The Grim Reaper

I am feeling like the Grim Reaper for the bodies are falling fast and furious in Outremer. I had to kill off a major character in the last chapter and I will be bloodying my hands with two deaths in the next chapter…..yikes. Anyone who has read my books knows that by the end, the landscape is usually littered with bodies. But I rarely have to deal out so many deaths in such close succession. I think one of the hardest deaths I’ve had to write was that of Ellen de Montfort, wife of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Here is a scene from her death in childbirth chapter on June 19, 1282.
The Reckoning, p. 485
The chamber was deep in shadows. Llywelyn was alone with his wife, sitting very still in a chair by the bed. He did not look up as they entered, not until Elizabeth said his name. He showed no surprise at sight of Davydd, showed no emotion at all. Davydd stepped forward, still not knowing what he would say. “Llywelyn….” He stopped, started again. “I’m sorry. Christ, but I’m so sorry….How does she?”
Llywelyn was holding Ellen’s hand in his, staring down at the jeweled wedding band, the ring she’d called her talisman, her luck. Just when Davydd had decided he was not going to answer, he said tonelessly, “She is dead.”