Since the day he has been enslaved, Finan never thought that he would have to face his origins. But when an old friend made his arrival to Wessex, the Irishman his forced to deal with his past.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ailis was waiting inside King's Edward office. It's been ten minutes since the priest, who present himself as Father Pyrlig, led her here. He had knocked at the door of her room, telling her that the King would like to see her. She was surprised that he decided by himself to have a discussion with her. She didn't know what to expect from him.
She heard a lot about King Alfred, Edward's father. She knew him as a strategic man and mostly ambitious with his dream of a united England. A dream which was still far from being real, Nothumbria remaining in part to the Danes.
She started to walk around the room. There was a huge table in the middle, full of maps and documents. Some of them had painting representing battles. Ailis lost herself in the beauty of the artwork, causing her to jump when the door opened. She turned back to face Edward. His expression was neutral. She couldn't say if it was a good thing due to their discussion of the morning.
"Lord King." She said as he walked to her. Without a word, he walked to the table and took one of the documents that intrigued Ailis. A soft smile appeared on his face, with some sort of nostalgia.
"This are pages of my Father's Chronicles. He wanted peoples to know how England was born, event centuries after his death."
"But he didn't succeed." She looked up to him, wondering what will be his reaction. But he did not seem upset. He just put down the paper delicately.
"He didn't. But I intend to fulfill his wish." He turned to Ailis and crossed his fingers together. "That's why I can't accept to fight the Danes with you. I need to keep peace in England, for a time." The Lady gnashed, still astonished by this supposedly agreement between Wessex and the Danes. Even though, she kept her doubt for her this time and listen to Edward as he spoke again. "But, if we can't be ally of war, we can be ally of peace."
"And how will you do that?" She frowned. The King's hands were now in his back as he walked toward a window.
"I can negotiate with the Danes, to maintain peace between you and them." Ailis tried her best to not scoffed at his sentence.
"And why would they listen to you?" He turned to her, rising an eyebrow. "We are not a part of your Kingdom."
"No, but we could be bounded." He smirked lightly.
"A marriage?" She asked, after a moment to figure out what he could have in mind.
"Your King has many daughters, I am sure one would fit to my son." His smile didn't disappear. He was right, Dealla gave Conall four daughters and no living son. But the Queen was still in age to provide a healthy son to him. Rohan and Bran were both sturdy boys, why couldn't she have others?
"And you assume that the Danes will leave our lands just because of a marriage?" Her tone was slowly gaining the disbelief one she had during the Witan.
"No, they won't leave, that's for sure. But they'll stop the bloodshed." He said, more serious.
"Our lands had never been theirs." She snapped but Edward didn't flinch.
