Chapter 16
WilfridWhere had she seen the tall monk before? His appearance teased her memory, but she could not place him. He was smiling into her eyes as though he knew her, an amused lift to the corner of his mouth as though he knew that he was causing her confusion. He was handsome, dark-haired and dark-eyed, his skin tanned from the sun in Rome, his hair cut to the Roman style, the crown shaved and a circle of hair left around his head to suggest the Lord’s crown of thorns. She did not like the Roman tonsure and hoped that it would not become customary in Northumbria, but she had to admit that it suited him.
‘The Princess Etheldreda,’ King Alfrid was saying, ‘a jewel added to the family treasure since you left, Wilfrid.’ Alfrid’s voice had an edge of irony to it that Wilfrid picked up
