The Incident at the Coronation

As the Half-King strode off to speak with Cynesige, the red-faced bishop of Lichfield, Æthelgifu found herself in conversation with the aetheling's tutor, Æthelwold. A former monk of Glastonbury, at the intercession of Queen Edgifu he had been granted the ruins of the old abbey at Abingdon, one of many that had long lain abandoned after being sacked by the Danes. He was building a new abbey which would be run on the rule of St. Benedict, without any interfering lay patron, and peopled with devout monks instead of the lazy, ignorant secular canons who scrounged livings off the remaining houses; not even Dunstan had succeeded in dislodging them at Glastonbury. Æthelwold had been immersing himself in old charters and hoped to make legal arguments for the restoration of all Abingdon's former lands that had fallen into the hands of the laity. Æthelgifu was impressed by the young man's gentle fervour, but she couldn't help wondering which of her own estates had once belonged to religious houses.

Out of the corner of her eye Æthelgifu witnessed the barrel-chested dishthegn Ælfheah extricate the King from the earnest attentions of his grandmother and Abbott Dunstan. Ælfheah and his brother Ælfhere, were the sons of her late brother, on whom Edmund had magnanimously bestowed the ealdormanry of Outer Mercia. Lately they had become important ministers at Edred's court, and from the confident and confiding way Ælfheah took the young King's arm it seemed that he intended they should make themselves similarly indispensable to Edred's successor.

Æthelgifu's heart fluttered as she realised that Ælfheah was leading the King towards her and her daughter. She curtsied low, her daughter following her example. The King smiled radiantly, displaying dazzling white teeth. "Nay kinswoman," he said, signalling that they should rise. "It is I who should bow down in the presence of such beauty." His expansive gaze plainly indicated that both mother and daughter were included in the compliment; the two women blushed delightedly. Edwig, the older woman noted, though not dwarfish like his brother, was below average height, yet slim and well proportioned, his features fine and even. His moustache and beard were yet straggly, but full golden locks cascaded in waves onto his shoulders, glistening in the sun.

"This must be my cousin Ælfgifu," he said taking the girl's small hand in his. "When last I saw her, Ælfheah, she stamped on the toy ship my uncle's steersman carved for me; I could never rig it right again after."

"As I remember, sire, I dismasted your ship only because you would not return to me my dolly," Ælfgifu replied pertly.

"That was ill done my lord, to wrest a noble lady from her chaperone," admonished the dishthegn, chuckling under his thick, sandy moustaches. He was a short man, no taller than his master, but broad-shouldered and powerfully built. Æthelgifu was struck most by piercing pale blue eyes that missed nothing.

"Ah, but now I am King, and should the lady Ælfgifu's playthings take my fancy, she may not refuse me," teased Edgar.

"And nor would she wish to," said Æthelgifu hurriedly, observing that the King still held her daughter's hand. The golden haired youth regarded her enquiringly. "And nor would her chaperone," she added, smiling coyly but holding his gaze.

While the young King continued chatting easily with the mother and daughter, Ælfheah was drawn aside by his brother, Ælfhere, a taller, slimmer version of the dishthegn. Returning Ælfheah whispered in the Kings ear.

"It seems that my grandmother believes I am neglecting my duties," sighed Edwig. Over his shoulder Æthelgifu saw the dowager Edgifu glaring across at her, Abbot Dunstan purse-lipped by her side, his great blacksmith's arms folded across his chest.

"Of course the King has no time on his coronation day for the prattle of foolish women," agreed Æthelgifu, being sure to thrust out her ample chest and flash him her most winning smile. "But when shall our noble lord grace us with his company again? It would be our delight to entertain him as he should choose, is that not so Ælfgifu?"

"Oh yes! We are entirely at the King's disposal, " agreed Ælfgifu, taking her cue, and giving Edwig a freckle-faced smile that for all its open innocence would have twitched the cock of the most ascetic of Abbot Æthelwold's monks.

"Come to my bower once the feast has begun, I will slip away and join you," said Edwig. "It can be arranged?" he asked eagerly, turning to Ælfheah.

The dishthegn appeared doubtful, but recognising the petulant turn of the King's mouth, agreed. "It can be arranged."

Pulling the hoods of their mantles over their heads the two women slipped past the pool of yellow light spilling from the doors of the great hall, the roar of feasting loud within, and made their way to the King's bower. Ælfhere was waiting for them; thinner-faced than his brother, he looked positively gaunt in the moonlight. He lead them up the outer stairs to an upper chamber and told them to wait.

