The Breaking Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 1) by Jayne Castel Read Free Book Online Page B

Dylan, Gwyn gave a grunt of pleasure and
started helping himself to the roast boar and apples.
    “A good feast this,” he acknowledged with his mouth
full. “Penda has fine cooks.”
    Dylan gave a shrug before filling the trencher
before him with mutton stew. “It is impressive. Let us hope that Penda is as
generous with his gifts, as he is with his stores.”
    Gwyn nodded, his eyes glinting at Dylan’s meaning.
Powys had made a pact with Mercia before Dylan marched his men to war, but
Penda had yet to honor it. Still, now that they had reached Tamworth, there
would be plenty of time to talk of such things. This eve, Dylan was in no
hurry.
    Dylan’s gaze shifted to the other end of the table,
where the king and queen dined together. Their offspring – a fine looking brood
– flanked them; the two adolescent girls to the right and the three boys on the
other side.
    The king and queen spoke little, but Dylan noticed
the ease between them; the frequency with which their gazes met. Queen
Cyneswide was entering her fourth decade but she was still a beautiful woman.
Dylan could see, by the softness of her face every time she looked in Penda’s
direction, that she plainly adored her husband.
    No accounting for taste.
    Dylan took a draught of mead and turned his
attention back to the feast. He sampled a bit of everything, and was beginning
to feel uncomfortably full when servants brought honey cakes, plum tarts and
apple pies to the table. The feasters fell upon the sweets, as if they had not
already consumed a king’s share of food, drizzling the cakes with thick cream.
    It was then, as Dylan sat considering whether it
was prudent to eat anything else, that one of the girls serving the sweets,
caught his attention.
    It was uncomfortably hot in the hall and the young
woman’s face and arms gleamed with sweat. She wore a pretty green wealca that hugged her lissome form. She was small and slender but with a swelling
bosom that made her look ripe and womanly. Her thick mane of brown hair was
tied back, revealing a long neck. When she turned in Dylan’s direction, he saw
the girl had a plump, rosebud mouth and startling blue eyes.
    Desire lanced through Dylan, making him catch his
breath.
    Months without a woman made him suddenly hungry for
one. A night with such a girl would definitely put a smile on a man’s face. The
slave he had been admiring earlier was forgotten as his gaze devoured the
lovely serving wench. Consumed by lustful thoughts, Dylan looked away and held
out his cup to be filled by a passing slave.
    When he looked back in the girl’s direction, she
had gone.
     
     

Chapter Seven
    Ill-tidings
     
    “Let the dancing begin!”
    The feasting had ended, and the mountains of food
scraps tidied away. Servants had pushed the long feasting tables back against
the walls, to make way for the musicians – two playing bone whistles, and one
on a lyre – and the throng of dancers.
    The king and his family looked down upon the
revelry from a heah-setl, high seat, at the far end of the hall,
watching as the ealdormen and thegns led their wives out onto the center of the
floor to dance.
    Merwenna leaned over a water barrel, at the
opposite end of the hall, and sipped from a long-handled ladle. She drank
thirstily. The water tasted stale but was a balm in the airless heat of Penda’s
Great Hall.
    The musicians had struck up a lively tune. Men and
women whirled around the center of the hall. Merwenna stepped back from the
water barrel and let her gaze travel over them. There was joy and revelry on
their faces – but she could not share their gaiety. She would not rejoice for
Mercia’s victory until she found Beorn.
    Merwenna’s vision blurred with tears of frustration.
    She had spent the afternoon scouring Tamworth for
her betrothed, but had not found him. She had asked many men if they had seen
Beorn, or knew him, but none had. Some of the men she had asked had been rude
to her, others lecherous and frightening. She