Genevieve said: “Please don’t think for one moment that we will consent to it.”

Ragna barely heard her. She could escape from Guillaume—and marry the man she loved. “He does love me, after all!”

“Your father has agreed to listen to the ealdorman’s offer, that’s all.”

Hubert said: “I must. To do otherwise would rudely suggest that the man is unacceptable on any terms.”

“Which he is!” said Genevieve.

“Probably,” said Hubert. “However, that’s the kind of thing one thinks but does not say. One has no wish to offend.”

Genevieve said: “Having listened to the terms, your father will politely refuse.”

Ragna said: “You’ll tell me what the offer is, Father, before you turn it down, won’t you?”

Hubert hesitated. He never liked to slam doors. “Of course I will,” he said.

Genevieve made a disgusted noise.

Ragna pushed her luck. “Will you let me attend your meeting with Wynstan?”

He said: “Are you capable of remaining silent throughout?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

“I swear it.”

“Very well.”

“Go to bed,” Genevieve said to Ragna. “We’ll discuss this in the morning.”

Ragna left them and lay down in the hall, curled up on her bed by the wall. She found it difficult to keep still, she was so excited. He did love her!

As the rush lights were extinguished and the room became dark, so her heartbeat slowed and her body relaxed. At the same time, she began to think more clearly. If he did love her, why had he fled without explanation? Would Wynstan offer a justification for that? If not, she would ask for one directly, she decided.

That sobering thought brought her down to earth, and she fell asleep.

She woke at first light, and Wilwulf was the first thought to come into her mind. What would his offer be? Normally an aristocratic bride had to be guaranteed enough income to keep her if her husband died and she became a widow. If the children were likely to be heirs to money or titles, they might have to be brought up in the father’s country, even if he died. Sometimes the offer was conditional on the king’s approval. An engagement could be dismayingly like a commercial contract.

Ragna’s main concern was that Wilwulf’s offer should contain nothing that would give her parents reasons to object.

Once she was dressed, she wished she had slept later. The kitchen staff and the stable hands were always up early, but everyone else was still fast asleep, including Wynstan. She had to resist the temptation to grab him by the shoulder and shake him awake and question him.

She went to the kitchen, where she drank a cup of cider and ate a piece of pan bread dipped in honey. She took a half-ripe apple, went to the stables, and gave the apple to Astrid, her horse. Astrid nuzzled her gratefully. “You’ve never known love,” Ragna murmured in the horse’s ear. But it was not quite true: there were times, usually in summer, when Astrid carried her tail up and had to be roped in firmly to keep her away from the stallions.