"Ælfheah shall cover for the King's absence as long as he is able," Ælfhere explained urgently, "but do not allow him to tarry too long." With that he left, returning hurriedly to the hall.

Æthelgifu and her daughter found themselves in a chamber lit by the flickering light of torches. Rich tapestries hung from walls lined with strongboxes containing the King's chattels, many of the finest pieces having been put on display. At the far end the King's great bed had been assembled.

As Ælfgifu marvelled at the fineness of the hangings, Æthelgifu covetously handled a gilt-inlaid drinking horn. This was the world in which she belonged. She was not going to let it slip out of her grasp.

"If we are not to have much time then we must be ready for the King when he comes," she said. "Undress child and get in the bed."

Ælfgifu looked at her mother open-mouthed. Æthelgifu cursed herself for not preparing the girl better. What did the little fool think they had come here for?

But then seeing her daughter before her, so innocent in her pretty frock, for a moment Æthelgifu melted. After this night Ælfgifu would no longer be the child she had taught to sew and read, who had come running to her when she had grazed a knee or to bring her posies of flowers from the wood. She would be a grown woman inducted into all the mysteries of her sex. But, Æthelgifu told herself, her daughter's maidenhead was a price worth the paying for what they all stood to gain.

"Here," she said, "let me." Taking hold of the trusting face, she gently traced her finger tips along the line of the long neck, the bow of the lips, the slightly dimpled chin, the freckled cheeks; sliding her fingers up past the temples and under the wimple she removed the covering cloth, freeing the profusion of russet curls. Ælfgifu stood obediently still as Æthelgifu undressed her, feeling her mother' s hot breath on her neck and the slow purposeful touch of her hands.

Only when Æthelgifu knelt at her feet and began lifting the linen undergarment, sensuously pushing the bunched cloth up her calves, past the knees, did Ælfgifu object. "Mother would you have the King see me quite naked?"

Infuriated at the child's ill-timed modesty, Æthelgifu by way of answer whipped the tunic over her daughter's head, baring the young body in one swift decisive movement. Instinctively the girl hunched her shoulders, covering her breasts with her upper arms and shielding her crotch with her hands. Æthelgifu pulled them away, Ælfgifu flinching before her mother's apparent anger.

"Listen to me," said Æthelgifu trying to rein in her sense of urgency and be patient with the girl. "Do you not think that every thegn in Wessex and beyond will be serving up their daughters as a dish for the King? And where will you be then, the daughter of a poor widow? But if you should please the King tonight..."

"He will marry me?" asked Ælfgifu, seeing some hope in her desperate situation.

"Perhaps," replied Æthelgifu, not wishing to raise her daughter's hopes so high just yet. It would not help if she were to say something foolish to the King. "But whatever else he will be grateful. There are your brothers to think of. If you can keep him interested he might even reward you with an estate or two. How should you like that?"

"But mother I have never been with a man!" exclaimed Ælfgifu, close to tears.

"I should think not my girl, do you think I would shame myself by bringing my daughter to the King's bed if she were not a virgin? You should be honoured."

"But I don't know what to do with a man. How am I to please him?" sniffed Ælfgifu.

"Oh child," said Æthelgifu, cupping her daughters face in her hands and kissing her upon the lips. "Do you think I would let such an opportunity rest on an ignorant girl and the fumblings of a boy? I shall be here to help you, both of you. Now help me undress."

As Ælfgifu helped her mother out of her clothes Æthelgifu subtly encouraged her to linger, to familiarise herself with the matronly flesh: the firm shapely calves and fleshy thighs, the well-rounded buttocks, the spreading mat of pubes, the soft mound of her belly, the heavy, drooping breasts and the long, delicately creased neck. In the hesitant touches and unnecessary pauses the widow could sense her daughter's fascination, and found herself enjoying it. She knew this night she would be making demands upon her daughter that no mother should make; she did not doubt that she could command her obedience, but it would be so much easier if passion could be awakened in the girl. The boy's touch could not be trusted, she would need to take charge of her daughter's body herself, to ensure that when the King came to take her she was ready and eager to be taken.

