AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Tell me something I don’t know, Hilda. Give me some courage.’
‘You should know that I never shared his bed, not in the sense everyone thinks.’ The words rushed from Hilda as she knelt in front of Edith. ‘He couldn’t... Something had happened and he couldn’t. He blamed you.’
Edith froze. Never? Egbert had been incapable? ‘But I thought...’
‘He couldn’t.’ Hilda glanced over her shoulder. ‘He drank far too much ale and mead. He fell into bed, fumbled my body and snored his head off. I wanted you to know after what you did for me today, saving my life and all. He lied to me when I first arrived. He had said that he was the one who had given me shelter and spoken up for me. And if I didn’t do as he said, he’d give me over to the Norsemen. You did what you said, just as you spoke up for me back there. I feel so guilty.’
‘You are my cousin, my kinswoman. Of course I will look after you.’
‘Egbert made it clear that if I didn’t play along, I would have no place to lay my head. He’d throw me to the wolves. He slapped me when I didn’t agree at first and called me a fool. I was scared, Edith, scared and wrong.’
‘That sounds like my late husband,’ Edith commented wryly, her mind reeling.
‘You can’t know what it was like when the Norsemen came. How I lost my world. I couldn’t lose what little I had gained.’ She hung her head. ‘I was jealous of you and all that you had. Egbert’s actions and words tipped the balance. I took what I could to survive. Only now I see I had it all wrong.’
‘It is all in the past now.’ Edith put her hand to her stomach to try to quell the butterflies which had suddenly begun to circle. Egbert had been incapable. Even with Hilda.
Tears shimmered in Hilda’s eyes. ‘Do you truly mean that?’
Edith’s shoulders grew a bit lighter. Perhaps it hadn’t been just she who had failed at the marriage bed. Egbert might have had a part in it, but what mattered was tonight and how she performed with Brand Bjornson, a man whom all her instincts told her was very different.
She put her hand under Hilda’s elbow and raised the girl to standing. One good thing had come from this evening—she was speaking to her cousin. ‘You’d best go. We already had one close call this evening.’
Hilda’s lips curved upwards. ‘I know what you mean. I doubt Brand Bjornson would be pleased to have onlookers. My heart quite soared when he kissed you like that. He is attracted to you. I know these things. You can try being pleasant to him, rather than wiping your hand across your mouth as if it stained you.’
‘It was deliberately done to make his mark on me. He doesn’t want me to forget my status. I’m not his wife. I’m his concubine. I serve at his pleasure.’ Edith rubbed the back of her thumb against her aching lips.
Hilda fluffed out Edith’s hair so it flowed over her shoulders. ‘There, you look fit to eat. I do wish Egbert had not broken your mother’s mirror so you could see how pretty you look.’
The mirror incident had happened during their final fight when Edith had refused to turn over her mother’s jewels. Edith held no great store by her looks, but she’d loved her mother’s mirror. Many of her earliest memories revolved around her mother having her chestnut hair brushed and watching herself in the mirror. On special occasions Edith had been allowed to peek into it. Her own features never matched the delicacy of her mother’s. And her black hair was so dull compared to vibrant red.
‘My late husband deserved all the ill fortune he received after breaking the mirror,’ Edith said as steadily as she could.
Hilda gave a little giggle. ‘I suppose you are right. I had never thought about it in that fashion. He should never have done that.’
‘I know I’m right.’ Edith covered Hilda’s hand. She had to know the worst. Had her desire for a peaceful life made Hilda’s a misery? ‘He never...’
‘He never beat me after that one slap. He treated me much as one would treat a beloved dog.’ Hilda finished for her. ‘He saved his violence for you if servants’ gossip is to be believed. He was jealous that you could run the estate so well. He used to rant about it, over and over.’
Tears pricked at Edith’s eyes. She was grateful for the knowledge, but it still didn’t make the situation any easier. The one thing she could do well, Brand had no interest in her doing.
‘We will get our lives back.’ Edith grasped Hilda’s hand. ‘I have to believe that.’
