Love's Tangled Threads

Bertha's Tale: A Novel - episode 6

A creative retelling, based on truth but not intended to be read as historical fact.

Æthelberht’s voice

Canterbury, c. A.D. 580

My heart sank the moment I heard footsteps enter the hall behind me.

I felt it as a knot in the pit of my stomach, that strange angst difficult to describe with words but so easily recognisable. I rubbed my forehead, furrowed my brow, clenched my jaw, steeling myself for what what about to unfold.

It was here, the moment I had been dreading. The person I had been dreading.

Bertha.

It had been an idyllic morning.

The bright spring sunshine glinted off her golden hair, which lay in a tangled heap on the linen-covered pillow. A few strands had escaped across her face; I reached across and tucked them behind her ear, embracing the soft warmth of her cheek.

Æthelhild looked so calm, so peaceful, as she slept, all the cares of her world gone for a short while as she lay here. Her eyes flickered, seeming to move under her eyelids, and I wondered what it was she was dreaming of. I studied her face, seemingly unchanged from when we had first met as we stood at the threshold of our adult lives, a mere thirteen or fourteen years old. We were now nineteen, and she had grown taller and more womanly, as I had grown taller and stronger; when awake, her eyes held a deep wisdom that she had collected over the years, making her seem older than she was.

Outside, the birds sang to each other as they played in the sunshine, flitting from branch to branch, enjoying the sweet-smelling blooms. Behind their melody lay the hum of those at work. Metal clanged, voices shouted, animals whinnied.

My fingers traced the line of her shoulder, somehow both delicate and strong, causing her to stir slightly in her sleep. I shifted back onto my own pillow, drinking in this moment. I felt I had everything I had ever wanted, right here in this room.

The door burst open and a messenger strode towards us with heavy footsteps. I jolted up and her eyes snapped open, both of us shocked by the intrusion. The baby began to shriek, snatched from her deep slumber.