Read The Breaking Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 1) for Free Online Page B

him while he was only too ready
to think the worst of her.
    Merwenna had been about to tell Seward that she
would return home with him, but now she hesitated.
    “What should I do?” she asked him, deliberately
keeping her tone neutral.
    “You can’t stay here – not without my protection.”
    “But the queen has guaranteed that I will be safe
here and escorted home if Beorn doesn’t return.”
    Seward’s gaze narrowed. “You would let them cast me
out and not follow? I only came here because you begged me to!”
    Merwenna stared back at him and felt her own anger
rise. It was an odd sensation – both hot and cold. It made her reckless.
    “I’m staying here, Seward,” she snapped. “Travel
home without me.”
    Merwenna stepped back from her brother. Her brief
flare of anger faded when she saw the hurt in his eyes. They had always been
close, but she had now driven a wedge between them. Merwenna felt sick to her
stomach as she turned back to Cyneswide and gave the queen a brittle smile.
    “Thank you, Milady. I shall stay.”
    Queen Cyneswide nodded and turned to Rodor.
    “Take Seward and Cerwen outside and give them each
ten lashes of the whip.”
    The warrior nodded, his mouth thinning with
satisfaction.
    “Very well, Milady.”
    Merwenna watched, horrified, as two warriors hauled
the slave girl across the rushes toward the doors. Cerwen struggled, her tears
drying as she realized that the queen would show her no mercy. Instead, she
started cursing in a tongue that Merwenna recognized as Cymraeg. She had seen a
few of the Cymry in Weyham over the years, traveling over the borderlands between
Powys and Mercia. Like Cerwen, many were raven-haired and blue or green eyed.
    Rodor turned to Seward and gave him a slow, dark
look, as if challenging him to make a similar scene. Instead, Seward stared
back – the light-hearted mood of the day before a now distant memory. Then, his
gaze shifted to his sister.
    Merwenna stared back, tears suddenly welling. She
was so sorry it had come to this – yet pride would not let her back down.
    “Good-bye dear sister,” he said, his voice harsher
than she had heard it. “We shall meet again in Weyham.”
    The words sounded more like a threat than a
promise. It was as if she did not know him at all. Her free-spirited brother
had turned into a cold stranger.
    Seward turned and let Rodor lead him from the hall,
without a backward glance.
     
     

Chapter
Six
    The
King’s Return
     
    Merwenna wiped sweat off her forehead with the back
of her wrist and squinted down at the tunic she was mending. It was unbearably
stuffy here inside the Great Hall. The air was so close that it made her feel
light-headed. It was difficult to concentrate on the task at hand.
    The aroma of baking bread mingled with the odor of
stewing cabbage and onion, and that of stale sweat. Despite that it was one of
the hottest afternoons of the summer outside, the two fire pits within the hall
smoldered. Slaves were baking griddle bread over one of the fire pits; placing
thin discs of dough on a hot iron plate. A simmering cauldron of pottage cooked
over the second fire pit.
    She sat with the other women, opposite to where the
two princesses, Cyneburh and Cyneswith, embroidered pieces for a new banner. It
bore the Mercian crest – pale gold with a wyvern , a two-legged dragon
with spread wings, at its center. The banner was to be a gift to their father
for his victory, and it was nearly finished. The princesses had both proved to
be haughty and unfriendly toward Merwenna, in stark contrast to their mother’s
warmth.
    Queen Cyneswide perched at a huge loom, not far
from her daughters, where she, and two ealdormen’s wives, worked at a tapestry.
It was half-finished, but Merwenna could see that it was to be a panorama of
green hills and verdant forest, with a great tower in its center – Tamworth.
    Merwenna looked down at her mending and tried to
swallow the nausea that had plagued her ever since she had