The Viking and His Wife

A New Day

Belhild sat in her rightful place. Beside her, she patted Choffin's curly locks, bringing him close to her breast, giving rise to a blush from the young doctor.

Before her knelt her husband's concubine. The very one who she learned recently wanted her dead. The same one who wanted to take her place.

It was she who checked in regularly while Belhild received treatment. The others were occupied with celebrating her progress.

The morn she brought a bowl of stew, if it were not for Choffin by her side who figured out right away that it was laced with poison, she would have been long dead.

To her left, sat her husband who kept her previous chair warm. In his, she sat with the aura of a king.

The sides of her head were freshly shaved to commemorate her youth and strength. Her pink hair once dull held the vibrancy and fullness of a rose. Her colours were a deep violet. Her garment swept the floor. Garments she never thought she would live to wear again. Her weight was back, but not entirely. Her pale skin had regained some shade thanks to brief walks in the sun.

She all but relished in the power and authority of being alive.

It was very much as if she never left her position as the country's co-ruler. Had it not been for her sex, she would have been Earl but those times were behind them. Women nowadays gained and received respect just as much as the men. So today her husband had no say in what was to be done with his whore. No say none whatsoever.

"I could have you beheaded or hunted down. Killed. You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Alvida remained silent but the trembling in her skin never left since the moment she had been found out.

"Do you love my husband? A coward is he not? A fool for women."

Belhild sent a snide smile Genzic's way and smirked as long beads of sweat hustled down his face.

"I could never bring myself to love him more than a friend. Even today, I do not love him like a wife should love a husband. However, despite being a coward, he is a loyal coward. That deserves merit."

Belhild looked to Alvida, a frown present on her face. The concubine's silence spoke volumes.

"You don't love him, do you? So your plan was to rid of me not for my husband's heart but for power.

"To think these garments could have been yours, these rings and bracelets of gold."

Belhild held her hand out and the rattling of gold bracelets echoed in the room.

She had no interest in petty riches but she did not mind showing them off. The envy in Alvida's eyes was worth far more.

"If the gods would have it, I would be dead but here I sit alive and well. I have conquered yet another day... And you..." Belhild looked to the concubine with distaste, "Your days are numbered."

With that, she rose her arm and men came to take Alvida away to be jailed till her day of judgement. She would have to wait for days or months or maybe even years. Belhild cared not. There were other pressing matters more important than entertaining her husband's lovers.

She turned to Genzic and rose both brows. Choffin had at length fallen asleep against her side.

"Dear husband, why the sour face? You're free to join her but if you do, your place will no longer be at my side. You will no longer be made to eat at my table. Is that clear?"