Page 125 of Boudicca

His body went very still. He blinked several times and his gaze slid from my eyes down to my stomach.

“You can’t tell yet,” I said with a breathless laugh.

His gaze shot back to mine. “That’s why you’ve been ill!”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“A child?” He spoke the words as he would a prayer. “Truly?”

“Truly,” I said.

Laughing joyously, he pulled me into his arms, lifted me, and spun me around. “A child!”

I was laughing, too, but when he put me down I staggered a little and almost vomited.

“Oh! Oh, no! Forgive me! I—I didn’t mean to—”

I pressed a finger to his lips. “I am well but should probably not be spun around.”

“Yes, of course! Yes.” Hesitantly, he placed his big hand on my stomach. When he looked up at me again, tears tracked down his cheeks. “I have never known such joy. She will be the finest equestrian in our tribe.”

“She?” I asked with a smile.

“Oh, aye.She,”he said firmly, and I saw no need to argue with him.

***

The reaction to the news of my pregnancy ignited the army, chasing away any leftover melancholy lingering after the death of Addedomaros. Unlike Romans, who consider women property to subjugate and control, our people cared for the sacredness of a new life and not whether it was conceived in a marriage or in the freedom of a lover’s bed. As would any Iceni woman, I continued with my daily routine. The only difference was that I now understood my temporary weariness, and when it came over me I listened to my body and rested.

My daughters were perhaps the only Iceni happier than Maldwyn about the child, though they told me they would prefer a baby brother to a sister. Wulffaed immediately began working special reams of cloth for the infant. I received gifts from all of the tribes within camp—mostly choice cuts of meat and precious fruits and vegetables they had hoarded throughout the winter.

A sennight after my announcement, it began to rain, and for the first time since we entered our valley it did not change to sleet or snow, but instead finally heralded the end of our long winter isolation and the beginning of spring—and the freedom we would claim as our own.

Part III

Spring 61 CE

Chapter XL

The spring sun was high in an unusually cloudless sky and I was sweating on the practice field as I attempted to take on Cadoc and Abertha at the same time, mostly unsuccessfully, which the bruises from their wooden swords would bear witness to tomorrow. Except for when I first woke in the morning, I’d stopped feeling sick, but had found that the weeks I’d spent not eating had taken a toll on my strength and speed—a toll I was now paying.

“A rider comes!” One of the sentries always stationed at the narrow mouth of our valley raced up to me. The other chiefs, who were practicing much more successfully not far from me, stopped what they were doing and joined me.

“Roman?” I asked. My voice sounded calm, but my heartbeat pulsed fast and hard through my body.

“No, my queen. He wears the colors of Tribe Brigantes and carries their sigil.”

I hid the flood of relief that almost made me feel dizzy. “Just one rider?” I asked.

“Yes, my queen. He stopped outside the pass and called to us that he has a message for Queen Boudicca from Queen Cartimandua.”

“Escort the rider here. Care for his horse as you would any guest,” I said.

“As you ask, so will I do!”

When the sentry jogged away, I faced the chiefs and their lead warriors.

“Will you join me to greet this messenger from the Brigantes?” I asked.