Standing naked before her naked daughter, Æthelgifu placed her hands on the younger woman's buttocks and drew her towards her, so that their bodies met, thigh against thigh, pubic mound against pubic mound, breast against breast, lip against lip; gently at first, allowing Ælfgifu time to relax, then gradually increasing the pressure, demanding more the more her daughter responded. As their lips mashed in earnest, and their breasts squashed between them, Æthelgifu ground her crotch against her daughter's. Slipping her tongue into her daughter's mouth, she felt Ælfgifu respond eagerly. It was almost too much; she had not thought to awaken such passion in her daughter, had not thought that she herself could feel such desire for the child of her loins. What sort of mother am I? she thought, as her hand explored the cleft in Ælfgifu's buttocks, sliding down to test if she were moist; what sort of daughter have I raised? as Ælfgifu urgently pushed back onto her exploring hand.

Æthelgifu broke off the clinch, amused to see her daughter's petulant frustration as she did so, as if a toy had been taken from her. "We should be ready in the bed when the King comes," she said.

They sat themselves side by side against the sloping head board, the covers drawn down to expose their breasts. And they waited.

"Mother," asked Ælfgifu after a while. "Why did you kiss me?"

"I wanted to prepare you for the King," Æthelgifu responded seriously. "He is only a boy and may be over-eager. I would not want him entering you without first having made you moist."

"I am certainly moist now," said Ælfgifu blowing out her cheeks. "Did you enjoy kissing me?"

"You are a very good kisser," Æthelgifu reassured her.

Ælfgifu looked shyly across at her mother. "Would you kiss me some more? Only I think I might not be moist enough."

Perhaps I should make sure, thought Æthelgifu. "The King could arrive at any moment. But I will check to see if you are prepared." Giving her daughter's nipple a playful tweak, she pulled back the covers, and parting Ælfgifu's legs, knelt down between them. She ran her finger round the inner lips. Perhaps further moistening was called for, and since she was already down here... Tentatively she ran the tip of her tongue along the folds of the inner lips.

"Oh mother that is lovely," said Ælfgifu. "Don't stop." Æthelgifu who had not been with another woman since she had left the convent, found herself craving the never to be forgotten taste of cunt. The nuns had been cruel, using her to satiate their own frustrated needs, and she had delighted in defying them, earning herself many a cruel birching, but in their brutal subjugation of her flesh they had taken her young woman's body to places no man had ever reached. She had wished to spare her daughter the harsh regime of the nunnery; only now could she bring herself to concede how her daughter had missed out from being home schooled by her mother. Why had she not taken it upon herself to complete her daughter's education before?

Ælfgifu's cunt was beautiful, perfect, she thought, feeling a warm upsurge of motherly pride. And there was so much the holy sisters had taught her that she could pass onto her daughter. Eagerly she went to work with fingers and tongue on the labia and the clitoris, denying herself only the opening, for that belonged to the King. Ælfgifu lay back in a state of a bliss: did any girl have a more devoted mother?

And that was how King Edwig found them, Æthelgifu kneeling with her arse in the air and her face buried in the Y of Ælfgifu's legs as the girl came to a shuddering climax.

"Did I keep you waiting so long?" he asked, amused and and a little embarrassed. "It was quite difficult to slip away."

"Our desire for you overwhelmed us, sire," explained Æthelgifu, scrambling to the edge of her bed.

"My mother was showing me what I might expect, sire. She did not want me to be unprepared for you," elaborated Ælfgifu.

"My daughter is a virgin I am afraid, sire," confirmed Æthelgifu, her lips gleaming with her daughter's secretions. "A complete innocent."

"Very thoughtful I am sure," murmured the bewildered youth. "Only I am not sure I know how to do what you were doing to your daughter."

"My mother is a wonderful teacher, sire," beamed Ælfgifu, all guileless enthusiasm. "I am sure she would show you."

"I insist sire," said Æthelgifu, taking charge of the situation. "Ælfgifu, what are you waiting for? Undress the King."

Ælfgifu set to with a will, stripping Edwig of his clothes, and in doing so unleashing her first erect cock. Slim, straight and surprisingly long, it did not seem to perturb Ælfgifu at all, if anything the King seemed disconcerted to have an unembarrassedly naked young woman kneeling between his legs taking such an undisguised interest in what he had there.

To Edwig's consternation, Æthelgifu burst out laughing. "I am sorry, sire, only you seem rather overdressed."

Looking up Ælfgifu also collapsed in giggles. "So he is."

"I was not aware I was dressed at all," Edwig said puzzled, then felt his head with his hands. "Oh." He was, he realised, stark bollock naked except in that he was still wearing his golden crown.

