“And I am a Scotswoman. Our clans have been friends through the years. An alliance would do well between us.”
“We have been friends,” he said gravely. “But marrying you would set us at war with your uncle, and well you know it.”
“I do.” At least she wasn’t trying to hide that fact. “But he would lose in a fight with the Aberbeag, and he knows it. You’ve done well with alliances and in trade.”
“Your uncle is a man gripped by moods. Neither of us can guess what he knows or what he will do.”
She bit her lip but didn’t argue the point. “I am the granddaughter of an earl, you will be a duke. Our titles are well matched.”
“And titles mean little to me. It is the woman I will marry, not her ancestry.”
She arched a brow. “It’s your title that all the other women will want. I know you to be a good, honorable man.”
He hadn’t thought her words could cut him, but they did. Not because she was accusing him of anything, but because she didn’t know the truth. “Iseabail,” he said gently, “what do you know of your father’s death?”
Her face paled in surprise, but it didn’t stop her from speaking. “He was poisoned,” she said firmly. “By my uncle.”
So she did know some of it. “Do you have any proof of it?”
She shook her head. “My mother said he was poisoned. Said it was clear from the way he died.”
“But you don’t know who did it—”
“My uncle wanted charge of the clan.”
“Which is not proof.”
She pressed her lips tightly together and jerked her chin down. She knew she had no proof, only guesses. Which made what he was about to say even worse.
“Do you know where your uncle might have gotten the poison?”
“No,” she said, her voice very hushed.
He looked down, unwilling to meet her gaze while he spoke. What he was about to say would give her no comfort and him even less, but it had to be done. “When I was a boy, I liked to hide in the castle. I loved to climb and was good at finding all sorts of places to sit and listen to what the adults said and did.”
“Boys are permitted such freedoms,” she said, somewhat bitterly.
“Aye. And on this day there was a lot to hear and see as your clan was visiting.”
She leaned forward. “Was it a fair day?”
“No. A hunting party come to rest for the night.”
“That’s a long way for our hunters to go to end up at your castle.”
“Aye.” He took a deep breath, but she made her guess before he could speak.
“You overheard my uncle plotting.”
“No.” He said the word forcefully. His life would be easier if he had heard such a thing. “I heard talk of poisons between your uncle and my father.”
Her body went completely still. “Your father helped—”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “I was a boy. I heard them speaking about copper mining and the poisons it can create.”
“He got them from your father!” she gasped.
“I don’t know!” he said, doing his best to be forceful without shouting. “They only spoke of arsenic, not of using it. Certainly not of one giving it to the other.”
