Hild (The Hild Sequence, #1)

by Nicola Griffith

They talked. Hild recognised Eadfrith’s voice, the elder ætheling, and then her own name. “… that knife?” the woman said. “A slaughter seax, for a maid!” “Oh, she’s no maid,” Eadfrith said. “She’s a hægtes in a cyrtel.”