The Edge of Light Read Free

into her voice as well.
    “What of princes?” With the ruthless egocentricity of childhood, Alfred immediately related her situation to his. “Could I be married like that, away from my family and into a foreign land?” His eyes were huge, his voice appalled.
    “No, Alfred.” Judith’s face softened and she came to put an arm about his shoulders. “Do not concern yourself, my dear. Such a thing could never happen to you. You are a boy. You will have some say in whom you marry.”
    His eyes searched her face. “Are you sure?”
    “I am sure.” She smiled.
    “But Judith …” Now that his own fear had been laid to rest, he could think once more of her. “That is not fair,” he said.
    “No.” The coldness was back in her face and voice. “It is not. But it seems it is only small boys and young girls who feel thus.”
    He did not know what to say to comfort her. She looked so … bleak. “Judith,” he said softly, tentatively, “I am very happy that you are to have my mother’s room.”
    Something glinted in her eyes. He hoped, anxiously, that it was not tears. “Thank you, Alfred,” she said. “You are a good friend.”
    He smiled up at her engagingly and offered the biggest treat he could think of. “Perhaps tomorrow you can come hunting with me and Ethelred.”
    “We shall see,” she said. “But I thank you for inviting me.”
    “If we get to go hunting, that is,” he muttered, following her across the floor toward the clothes chest. “Bother Ethelbald and his rebellion!”
----

Chapter 2
    The talk in the royal hall was only of Ethelbald’s rebellion, and soon the ealdormen and chief thanes of the shires east of Selwood began to pour into Winchester in order to take counsel with the king.
    Alfred discovered that one of the causes of the rebellion was his father’s marriage to Judith.
    “But Judith is nice!” Alfred protested to Ethelred when he first learned this upsetting news. “Why should Ethelbald be against her?” He thought of something further. “She is Charlemagne’s great-granddaughter, Ethelred. I heard that is partly why Father married her, to link our line to the line of Charlemagne.”
    “Ethelbald’s objection has to do with Judith’s being crowned and anointed Queen of Wessex when she married Father,” Ethelred explained. “No queen has ever been anointed before, Alfred; not in Wessex and not in the empire. Anointing is for kings, not for queens. In fact, none of the West Saxon thanes is pleased about the anointing. We do not have queens in Wessex. Mother was the king’s wife; she was never called queen.”
    “Judith’s mother is called queen,” Alfred said.
    “That is the way of the Franks. It is not our way.”
    Alfred brightened. “Perhaps Father can send Judith home. She would like that.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t think she is very happy here, Ethelred. She doesn’t speak our language and she is so far away from her home. …”
    But Ethelred was shaking his head. “Marriage is for life, Alfred. Father cannot send Judith home.”
    “Oh.”
    “Father has sent for Ethelbald to come to Winchester to parley,” Ethelred said next.
    Alfred was surprised. “Will he come?” he asked after a moment. “Everybody is so angry with him here.”
    “No one knows what he will do,” Ethelred said.
    Alfred’s fair brows were drawn together. “I cannot remember Ethelbald,” he confessed.
    “He was at your christening.” Ethelred ruffled his little brother’s hair. “But I suppose you cannot remember that.”
    Alfred pulled away from his brother’s hand. “Of course I cannot remember that!” He stared at Ethelred in outrage. “I was only a baby!”
    “That is true,” Ethelred replied gravely. “But that is probably the only time you have ever met Ethelbald. He has always lived with his foster father in the west.”
    “Ethelred, why did Ethelbald have a foster father?” This was a question that had been puzzling Alfred for several days.