“Because… because she was a hateful bitch,” he insisted, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Everything wouldhave been all right had Davyss not returned for her. But he did return and somehow, she bewitched him. He changed. She did something to his mind, Mother. He was not the same brother I knew.”
She watched him through steady eyes. “How did he change?”
Hugh began to pace like a wounded dog. “I… I do not know, really.”
“You must know; otherwise, your statement is ignorant and foolish.”
He looked at her, his dark eyes flashing. “He had little time for his men or for me. Ever since he returned to Thetford for her, he acted as if nothing else in the world existed but her,” he jabbed a finger at his mother. “He killed two of Gloucester’s men because of her and ordered all of the serving wenches out of Wintercroft because she wished it. She cast a spell on him, I am telling you; he would not have done such things otherwise. She was a witch!”
Lady Katharine digested his words carefully. In that short burst, she was coming to see something that Hugh was not. It was not something she had expected but pleased to hear it.
“He is focused on her?”
“Aye.”
“And he ordered the serving wenches away from Wintercroft? The whores that plague the place?”
“Aye!” Hugh stopped pacing and went to her. “I must go to France, Mother. I need money and safe passage.”
Lady Katharine regarded him, mulling the situation over in her mind, pondering, digesting. She was, of course, gravely concerned. She was concerned, as Hugh was, of what Davyss would do. She did not want to see either one of her sons dead but she knew Davyss’ temper. More than that, there would be a matter of honor that would render the man a killing machine to the one who wronged him. Her calm demeanor wavered.
“What did you do to Lady Devereux, Hugh?” she demanded quietly. “How did you kill her?”
A pained expression crossed Hugh’s face. “We were arguing,” he said hesitantly. “I… I struck her and she fell down the stairs. She must have broken her neck.”
Lady Katharine struggled not to lash out at him. “You struck her?”
He couldn’t look her in the eye. “Aye.”
“I raised you better than that, Hugh. You do not strike women.”
He was growing agitated again. “I do not know why I did it,” he fell to his knees before her. “All I know is that we were arguing and it… it just happened. I do not even remember doing it. One moment, she was standing at the top of the stairs and in the next, she was lying lifeless at the bottom.”
“Do you know for a fact she is dead? Did you check her to make sure?”
He shook his head. “Nay… I saw her fall and I ran. I did not stop to see if she was dead or alive.”
“Then you assume she is dead.”
“She fell down the Tower stairs. If she survived the fall it ’twould be a miracle.”
“I happen to believe in miracles,” Lady Katharine’s regarded her son carefully. “What did she say to you that made you strike her?”
He closed his eyes, collapsing in a miserable heap on his knees. “I do not know.”
“You are lying. You just killed a woman, your brother’s wife, and you cannot tell me what she said to make you snap?”
His head came up. “She provoked me!”
“Then you do remember. One more lie and I shall not help you at all.”
His expression grew painful again. “Oh, God,” he breathed, drawing a breath for strength. “We… Davyss and I fought earlier in the evening because I called his wife a bitch. I said it because I was angry; angry she had sent the serving women away from Wintercroft. Angry because Davyss had listened to her. Devereux came to me to try to explain how she had bewitched Davyss into doing it and I would not listen. She… she told me that devotion to one woman is better than bedding many, or something like it. She said I wasn’t man enough.”
Lady Katharine watched his lowered head, feeling anxiety such as she had never known. But she also felt great sorrow; if what Hugh said was true, then Lady Devereux had been attempting to teach her sons something that she had never been able to. If the lady was indeed dead, then she felt the loss deeply. Slowly, she rose from her chair and moved away from her youngest.
“You will stay here,” she told him, her old voice hoarse with emotion. “You will stay here and seek atonement for what you have done. Davyss will come, of that I have no doubt. I will not help you to flee. You have shamed yourself enough. Now you must be a man and face your punishment.”
Hugh was on his feet, his eyes wide. “But Davyss will kill me!”
