“Surely William would have found out. He would have brought you to Blackford, raised you as his own.” Please let her keep talking so Lucy could figure out a way to escape.
“Lies.” The woman scowled. “You’re trying to trick me. You don’t know anything. My mother was supposed to send for me, but he killed her before she could.”
Lucy shook her head. “William didn’t kill your mother. She had a lover. A man she met in the village. That man was poor, so she found him a position at Blackford, and when she thought they would be found out, they decided she would fake her death and run away with the man. They both died of the fever, so my husband couldn’t clear his name.”
Agnes shook her head, staring into the fire. When she whirled around, Lucy thought she might strike her.
“The Butcher of Blackford murdered my mother. My cousin told me so. Stop trying to confuse me.”
Lucy leaned forward in the chair, conscious of the two men behind her, silently standing guard.
“Your mother had a terrible temper. She was cruel andtreated everyone with scorn. She might have been beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, she was ugly. Just like you.”
Lucy took a chance. “Are we on your cousin’s estate? He has coveted Blackford ever since the king gave it to William.”
Agnes paced back and forth, the swish of her skirts loud in the small room. Her face twisted in torment before she whirled around to face Lucy.
"You think you know everything, but you understand nothing," Agnes spat.
Chest heaving, she leaned against the wall. “I lived with my cousin.” Agnes' eyes glazed over, lost in the past. "At first he was kind, like the father I'd lost. But over the years, he poisoned everything, whispering lies, twisting the truth."
She gripped her arms, fingernails digging into the rich velvet. "He told me William wanted my mother dead because she had shamed him. He vowed we'd have revenge, restore our family name.”
The crazed woman blinked. “And now he is dead.”
Then she smiled, a chilling smile that made Lucy cold all over.
“I poisoned him. Mushrooms in his soup. Mayhap I will poison you.”
She had to get through to Agnes. “Your mother died of a fever, and out of grief, her lover took his own life. William found them together.”
The woman slapped her hard across the face, making Lucy’s eyes water.
“Lies. My cousin told me the truth. It was William’s fault we were poor. He murdered her and stole her money.”
Agnes was pacing back and forth, her breath coming faster and faster.
“Please, let me send a message to William. He will come and tell you what happened himself.”
Lucy knew even as she said it that it was futile. Nothing would dissuade Agnes from the retribution she sought.
Agnes took a deep breath, brushing her palms down her dress as she pulled herself together.
“Enough. The time for talk is over. You will share my mother’s fate.”
She turned toward the door, stopped and looked over her shoulder.
“A life for a life.”
With that, Agnes swept from the room, the door closing behind her.
Alone again except for the men tasked with watching her, tears spilled down Lucy’s cheeks, dripping onto the stone.
Thomas and her guardsmen did not know what had happened. William was away on the king’s business and wouldn’t know what had happened until it was too late. And her children. If Agnes succeeded, they would grow up without her. Panic threatened to choke her, but she fought to stay calm. As long as she still drew breath, there was hope.
The men roughly hauled her up as Lucy shook her arm free. With her haughtiest gaze, she put her hands on her hips.
“Unhand me. I will go back to that wretched cell without you pawing at me.”
