When the sky lightened the next morn, Alys rolled over in the soft bed and sighed contentedly. Edana still slept on a pallet before the single coal glowing feebly in the brazier, as the first golden rays of sunlight slanted through the shutters.
But to Alys’s surprise, Brigid hovered on the threshold, the tangle of her dark auburn hair hanging loose over her shoulders. She was clad only in her chemise and looked on the verge of tears.
Alys swung out of bed in a heartbeat and crossed the cold floor. “Brigid, what is amiss?”
Edana started, even at Alys’s low tones, and jumped to her feet, hastily coaxing that coal to a flame. Brigid bit her lip and considered the two, her gaze finally meeting Alys’s again.
“M-m-mother said I c-c-could not call you again,” she admitted, her tears welling.
