THE THREE LIVES OF CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (#32)

As Told by the Holy Woman in Her Own Words
A Hundred or So Years after the End of the World

Matilda never failed to remind me of the trouble I’d caused for them with the Duke. With each passing day it seemed to be bothering her more, not less, until finally one evening Jocelyn whispered in my ear, “Christina, you’ve got to go away”–she glanced quickly into the kitchen—“Matilda has told the Duke’s men you’re here.”
I looked at Matilda’s broad back, bent over the stove, and shook my head. I was through running.
Sure enough, the very next morning there came a loud pounding on the front door. Jocelyn held onto me and began to cry. Matilda, in the kitchen, never turned around. I shooed Jocelyn away and opened the door. The tall man in the yellow parka was there. He didn’t say a word, just grabbed me by the arm and spun me around. His men cuffed my hands and feet and threw me in the buggy. The squad rode horseback behind us the whole way to the coast.

(to be continued tomorrow)