It seems that Ecgberht did not feel secure in his throne and,
depending on the version of the story, either procured, or at least connived
at, the murder of his cousins Æthelred and Æthelberht, Æbbe’s brothers.
The two murdered boys were initially buried in the royal hall at Eastry, but
the story as recorded in the Kentish Royal Legend, is that the burial place was
miraculously revealed by a heavenly light. Faced with the evidence of his
crime, King Ecgberht under Kentish law had to pay a blood-price to the boys’ family,
in this case their surviving sister Æbbe.