Lady Eadgith was almost surprised to find Leofric in his study as he had said he would be. In the time it took her to walk there, she had been wondering whether all of these evenings he had claimed to pass alone in his study had not in fact been spent in Leila’s bed.
Yet there he sat, alone with a book and a cup of wine, looking quite harmless and, in the flickering candlelight, rather tired and old.
Eadgith hesitated. Perhaps she had imagined the bump on Leila’s belly after all.
“If I had wanted company, Eadgith,” he said wearily, “I would have spent the evening in the hall.”
She knew he was not to be disturbed on such evenings except for emergencies or for unexpected visitors of rank no less than knight. She thought she should rather wait and consider this another time… sleep on it, perhaps–
But when she thought of sleeping beside him in their bed, knowing that he might have so recently been in Leila’s, she could not repress her sarcasm.
“Funny!” she laughed bitterly. “I thought that when you wanted company you went to Leila’s bed!”
Leofric slammed his book shut.
“What?” he snapped. He pronounced his “t” so sharply that the very word seemed to cut her like a knife.
“I just met her in her nightgown! And I saw her belly! And the servants are talking!”
“What?” he hissed. He put down his book and came around the table to stand before her. With his long legs, it only took three strides, but she felt the weight of his tread as if it were falling upon her neck.
She was frightened, and she was furious at him for daring to frighten her when he was the one who had done wrong. She was frightened and furious enough to do something foolish. She slapped him.
Her strength was nothing compared to the weight of him and to the strength of his thick neck. He scarcely moved except to turn his face away from her, though her hand burned with the sting of the blow.
But she did not have time to ponder the futility of the gesture, for he had turned back to her and, even before his eyes had quite reopened, slapped her back.
Her weight was nothing compared to the strength of his arm, and she went stumbling backwards into the wall, without which she would have simply fallen.
“Idiot woman!” he roared at her. “Don’t hit me when I’m drunk! Or I shall do something you’ll regret!”
Eadgith sobbed.
“Now what is this about?” he asked.
“I saw Leila! I saw her belly! You lied to me! Liar!”
“Son of a serpent! Lied to you about what? I never touched her! Did she tell you I did?”
“No…”
“Damn them all,” he muttered and turned away to take up and buckle on his sword.
“What are you doing?” Eadgith quavered.
“Going to ask her what this is about! God help her if your eyes didn’t deceive you.”
“Oh, Leofric!” Eadgith wailed, stricken with remorse now that she had begun to believe Leofric had had nothing to do with it at all. It was no longer her problem. “Not with your sword! With a baby!”
“The sword isn’t for her, you idiot,” he slurred. “It’s for the man. Get out of my way.”
She tried to stop him, but her weight was nothing compared to his, and he bowled her out of the way and left.
Chapters
Ah ha. I knew it wasn't Leofric's.