Barbara was beginning to tremble. “It was an accident, Tor, I swear to you!”
“Nay, it was not.”
The voice came from the stairs. Isabella was coming up the steps, having heard Tor’s voice and Isalyn’s subsequent explanation of what had happened. She had been downstairs in her chamber when she had heard the commotion and followed the voices. She looked right at Barbara as she spoke.
“It was not an accident,” she said. “Barbara, I know that you and your sister are capable of such things because I have seen it. I know that you are responsible for Heather d’Umfraville losing teeth when she slipped on oil you put on the ground, and I know you tried to kill Lord Lanchester’s daughter by pushing her down the stairs. There have been others, for I saw them myself when we were fostering at Castle Questing. Anyone who looked at Tor in a manner you did not like fell victim to your treachery. Therefore, I knew you were going to try to do something to Lady Isalyn and that is why I escorted her up here to her chamber. What I did not count on is you locking her in. Admit it was no accident, Barbara, please. You and Lenore have been doing this kind of thing for years and we all know it.”
Lenore burst into tears and Barbara just stood there and trembled. “Isabella,” she gasped. “I thought you were my friend. How can you say such things?”
“Because it is true,” Isabella insisted. “You and your sister are terrifying and wicked, and I have no idea why Tor allows you to do such things. You have hurt so many people and, still, he does nothing. Come with me, Isalyn. You are staying in my chamber tonight. At least I am willing to protect you.”
It was a firm rebuke, an insult directly at Tor. Reaching out, she grasped Isalyn by the muddy hand, pulling her back down the stairs. But Isalyn was looking at Tor, who was watching her go with great sorrow.
Great, great sorrow.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“She could have been killed falling out of that window,” Gilbert said. “Although I do not fault you for Steffan’s death, my daughter’s would be quite another matter. The House of de Wolfe seems to want us all dead.”
An hour after Isalyn’s plunge from the apartment window, Gilbert was in the great hall, furious at what had happened. He was speaking to Tor, but there were others there – Fraser, Christian, Ronan, and Blayth, all of them listening to Gilbert rage about what had happened.
Not that anyone blamed him.
Tor least of all.
Because Gilbert was standing, he was standing. He faced the man’s anger head-on because he deserved it. Whatever happened at his castle was his responsibility, and Barbara and Lenore’s wickedness reflected on him directly. But that was something he’d always known about.
It had been hard for him to admit.
But today, he had to face it.
Oh, he knew the family called the pair The Vipers. He’d known that for years, ever since the bloom of womanhood had come upon them. But something else had come upon them, something jealous and possessive and dark. Tor knew it but he’d tried to be sympathetic. He’d tried to be understanding. No one had actually seen them commit the crimes they’d been accused of and that was why he wouldn’t punish them, but the truth was even deeper than that. Jane’s memory was preventing him from lifting a hand to them. He didn’t want to hurt Jane and he knew that if he punished her sisters, it would have hurt her greatly.
But today, they’d made a great misstep.
They’d gone after Isalyn.
Tor realized he wasn’t afraid to punish them any longer. They’d crossed a line and he’d been forced to act, especially when Isabella had testified against them. He believed his cousin implicitly, for she wasn’t the type to lie.
Therefore, Barbara and Lenore were currently in the same chamber they’d locked Isalyn in, only Tor had sealed up the shutters overlooking the pigsty so they could not escape. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with them, but he wasn’t going to allow them to run free any longer. Seeing Isabella protect Isalyn when she felt he wouldn’t had been like a dagger to his gut.
It was at that moment that he began to see things clearly.
He’d been a fool.
That being the case, facing an enraged Gilbert de Featherstone was something he welcomed. He deserved every last lash of the man’s tongue.
“My lord, let me assure you that we do not want the entire House of de Featherstone dead,” he said. “The offenders are being punished. It will not happen again, I assure you.”
But Gilbert was not assuaged. “What are you doing about this?” he asked. “I discover that your chatelaines have tried to harm my daughter, so I want to know what you intend to do about it. And I hear they have a history of this? Why have you allowed this to go on?”
Tor could feel Blayth and Christian’s eyes upon him. They knew the history. They had probably been wondering the same thing for years. Tor wasn’t oblivious to that. It was time to finally acknowledge that which he had long refused to.
Quietly, he cleared his throat.
“About seventeen years ago, my wife died in childbirth while I was away in battle,” he said, his voice low. “I returned to a dead wife, a dead child, and my wife’s two younger sisters, who were only children at the time. They became my responsibility and not a welcome one. I suppose… I suppose much of this is my fault. I looked at them and I saw Jane, which meant I did not want to look at them at all. They had no parents, no sister, only a brother-in-law who paid them little attention. What I am trying to say is that they ran amok and I refused to believe it. I denied it, ignored it, and made excuses for it. But no more. Believe me when I say that I will take their offenses very seriously, my lord. I will not let their actions against your daughter go unpunished. You have my word.”
By the time he was finished, Gilbert didn’t look so angry. Tor wasn’t a man for a lot of words, nor was he a great orator. In the short time Gilbert had known him, he had seen that. Therefore, that rather impassioned speech meant something.
He believed him.
“I am sorry for you,” he said. “I did not know you were married.”
“It was a long time ago, my lord.”
Gilbert could feel himself giving in to Tor’s tragic tale, prepared to forgive him completely, but something stopped him. He’d had a plan when he had come to Blackpool and it was the entire reason he had come – to find a husband for his unruly daughter, and now he saw the perfect opportunity to press that agenda.
Tor was a widower. He was eligible and wealthy, and Gilbert wasn’t a fool. He’d seen how his daughter had looked at the man.
Now was the time to strike.
“Be that as it may, my family has suffered devastation at the hands of the House of de Wolfe,” he said. “I understand that my son wronged Lady Isabella and I make no excuses for him, but his death was by your hand. Would you agree?”
Tor nodded. “In order to defend my younger half-brother, it was.”
Gilbert lifted his shoulders. “It is quite possible that, given the proper persuasion, he could have returned to the lady to fulfill his promise. Would you not agree?”
Tor looked at Blayth, who simply shook his head in annoyance. Gilbert was grasping at straws given how Steffan had behaved and they all knew it.