Cerdic slept near them, to ensure the women were not bothered by some of the younger men who slept around the hearths. Osana could not help but notice that the warrior’s presence appeared to put Lora on edge. She was usually light-hearted and chatty in the evenings, but as soon as he lay down his fur cloak and stretched out upon it, Osana’s maid went quiet. However, she could not seem to keep her eyes off Cerdic, her gaze darting to him whenever he looked elsewhere. Osana observed her with interest, noting that Cerdic too had taken to looking Lora’s way when her gaze was averted.
A dance, as old as time itself.
Osana wondered where it would lead. Although Lora had lost her husband, she had such an infectious joy for life that Osana could not imagine her alone forever. Yet Cerdic appeared so aloof. In fact, his expression only softened when he looked Lora’s way.
Lora stretched out onto her furs without any of her usual observations about the day they had just spent, bid Osana good night, and pulled a fur over her head.
Lying on her back in the dimly lit hall, staring up at the shadowed rafters far above, Osana listened to the sounds of the slumbering hall around her. Neither Cerdic nor Lora stirred, although nearby a babe was whimpering. A moment later, a woman’s soft voice soothed it.
Osana lay there a while longer, willing sleep to come. Yet she felt wide-awake tonight, her mind far too active.
Cuthbert’s visit had set her thinking. The prior’s presence had unsettled the daily routine of the hall, and although he had not brought up the subject of Aldfrith taking a wife again, there was a tension between them.
Time stretched on, the hall quietened further, but slumber still eluded her. Eventually, with a huff of annoyance, she sat up. Perhaps a walk in the yard and some fresh night air would bring tiredness upon her.
She pulled on her boots and rose to her feet. Then she scooped up the fur cloak she had been sleeping on, cast it over her shoulders, and picked her way out of the hall.
Twin braziers burned beneath the tower outside, casting the pitted stone in a red-gold hue. The air was damp and chill, and the sky overcast. A waxing moon played hide-and-seek with the clouds overhead. Two guards flanked the doors, their spears glinting in the light of the braziers.
Clasping her cloak close, Osana greeted them. She then took a torch off a bracket beside the doors, lit it from one of the braziers, and made her way across the yard to the orchard. It was deserted tonight, the naked limbs of the branches spidery against the sky. There was no sound save the rumble of the surf on the shore below the fort.
Osana walked slowly, deep in thought. The quiet and solitude calmed her active mind, as they always did. After days in the busy tower, she sometimes felt overwhelmed. Raedwulf’s hall had been crowded, yet the Great Hall of Bebbanburg was never still. Only at the darkest hour of the night, or in the grey light of early dusk, did it lie silent.
Can I stay here?
Cuthbert’s visit had put her on edge. She had just begun to relax, to hope she might find a new life in Bebbanburg, when the prior had drawn attention to her again.
Perhaps I should go to my aunt in the spring.The thought did not thrill Osana, but at least in Jedworth she would not be an embarrassment to anyone. How many times would Aldfrith have to defend his decision to let her live here before he tired of it?
Circling back to the tower, Osana slowed her step further. She was loath to return to her place by the fire. If it had not been so cold, she would have remained out here all night.
She was approaching the steps when a faint glow to her right drew her eye.Firelight. The door to the king’s annex was ajar, and a fire still burned bright in the hearth within.
Osana paused, surprised. It seemed she was not the only one who could not sleep this evening.
Chapter Sixteen
Cast Her Out
OSANA TOOK TWO steps toward the stairs leading back to the Great Tower and stopped.
I shouldn’t disturb him.
A wiser woman would go back to her place by the hearth and attempt to sleep, yet Osana did not feel like being wise tonight. She had barely exchanged more than a handful of words with the king since her arrival at Bebbanburg, and longed to speak with him. Frustration boiled up within her. She would get no better chance than now.
Inhaling deeply, she retraced her steps and walked toward the annex. She stopped before the door and knocked softly.
A dog’s growl sounded from within, a low warning.
“King Aldfrith,” Osana said, forcing herself to speak before her nerve failed her. “It’s Osana. Can I enter?”
A long silence followed before a low male voice replied. “Aye.”
Osana pushed open the door. The wolfhound, which had been lying down near the hearth, rose to his feet, hackles raised, growling.
“Be still, Argus,” Aldfrith commanded, getting up from where he had been sitting at a wide table strewn with sheets of vellum. At the sight of Osana, he inclined his head. “It’s late to be awake?”
Osana smiled, hoping the expression would mask her nervousness. “I couldn’t sleep and thought a walk in the orchard might soothe me. Then I saw I wasn’t the only one still up.”
