while she made her way to the relative safety of a nunnery.
Who knew what Brand Bjornson might do to some of them—people who had given their lives to ensure she and her family lived in comfort? What good would her honour be if she abandoned those who were ready to lay their lives down for her?
It wasn’t the future she’d envisioned this morning, but she had to do it. She had to be able to speak for those who couldn’t. In a year’s time, she could leave and even go to the relative safety of Wessex with a baggage train. If all went well, she could take those people who wanted to go with her. She wrapped her arms about her waist and tried to control her shaking.
She’d have to share his bed and keep him entertained. Something that in the past she’d singularly failed to do for a man. Egbert’s many accusations and taunts echoed in her mind—she possessed not one feminine attribute, was confrontational at the wrong times and the only thing about her which even remotely interested a man was her dowry.
She must’ve been mad. This little adventure would end the instant Brand Bjornson took her to bed. The entire world tilted. She put her hand out to steady herself. What had she done?
‘Cousin? Is anything the matter?’ Hilda asked, catching her arm. ‘At last I find you. I have been hiding, but heard no sound of battle so decided to come and find you. Have the Norsemen left? Is everything as it was? Your scheme worked, didn’t it?’
‘I...I...’ Edith struggled to find the right words.
Edith allowed Hilda to lead her to an alcove where they both sat. Hilda patted Edith’s hand.
‘You rest. You’ve done enough getting rid of the Norsemen and having everything hidden. You’re close to collapse, Edith.’
Hilda’s appearance served to emphasise Edith’s problem. Every movement Hilda made seemed designed to entice or make her more attractive. Around her, Edith always considered herself gawky and awkward.
If Hilda had been there, would Brand Bjornson have been so quick to make her his concubine? She dug her nails into her palm. She should be grateful for small mercies.
Hilda only thought of herself. She had no feeling for the land or its people. All Edith could do was to try to survive and play whatever game this Norseman was playing to the end.
‘Not yet. They haven’t left yet.’ Edith smoothed her skirt. The action calmed her jangled nerves. She’d go mad if she tried to think about what ifs and how the past could have been different. ‘But don’t worry, Hilda. I have a scheme. They will go in time and all will return to how it was. I have to believe that.’
‘Oh, no!’ Hilda stuffed her hand in her mouth and she began to rock back and forth. ‘A scheme? And time is something we don’t have.’
‘They will go eventually.’ Edith didn’t know whom she was trying to convince. ‘The Norsemen never stay long. War and the open sea call. Everything will go back to how it was. You see I still have the keys to all the stores? Trust me to make it right. We simply need to keep our nerve.’
She jangled the circlet of keys which hung from her waist. They’d belonged to her mother and every other lady who had ruled this house.
Hilda drew a deep shuddering breath and her eyes became marginally less wild. ‘If I must. Where will they stay? Will I have to encounter them and their barbaric ways?’
How their way could be more barbaric than Egbert and his men, Edith couldn’t say. She shuddered, remembering how powerless she’d felt in those few weeks before he departed. How hard she’d worked to shield various children from his abuses and what limited success she had had. Unlike Hilda, she hadn’t wept when she’d heard of Egbert’s death. She only wished it had happened before he had ruined everyone. All those countless lives lost and all the beatings she and others had suffered, simply because Egbert’s temper was uncertain. But he’d been unable to take the gold, silver and jewels. Some day she’d retrieve them from the lord’s bedchamber, but for now they were safe, stored right under the Norseman’s nose. The thought buoyed her spirits no end.
