Her Royal Majesty Dierdal Aurora Leandra, Queen of Mercia, was truly the kindest, noblest, and most gracious woman I knew. “If anyone can do this,” I said softly, “it is you.”Īnd I believed it with all my heart. I cannot.” She gasped, and the muscles in her neck and face bulged with the strain of her labor. “You are a strong and brave woman.” I bent in closer and smoothed loose strands off her forehead. I rapidly placed the chalice on the bedside table and enfolded her hand in mine. The queen fumbled for something to grasp. “Push, Your Majesty,” the head midwife said, her voice commanding and soothing at the same time. After all the kindness she’d shown to me in the year I’d lived at the royal residence, aiding in her travail was the least I could do in return. With so few ladies remaining after the evacuation of the palace, we’d all worked tirelessly during the past eighteen hours that the queen had been in labor, attempting to ease her distress as best we could.Īlthough my stomach roiled with squeamishness every time I glimpsed the bloody sheets the midwives kept taking away, I was thankful I hadn’t left Delsworth Castle with the other ladies-in-waiting as the queen had urged. One of the other ladies rushed across the chamber to do the midwife’s bidding in preparation for the next royal son or daughter. “The babe is finally coming.” The head midwife spoke calmly from the footboard of the large canopied bed. Her eyes were glassy, and her blond hair had come loose from its plait and now lay in tangled waves, damp with perspiration. Against the feather bolster and pillow beres, the beautiful woman was as pale as the linen sheets she lay upon. The queen clamped her lips closed to fend off another scream. I tried to quell my shaking so I wouldn’t spill the liquid that was supposed to slow the bleeding but hadn’t yet. “Another sip, Your Majesty,” I pleaded, holding out the golden chalice of raspberry-leaf tea.

Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.Ĭover Design by Emilie Hendryx of E. All other characters are products of the author’s imagination. This is a work of historical reconstruction the appearances of certain historical figures are accordingly inevitable. Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

With you always by jody hedlund