FAR FROM SEEMING happy the ealdorman if anything looked disappointed, dispirited and ashamed. Later, he would begin to scheme again, to believe that there might be something to be gained through guile and greed, but for now he was a shadow man. He had lost his household warriors, his fortune and his son. His daughter might have woven a new strand into his life’s thread, which had seemed about to be cut, but now she wanted nothing more to do with him. Death, the only escape from shame, had been denied him, had run from Ealdred like the rain dripping from the blade that had promised deliverance, so that my hate for him turned to pity. It is hard to hate a broken man, no matter what he has done in the past. I had expected Cynethryth to throw her arms around me, to kiss me and thank me for speaking up and stealing Ealdred’s life from the grave. Perhaps she would even lead me to some secluded place and those grateful lips would reward me in soul-shuddering ways. I was still young enough to weave such fancies.