Ælfgifu stood up and, kissing him upon the lip, lifted off the crown and tossed it across the room, not caring where it landed. "But what am I to do about your sceptre?" she asked, fondling his cock.

Æthelgifu raised herself from the bed, her broad hips swaying. "Do you mind if I demonstrate to my daughter?"

"Please do," gulped her young liege lord.

With that the matron knelt on her haunches before the King, her daughter doing likewise that she might study her mother at work. Young girls learn from their mothers, thought Æthelgifu, proudly.

As Æthelgifu purposefully pleasured the royal cock, teasing the bedewed glans with her tongue, while her hand manipulated the solid shaft, teaching her daughter how to bring him agonisingly to the brink of ecstasy and then hold him back. Ælfgifu learnt eagerly, imitating all her mother's moves; but she had not yet quite her mother's skill. Without warning Edwig's load flew into her face.

Æthelgifu was annoyed with her daughter, she had not intended for him to come until his cock was safely buried between the girl's legs. Then annoyance turned to concern as she saw her daughter clawing her face in distress: some of Edwig's semen had hit her in the eye.

As Æthelgifu bathed her daughter's eye from a pitcher by the bed, Edwig hovered around them, a picture of apologetic concern. "I am so sorry, please what can I do to make it up to you? Name anything."

Æthelgifu's ears pricked up at that, but before she could say anything, Ælfgifu, her eye still red and weeping, put her hand on the young King's breast. "You did not mean to, sire; it is my fault for being clumsy and making you come when you were not prepared. Please forgive me."

"You are so sweet!" exclaimed Edwig placing his hands on her shoulders; then earnestly looking her in the eye, he added, "I promise I shall never hurt you again. Ever."

Ælfgifu smiled and kissed him tenderly on the lips, letting his arms engulf her. "Is she not an angel?" Edwig asked turning to her mother.

Yes thought Æthelgifu, she is. Now fuck her. "Sire," she said, "I see you are quite recovered." With the vigour of youth his cock was already hardening, no doubt encouraged by the rubbing of Ælfgifu's thigh as he held her in his arms.

"Oh good, you must take me properly, in the cunt," said Ælfgifu with a candour that alarmed even her mother.

"Of course I shall, my darling," replied Edwig, leading her by the hand over to the bed. "Madam," he said, turning to Æthelgifu, "Will you come to our assistance? We are both innocents. I am sure I should benefit from your instruction as much as your daughter."

He is a virgin, realised Æthelgifu, that old bat of a grandmother has never let him near a woman. She almost laughed in triumph. There is so much I could teach them, she thought, if only there were more time. "Sire on this occasion as my daughter is already most moist, you may proceed directly to mounting her."

"Oh yes, do so," agreed her daughter. "I am ready."

"Ælfgifu, lie down and clutch your knees, holding them as far apart as they will go," instructed Æthelgifu. Ælfgifu obeyed, fully exposing her sex to the fascinated King, who had questions. Briefly Æthelgifu explained to him all the working parts, encouraging him to touch and taste,. She was conscious of the passing of time, but thought it good for her daughter's sake that the boy should have some knowledge beyond mere thrusting.

"Are all women's cunts so beautiful," asked Edwig, awed as he surveyed Ælfgifu's copper-wire crowned treasure with the puffed outer lips and the small pink inner lips splayed for his inspection.

"Women's cunts vary as much men's cocks, sire," explained Æthelgifu placing one foot on the bed and the other on the floor, so the King might see better. "My lips are darker and longer than my daughter's."

"But just as enchanting," answered Edwig, breathing in the rich aroma.

She winced as he tried a tentative taste. "Remember what I told you? More softly sire. Oh yes, that is much better." The boy was a fast learner, a natural in fact.

"Sire I am sure my mother's cunt tastes delightful," said Ælfgifu displaying a little impatience, "and I should like to taste it myself..."

"Of course my dear you must," interjected the King.

"...but I should very much like to be fucked now."

Red-faced the King desisted from pleasuring Æthelgifu, and bent to work a little uncertainly over her daughter. "Sire, allow me," said Æthelgifu, guiding his cock to her daughter's slot, and holding it in place, helping to ease it through the virginal lips. Once he had the head safely in she allowed him to thrust his full length. Her daughter grimaced but as far as she could see there was no blood. She made him go slowly at first, but as her daughter visibly relaxed, she encouraged him to vary the pace. Having come so recently he had the staying power for a little experimentation.