She flushed angrily. ‘I haven’t surrendered. I’ve come to terms with the Normans, that’s all.’
‘Is that what you call it? I saw you in the tower. Your father would have been ashamed of you.’
‘He would not!’ She held her ground, recognising the truth as she said it. ‘My father wanted to protect Etton, but he wanted peace too. So do I.’
‘By whoring yourself out to a Norman?’
‘By giving myself willingly to my husband.’
‘Husband?’
Edmund raised his fist and she sprang backwards, catching hold of the doorframe just as one of the guards came around it.
‘My lady.’ He took one look at the scene and raised his sword. ‘It’s time to go.’
She nodded her head. From the look on Edmund’s face there was no point in trying to reason with him. There had been no point in coming. She’d risked antagonising Svend for nothing. And suddenly all she wanted was to be back with him again.
‘I thought you didn’t like men.’ Edmund’s voice was sharp-edged with malice. ‘Now I see I was just the wrong kind. How many Normans have you slept with, my lady?’
The scuffle started so fast she hardly knew how it had happened. The guard at her side made a lunge towards Edmund just as half a dozen men leapt up from the floor, surrounding him in a mob. The other guard pushed past her, charging into the fray with a shout of alarm. She heard grunts, followed by a sickening cry and a thud, and then Edmund’s hands were around her throat, circling her neck like a noose, gripping so tightly she could hardly breathe, let alone scream.
‘We want horses.’
Edmund’s voice was a snarl in her ear, but he wasn’t talking to her. One of the guards was being pinned to the floor with his own sword, now wielded by one of the Saxons. Desperately she sought the other, but there was no sign of him—only a bloody patch on the floor.
‘What have you done?’ She stared at the blood in horror.
‘What all Normans deserve!’ Edmund spat into the rushes, aiming a kick at the guard’s stomach. ‘Now, get horses and open the gates!’
‘Don’t do it!’ She struggled furiously, but Edmund’s grip on her throat only tightened.
‘Do it. Or your commander loses his lady.’
The guard nodded and staggered to his feet, hobbling out of the prison and towards the stables as if expecting to feel a knife in his back at any moment.
She watched him go with a sickening feeling. Why wasn’t he raising the alarm?
‘You won’t get away with this!’ Somehow she managed to croak out the words.
Edmund let go of her neck and spun her around, grabbing her breasts as he pulled her roughly against him. ‘I think I will. And then I’ll find out what all the Normans have been enjoying.’
‘Just one Norman.’ She brought her knee up, catching him hard in the groin. ‘And he’s worth a hundred of you!’
‘Whore!’
Edmund’s fist hit her square in the jaw, so forcefully that she flew backwards, skidding to a halt beside the door. For a moment the world seemed to go dark, and the barn spun around her as she tried to hold onto consciousness. She couldn’t let Edmund escape...couldn’t let him get away it...
‘It’s all ready.’
The guard’s voice seemed to come from a long way away. She looked up, trying to see through a swirling fog. How could he be back so soon?
‘Horses?’ Edmund grabbed her arm, hoisting her roughly to her feet.
‘Outside. I’ve tied up the door warden. No one will stop you from leaving.’ The guard lifted his arm suddenly, brandishing a new sword. ‘But you have to let her go.’
She felt a flicker of hope—quickly extinguished as Edmund shoved her forward abruptly, so fast that the guard was forced to lower his weapon. Too late she saw the flash of a dagger as another Saxon lunged towards them, stowing the point under the guard’s ribs.
‘No!’