Shaylee sat on a bench in the courtyard of the royal palace. The door to the throne room had just opened, and her uncle came out into the yard. Next to him walked a young man wearing a plain crown on his brown curls. That must be the king. The men approached her, and Shaylee rose from her bench. It seemed to be indecent to sit in the presence of a king.
She smiled at the man and made a slight curtsey, "Mylord."
"You must be the niece of our dear lord Uhtred," the king said and eyeballed her.
Suddenly, Shaylee was very glad Eadith had insisted on giving her some of her dresses. She herself would have had nothing to wear that would have been appropriate in such a setting. Now she wore a white underdress, over which she wore a blue overdress, which had a plainly decorated bodice. Actually, no dress that she would wear otherwise. But today, she was glad that she had let herself be persuaded by Eadith. She put on her most demure smile and nodded, " That's me, Lord King."
"And a Christian woman," the King noted with a movement toward her cross. Shaylee withheld a mischievous smile. Around her neck, she wore a striking string of pearls with a cross at the end. It was her grandmother's necklace, who had received the jewellery from one of her admirers. Neither she nor Shaylee had worn the necklace much. It was too flashy and ostentatious. Her grandmother had given it to her so she could make money out of it if she ever ran out of silver. But today, Shaylee had exchanged her normal necklace for this one. Her uncle had looked at her in the morning with eyebrows raised. He knew as well as she did that such a piece of jewellery wasn't her style at all. And besides, her faith was not as strong as that she would wear such a necklace. But the king did not need to know that. He should only think of her as a devout Christian.
She touched the cross and said, "I was raised a Christian."
King Edward looked at her and said, "I was about to retreat to prayer. Perhaps you'd like to join me?"
That was about the last thing Shaylee wanted, but such an invitation was not turned down, so Shaylee accompanied the king into the chapel and knelt beside him before the altar. Like a good Christian woman, she folded her hands and closed her eyes. Silently, she began to murmur to herself:
„Go ndéanfadh Neart Dé píolótú orainn. Go gcaomhnóidh Cumhacht Dé sinn.
Go dtuga eagna Dé treoir dúinn.
Go gcosnódh Lámh Dé sinn. Go n-ordóidh Bealach Dé sinn. Go gcosnódh Sciath Dé sinn.Go ndéanfadh Óstach Dé sinn a chosaintI gcoinne ribe na ndaoine olc, In aghaidh temptations an domhain.
Go mbeadh Críost linn!
Go mbeadh Críost os ár gcomhair!
Go mbeadh Críost ionainn, Críost thar aon rud eile!
Go maire do Shlánaitheacht, a Thiarna, Bí linn i gcónaí,
An lá seo, a Thiarna, agus go brách. Amen."
"And what are you praying for?" the king asked her and examined her from the side.
Shaylee hesitated; the prayer she had said was a prayer that any child in Ireland could recite. But since Shaylee doubted that the King of Wessex understood her mother tongue. So she simply said, "For my family."
"Your family?" the king asked.
"My uncle, his children," Shaylee replied.
The King turned to her and asked dryly, "And surely for your husband, too."
Shaylee was startled and looked at the man next to her in shock. The man grinned impishly, "Wessex had his spies everywhere. And you caused quite a stir in Ireland. Your husband is apprehensive about you. Perhaps I should inform him that you are well."
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New Shores ➳ The Last Kingdom | Finan the Agile (The Northman's Daughter 1)
同人小說Shaylee had nothing more to lose when she sneaked into a boat and left her homeland Ireland for good. She had burned all the bridges behind her, and her future was more than uncertain. All she had was a name. A name her grandmother told her and migh...
