Osana squeezed the hand that still held hers. “Aye, I am.”
An excited hum built around them as Oswald retied the ribbon around their joined hands. Osana did not have to glance over at the watching crowd to know that folk were smiling; she could sense their approval, for it bathed her like a warm bath at the end of a cold winter’s day.
The bishop and the ealdormen had unwittingly transformed her and Aldfrith before the folk of Bebbanburg. Stories would be told about this day around the fire pit for many years to come.
“May true be the hearts that love you,” Oswald said when he had finished binding the ribbon. “I now pronounce you man and wife.” He paused here, his cheeks reddening as an embarrassed smile creased his face. “You may kiss your bride, milord.”
The hall thundered with applause as Aldfrith did just that. He drew Osana into his arms, his mouth slanting across hers in a deep kiss.
Epilogue
From Your Heart
Two months later …
THE WIND WHIPPED Osana’s cloak about her. She tilted her face up, her gaze narrowing as it fixed upon the dark clouds rolling in from the sea. A moment later a raindrop splashed onto her upturned face.
Argus trotted next to her, tail wagging and tongue lolling. The hound had refused to remain behind when she had left the fort. Osana drew her cloak close and hurried her step, her attention shifting to the tall figure clad in a long wine-red tunic who stood at the water’s edge farther along the shore. Her husband seemed to be oblivious to the coming rain. He stood watching out to sea, his expression distant.
“Flann!” she called out. “The weather’s turning.”
Next to her the wolfhound let out a loud bark and rushed forward to greet his master.
Aldfrith, King of Northumbria, turned, blinking as he came out of his reverie. “Osana.” A smile spread across his face. He bent down to ruffle Argus’s ears. “You came looking for me?”
Osana gave a frustrated huff. “Aye … I was beginning to think the tide had swallowed my husband up.”
My husband… how she loved to think of him so. Even two moons since their handfasting, she still felt a thrill of happiness to think that they were wed.
“I like to walk on the shore,” he replied, linking his arm through hers and pulling her close. “It quietens my mind.”
Fat drops of rain hit Osana’s face. She glanced back up at the sky. “We’re going to get soaked.”
“It’s just a summer rain squall,” Aldfrith replied. “When we get back to our quarters, I shall just use it as an excuse to peel your wet clothes off you.”
Osana laughed, although heat pooled in the base of her belly at the suggestion. She looked forward to the time they spent alone together in that warm, comfortable alcove. As king, Aldfrith had a lot of demands put on his time during the day. Yet at night, he was all hers.
She favored him with a sidelong glance. “So … what were you doing, gazing out into the waves so intently?” she asked. “You seemed in another world.”
“I was thinking of the poem I’ve been working on,” he replied with an embarrassed smile.
“You’re writing again?” The news pleased Osana. It had been a while since he had spent time in the annex adjoining the tower. She was glad he had taken up his study once more; it was an important part of who he was, a part of him she loved.
“Aye, although only Argus has heard the poem so far.”
The hound in question bounded on ahead, barking as he spied a seagull swooping low.
“And did he appreciate it?”
Aldfrith shrugged. “He made no comment either way.”
Osana smiled. “Would you like to recite it to me?”
He tilted his head. “Are you sure you want to hear it? Last time I read something to you … you didn’t enjoy it much.”
“Nonsense. I loved it … I just questioned you about it that’s all. I was fascinated how a man could hold such unwavering beliefs in such a changing world.”
Aldfrith’s mouth curved. “I reread those lines the other day … what a pompous braying ass I must have appeared.”
