Here’s the blurb

England, AD1045

King Edward has married into the powerful House of Godwine, alongside making his wife’s brother, Sweyn Godwineson, Earl of Hereford. The House of Leofwine has received nothing, despite their continuing loyalty to the new king.

With the kingdom threatened by the pretensions of King Magnus of Norway, seeking to make good on the claim that he and Harthacnut agreed to inherit each other’s kingdoms should the other die first, King Edward is determined to build a ship army to counter anything his enemy might attempt.

But while the king’s eye is on external enemies, there are those closer to home determined to cause the king problems, most notably Sweyn Godwineson, who allies with the Welsh king responsible for the death of Eadwine Leofwineson, and then abducts the abbess of Leominster, refusing to give her up. With his sister as the king’s wife, Sweyn believes he can’t be touched until the church acts against him and he’s excommunicated and outlawed.

And Sweyn Godwineson hasn’t finished causing his king problems. When he returns to England without the king’s permission, desperate to recover his landed wealth and possessions, Sweyn finds more than just the House of Leofwine determined against his reinstatement.

Desperate men will take desperate actions, even the king’s brother.

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Check out the Earls of Mercia series.

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Chapter 1

AD1045, Spring, Oxford, Leofric

‘The king has gifted more land to his wife,’ Lady Godgifu hissed to Earl Leofric as she strode from one end of their private quarters to another. He winced to hear the fury in her words.

‘She is his wife. It’s to be expected. He does no more than gift her the lands his mother held when she was queen.’

‘Is that right?’ his wife rounded on him, coming to an abrupt halt and rearing up before him. ‘It is merely the lands due to the queen, is it, just as the earls have lands due to them?’ Once more, Leofric grimaced to hear the fury in his wife’s words. 

‘It is right, yes, and I’ve told you of the king’s reasons for making this marriage.’

‘Yes, you did, and with them, you implied that it would be a union worth nothing to the bloody Godwine family, and yet now, they have more landed possessions to laud over us and the other earls and their families.’

Leofric watched his wife, noting her flushed cheeks and how her lips were pursed as she once more paced from one end of the room to the other. All could hear the sound of her shoes over the wooden floorboards. All would hear, but whether they knew what it meant remained to be seen. 

‘The king does us no disservice.’

‘And neither does he reward us for our loyalty,’ and here, his wife stabbed her chest forcefully with her finger. ‘Our loyalty and our desire to keep England united.’

‘The king must be seen to be caring towards his wife and any future children she must think to bear for him.’

‘But there are to be no children,’ Lady Godgifu all but shrieked, and now her face had bleached of all colour. ‘You’ve assured me,’ she almost spat.

‘And the king assured me. My dear, really, you must understand that this game the king is playing isn’t going to be concluded in a matter of months. He must be shown to be thinking of his wife’s future.’

‘Then he needs to do something to rein in that fat old Lady Gytha.’

Leofric recoiled at his wife’s harsh words, yet they were true. No one would deny them. Lady Gytha and her many, many years of childbearing had ensured the Godwine clan was huge. The House of Leofric was the very opposite, although his son, Ælfgar, was doing his best, alongside his wife, to ensure that the lack of children born to his father and mother was rectified in the next generation. Already they were the parents to three sons and a daughter.

‘What would you have me do?’ Earl Leofric capitulated. ‘The king can’t cast his wife aside so soon after the marriage. Neither can he purposefully withhold lands normally in the possession of the woman who is queen. Should he even attempt to do so, Earl Godwine will raise a stink at the witan.’

‘The king shouldn’t be fearful of that man,’ Godgifu sneered.

‘I don’t for one moment think he’s fearful of Earl Godwine. As I said, to ensure the earl and his family don’t suspect the king, he must do everything as he would, as though he knew there would be an heir at some point in the future.’

‘I don’t like it,’ Lady Godgifu finally swept onto the chair beside Leofric’s. ‘I don’t like it at all.’

‘And why, this morning, of them all, has it riled so much?’ Earl Leofric risked her wrath but knew the question needed asking.

‘Lady Gytha,’ Lady Godgifu began.

‘What of Lady Gytha?’ Leofric prodded when nothing further was forthcoming.

‘She, she,’ and here Lady Godgifu took a steadying breath and actually looked at her husband without the fury in her eyes. ‘She’s determined I’m only too aware of what her daughter has accomplished. She’s ensured word reached me of the queen’s latest acquisitions at Wantage and Lambourn.’

‘And they came as a surprise to you?’ Leofric felt safer now that Godgifu’s flash of fury had dissipated.

‘No, not really. I knew it would happen. It’s just the way that terrible woman has of making sure all know about her family and its wealth. She has no shame.’

Leofric found a grin on his face and chuckled gently.

‘Why should she be any different to her husband? He’s shameless in his grasping ways. He shows no remorse for those he tramples along the way. He’s almost without morals.’

‘It’s unseemly in a woman,’ Godgifu harrumphed unhappily, and Leofric laughed all the more.

‘So you wouldn’t do it given half a chance?’

‘I most certainly would not. There’s no need to gloat about my landed interests to anyone. I’m the earl of Mercia’s wife. I must have landed wealth, but I don’t need to vaunt about it.’ Godgifu settled herself, perching, Leofric couldn’t help thinking, like a hen over her egg. Not that he dared say that out loud. 

‘She’s proud of her daughter. Think how foolish she’ll look when there’s no child and her grandson isn’t the next king of England.’

Lady Godgifu lapsed to silence, and then a slow grin spread over her face, returning to its normal pale colour. ‘It’ll be interesting to hear the excuses when they start in September,’ she murmured. ‘Provided the king hasn’t played us for fools. I don’t wish to have to contend with that family having a queen amongst them as well as a future king.’

Leofric nodded, pleased to have placated his wife, for all worry ran through his chest. The king had assured him that it was a means of curtailing the growing power of the House of Godwine, but Leofric couldn’t help thinking that his king was a wily man. Maybe he was merely placating the House of Leofwine for now. He gnawed on his lip and worked to restore his composure.

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Check out The Earls of Mercia series page for more information