“You would not understand,” she said quietly.
Isabella rolled her eyes. “Understand what?” she said, annoyed. “Understand that you would hurt any woman who would so much as look at Tor? The entire family knows what you and Lenore are capable of. Do you know what they call you? The Vipers. They all say that poor Tor lives with vipers. So if I were you, I would be very careful from now on. One more offense and you will provoke the wrath of Warenton. That is something you would not survive and you know it.”
Barbara looked at her in horror. “How can they say such things about us?”
“Because it is true, Barbara,” Isabella said. “You and Lenore have dark hearts, although I do not know why. You were raised with people who tried to love you. You had the best education, the best of everything. No one knows why you and your sister turned out the way you have.”
Barbara, who was usually so emotionless, began to appear hurt. With that hurt came a weakened composure.
“You do not understand,” she said, her voice trembling. “It did not matter that the House of de Wolfe tried to love us. We were only wards. We were not part of the de Wolfe family. We had lost everything and the only thing we had left was my sister’s husband. You have never lost a sister, Isabella. You do not know what it is like to preserve the memory of a loved one.”
Isabella looked at her as if she had gone mad. “I thought my father was dead at a young age,” she said. “Even though he returned to us, still, I did not try to prevent my mother from remarrying simply to preserve his memory. Life goes on, Barbara. You cannot live in the past and you cannot hurt people to manipulate the future.”
“Life should not go on,” Barbara snapped. “Don’t you understand? Tor is all we have to remember our sister. He is her husband. He belongs to her!”
Isabella sighed sharply. “He is going to marry Isalyn,” she said, watching Barbara’s eyes widen. “I am sure he will tell you himself, but I am telling you now. He is marrying her and there is nothing you can do about it. All of your attempts to control him and to keep women away from him haven’t worked. He will find happiness in spite of you.”
Barbara’s hand went to her mouth in shock. “It is not true!”
“It is true,” Isabella insisted. “He is in Carlisle right now purchasing a few things for their wedding. You had better reconcile yourself to the fact that Tor is marrying again. If you do not, you will only incur his wrath.”
Barbara’s eyes started to fill with tears. “He does not love her,” she muttered. “He only loves Jane. I have heard him say he only loves Jane!”
Isabella could see that the woman was shaken, but she didn’t have any sympathy. “What he feels for Isalyn has nothing to do with Jane,” she said. “It does not affect his feelings for her. I am sure he will always love Jane, but he has a right to be happy again with a living, breathing wife. Why would you try and take that away from him?”
Barbara blinked, tears splattering. “He said… he said that he did not belong to anyone at the moment, but he soon would,” she said, more to herself than to Isabella. “This has happened so fast… Lady Isalyn… it is too fast. He meant her. This must not happen!”
With that, she stumbled away, rushing back towards the apartment block.
Isabella watched her go with concern. It was more emotion than she had ever seen from Barbara, speaking as if her heart were broken. As if, somehow, Tor had jilted her. To Isabella, it simply didn’t seem rational. Barbara didn’t seem rational in the least. As she stood there, watching Barbara rush off, Christian suddenly appeared beside her.
“Are you well?” he asked, his eyes on the retreating Barbara.
Isabella turned to the man. He was tensed up, ready to protect her.
But she still felt uneasy.
“I am,” she said. “She did not try to harm me in any way. She simply wanted to talk.”
“What about?”
Isabella sighed. “I’m not sure,” she said. “She thinks I hate her. I told her I do not hate her, but she does not have a good heart. Christian, she said something strange. She said that Tor only loves Jane and when I told her he was marrying Isalyn, she said it must not happen.”
Christian sighed heavily. “You told her about the betrothal?”
“She was going to find out sooner or later.”
Christian couldn’t argue with that. “True, I suppose,” he said. “But until Tor and the others return, stay where I can see you. Or go to your chamber and bolt the door. Will you please do that for me?”
Isabella nodded. “I will,” she said. “I want to stay out here in the sunshine for a little while. The walls of my chamber have been closing in around me all morning. I wish I’d gone to Carlisle, too.”
He smiled, patting her on the shoulder. “They’ll be back soon,” he said. “I mean, Fraser will be back soon.”
She looked at him sharply. “Why would you say that?”
He was looking at her, an annoying look like a taunting brother would give a sister. “Mayhap because that’s what you want to hear,” he said. “I saw the two of you talking last night at the feast. You have the man captivated, Bella.”
Isabella turned her nose up at him. “You think you’re so smart, Christian Hage,” she said. “I was supposed to be married only last week and now you have me married to someone else so soon?”
Christian scowled. “Who said anything about marriage?” he said. “But Fraser seems like a good man. You can have a nice, long betrothal before the marriage so people will not talk and say you flitted too soon from one man to another.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Go away, you big dolt,” she said. “I’m going to sit over by the keep and wait for Tor and Isalyn to return.”
“And Fraser.”
She took a swing at him but he laughed and easily ducked, darting off and leaving his cousin frustrated.
But she wasn’t really frustrated. Isabella grinned when Christian couldn’t see her, knowing the man was on to something but refusing to admit it.
Still, she would stay where he could see her.
Wandering over to a stone bench by the keep, her thoughts turned from Fraser back to Barbara. She was anxious to tell Tor about their conversation so the man could be prepared.
This must not happen!
Something told her that there was going to be trouble.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When Tor and Isalyn returned from Carlisle, Isabella was waiting for them.
It was early afternoon and the clouds overhead were gathering and threatening more rain as the party left their horses in the outer bailey and made the trek to the inner bailey on foot. Isabella had been sitting in the intermittent sunshine on the stone bench next to the keep, with a direct view of the gatehouse, and the moment they passed through, she was up and moving swiftly for them.
Isalyn saw her first.
“I can hardly wait to show Isabella my dress,” she said. But then, she sobered a little. “You do not think it will upset her, do you? She was so recently supposed to marry and that was taken away from her. I do not want to make her sad.”