“You try my patience, Abbot, and I warn you that is something you will live to regret. I will repeat yet again what I have repeatedly told you only because you’re such an idiot that you can’t understand it.”
Snow heard the Abbot and Polwarth gasp at the insult.
“Snow is my wife and will stay my wife. There is nothing in this world and beyond that will change that. This is her home, here with me, her husband, and this is where she will stay.”
“I possess information that just might have you change your mind,” Abbot Bennett said.
“No, Abbot Bennett, we agreed,” Lord Polwarth said.
“We agreed not to use it unless necessary. While I would not think to divulge something confessed to me, it is obviously necessary,” Abbot Bennett reminded. “It is the one thing that will make him see that they are not destined to be husband and wife.”
Snow immediately got to her feet and reached her hand out to her husband, eager to see his familiar outline and was relieved she was still able to see it.
Tarass went to his wife, seeing the worry brighten the green of her eyes and took her hand, while slipping his arm around her waist to tuck her close against his side.
He turned his glance on the Abbot. “I love my wife and there is nothing you can say that will change that.”
Abbot Bennett smiled. “Not even finding out that it was Angus Macardle, Snow’s father, who had your parents killed?”
Snow may have been shocked at the Abbot’s remark, but not shocked enough to stop her from yelling, “Liar! My da was friends with Tarass’s parents. He would have never hurt them.”
“At one time perhaps, but not after the argument they had the very last time they saw each other. An argument that Tarass can attest to, his father having sent him from the room when it began.” Polwarth looked to Tarass. “Isn’t that right, Lord Tarass?”
Tarass didn’t answer, though he responded, “What proof do you have that my wife’s father killed my parents?”
“Lord Angus himself confessed it to me before he died, afraid he would burn in hell for all eternity for what he had done,” Abbot Bennett said.
“So much for the sanctity of the confessional,” Tarass said.
Abbot Bennett was quick to defend himself. “Her father wanted his daughters kept safe. Lord Angus would be pleased that his own words saved his daughter.”
“Lies. You tell lies,” Snow accused, her voice quivering with anger.
“Are they, Snow?’ Lord Polwarth asked calmly. “Your father certainly wasn’t of right mind having Lord Cree’s wife abducted, setting fire to his own keep that caused your blindness and eventually your mother’s death. In his sane moments he knew what he had done, which is why he couldn’t live with it and took his own life.”
“A riding accident took my da’s life,” Snow said, protecting his honor, though had thought the same herself.
“If you need to believe that, my dear, then do, but you can’t deny there were many times your father wasn’t of sound mind,” Lord Polwarth said.
“And what of Lord Tarass?” Abbot Bennett asked. “He has a right to know the truth and lay his pain to rest.”
Snow turned quiet, thinking on their remarks. Could it be possible? Had her da done this horrible thing? He often had made no sense when his mind went bad. She couldn’t ignore the possibility, but she couldn’t believe it either.
Stunned by the news, similar questions haunted Tarass. Could it be the truth? Could Lord Angus have ordered his parents killed? His next thought he spoke out loud.
“What reason would Lord Angus have to kill my parents?”
“Who can say what goes on in the mind of a madman?” Abbot Bennett said. “At least your father, in a lucid moment, was wise enough to confess to me before he died and now his soul rests in peace. I would think his daughter would be as brave as her father and face her sins and make amends for them. Do what is right, Snow. Do what would make your father proud. Save your soul as he did his.”
Snow waited for her husband’s arm to wrap tighter around her waist, or his hand to give it a squeeze, anything that would remind her that she was not going anywhere. She was where she belonged, beside him. But it never came.
Did he believe the Abbot? Did he actually believe her da had had his parents killed? Did this news make a difference.? Did he want her to leave?
A sudden bout of nausea hit her and her sight began to fade. She couldn’t lose what sight she had gained, she couldn’t. Then darkness began to creep over the gray and she realized, to her great surprise, she was about to faint.
Chapter 27
Tarass scooped his wife up in his arms when he felt her slump against him, his stomach plummeting when he realized she had fainted.