“Wake up, child. Wake up! We need to get Alice away whilst the men are away from the Hall.” Juliana stretched and yawned, then remembered where she was and blushed deeply knowing that her mother would know she had slept with Ulfric. She jumped up from the bed and her mother saw the blood spattered sheet, evidence that Ulfric had taken her virginity the previous night but Hilde said nothing, just pulled the cloth away and took it to launder. “Come, we’ll talk about this another time. Alice needs to be away and I have yet to speak to the carter and organise a wagon. I can’t do all this on my own, Juliana, come quickly.” Juliana was left alone to dress with no time to ponder on the consequences of the night before, but she knew that in dealing with Alice’s situation it only brought everything into perspective and she felt fearful that she too might soon be sent away. The carter had drawn his wagon into the stable yard which was loaded with provisions, whilst the horse was fed and watered still between the shafts. Alice was crying and all attempts to comfort her were unsuccessful.
