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Relief filled her. “In truth, the background noise in the cottage would be reassuring.”

“Then, it is settled,” he said. “As soon as your worthy assistant returns, we shall have him locate a pallet for you.”

“Poor Rheged. If these obligatory errands continue, he will come to rue the day that I arrived.”

Reaching for her hand, he drew her closer. “He might as well become used to it. If I am forced to contrive a chore for him every time I wish to spend a few moments alone with you, he is destined to be a very busy man.” His thumb ran a gentle circle across the top of her hand, and Aisley’s pulse responded. “I have yet to come to terms with what Wulfhere aimed to do to you. It is possible I never will. But I am more grateful than I can express that you escaped his machinations and traveled to Athelney in safety.”

“I cannot deny the miracles that attended me during my flight,” she said. “And if you had not come to Trowbridge and told me where I might find you . . . where I might find the king . . .” She looked away. The ramifications of what Wulfhere had done were almost too much to bear.

“Aisley.” His voice was gentle. “Look at me.” Slowly, she turned back to Brecc. His eyes that had been so full of pain earlier were now filled with concern. “Whatever it is, you need no longer carry it alone. If it would ease your burden, you can tell me and can count on my full discretion.”

She knew he spoke the truth. They had promised each other as much. The king deserved to be told before all others, but it would be safer if she were not the only one aware of Wulfhere’s treachery. She marshaled her courage. Saying the words aloud, admitting that a member of her family had committed such an act of betrayal, was horribly difficult. “It is Wulfhere,” she began.

He nodded. “That much I had guessed.”

Behind her, the low buzz of men’s talk was interspersed with laughter. No one was close enough to overhear. Indeed, no one had shown much interest in her after she had begun attending to Brecc’s wound.

She swallowed and forced herself to continue. “My brother has formed an alliance with Rangvald. If King Alfred calls up the fyrd of Wiltshire, he will receive no assistance. Wulfhere has pledged himself to the Vikings and their cause.”

Brecc’s stunned expression was quickly replaced with one of tightly controlled anger. “He pledged his devotion to the king at Chippenham under three months ago. He kissed the horn and accepted the ring-giver’s gift.”

“I know.”

“Dear heaven, Aisley.” Brecc released a tense breath. “The Wiltshire fyrd is vital to the Saxons’ counteroffensive against the invaders. The king could rightfully take Wulfhere’s life for this.”

“I know that too.” Shame over her brother’s perfidy hung over her, but she kept her head up. She would not take upon herself Wulfhere’s misdeeds. “He must answer for what he has done, but even more importantly, the people of Wessex must not lose the battle for their own land simply because of his self-seeking actions.”

“You are right. And they shall not. Especially with the forewarning you have offered the king.”

“But what can be done?”

He met her anxious eyes with a thoughtful look. “Would you say that the general sentiment in Wiltshire is in favor of the king?”

“Most assuredly. Taber kept me abreast of the news in town. There was always much excitement when word came of a raid the king’s men carried out against the Vikings. The men have been anxiously awaiting their call to arms.”

He nodded as though her account corroborated his own belief. “That insight alone will help offset the enormous blow your intelligence will be to the king.” He hesitated, and when he spoke again, it was more cautiously. “Would you allow me to broach the subject of Wulfhere’s allegiance with the king first? King Alfred is a God-fearing, mild-mannered ruler, but I fear that he will not take the news well. If you are willing, I would wish to spare you from witnessing his initial wrath at your brother’s duplicity.”

She stared at him, scarcely believing her ears. She had desperately hoped that she would not have to face the king alone, but to have Brecc be the one to initially deliver the devastating news was more than she had thought possible. “You would do that for me?”

“Most certainly. He will likely wish to speak with you himself afterward, but by then, he might have had time to consider the situation fully and have a more measured response to it.”

Since arriving at Athelney, Aisley’s trepidation over telling the king had been multiplying with every passing hour. “I do not know how to adequately thank you.”

With a small smile, he lightly patted his injured thigh. “I believe you already have.”

CHAPTER 27

BRECC STARED UP AT THE rafters, willing the dawn to come. The dark shadows above his head had deepened as the last remaining coals from the cottage fire had faded from glowing orange to dusty gray. He had watched it happen. Despite his desperate need for sleep, the precious commodity had eluded him most of the night.

At first, he had blamed it on his discomfort, but as the night had worn on, the searing pain he’d experienced when Aisley had tended his wound had subsided to a dull ache, and he’d been forced to admit the true cause of his insomnia. His head had yet to relinquish the intelligence Aisley had shared, and his heart had yet to recover from its reaction to almost losing her to a Viking chieftain.

He groaned and closed his eyes again. If his overwhelming desire to pummel Wulfhere into the ground for what he had done to Aisley was not sufficiently telling, the fact that he’d volunteered to be the bearer of disastrous news to the king in order to spare her any further distress was proof that her well-being had come to mean more to him than his own. He flexed his fingers, remembering the feel of her small hand in his. It belonged there. He knew that as surely as he knew that morning would eventually come. But just as this night seemed interminable, so, too, did his commitments to the king. He could only pray that she would be sufficiently patient to wait for him.

The door to the cottage creaked open, and Brecc turned his head to see a man’s silhouette framed against the moonlight. He walked in, and another man silently rose from his pallet. It was the changing of the guard. They would not leave the shore unmanned for long, especially as the king was expected back anytime. After a brief whispered exchange with Radolf, the new guard left, but to Brecc’s surprise, Radolf did not immediately lie down to rest. Instead, he slowly made his way across the room toward the spot where Brecc lay.

“Radolf?” Brecc could barely make out the man in the darkness.

He stopped. “Aye. I didn’t mean to wake you.”