Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“Love doesn’t distinguish between nobles and peasants,” Twilla snapped at Polwarth. “Fay didn’t plan on falling in love with this warrior. It caught them both off guard and both tried to deny it, but love is impossible to ignore.”
“Abbot Bennett told me it was Winton my sister snuck off to meet,” Polwarth said, looking perplexed.
Twilla looked to the Abbot. “He lied.”
“Fay never mentioned a name,” Abbot Bennett said in defense of himself.
“Another lie,” Twilla accused.
“You dare call me a liar,” Abbot Bennett snapped.
“I think Fay’s own words prove it since she begged to confess her sins. Isn’t that right, Lord Polwarth?”
“Aye, she did, begged me with tears in her eyes to save her soul,” Polwarth confirmed.
“Fay feared dying with a sin on her soul, never allowing her to join the warrior she loved when she died.”
“The warrior’s dead?” Snow asked, her heart aching for the poor lass.
“Fay came here as soon as Winton had arrived with his new wife along with his warriors who had accompanied him. While it was a joyous occasion for him, it was also a heartbreaking one. He had to tell Fay that the warrior she loved had died in an accident. Fay returned home distraught not over Winton’s new wife, but over losing the man she loved. She kept the bairn a secret until it was a secret no more. Losing the bairn he had left her with was like losing her love all over again and she gave up. Fay wanted to die. She felt there was nothing left in this life for her.”
“That is a ridiculous tale you concocted,” Abbot Bennett accused. “You have no way of knowing the truth.”
Twilla wiped at the tear that hung at the corner of her eye. “But I do know. I know because the warrior Fay loved was my son.”
Chapter 29
Lord Polwarth stood speechless, tears glistening in his eyes. No one else spoke either, Twilla having stunned them all silent.
“Your parents, Lord Polwarth, knew the truth, since your father came here demanding Winton’s marriage be absolved and that he marry Fay. Winton refused, allowing your father to think him a dishonorable man rather than think less of his daughter. It was one of the reasons Winton’s father disliked Haldana when she first arrived,” Twilla explained. “Then one day your father arrived here with Fay. She had convinced your father that she would speak with Winton and he would change his mind and wed her. What she did next shocked all. She confessed the truth to your father and Winton’s da, so that her friend Winton would be blamed no more. Fay was a good woman and I loved her like a daughter. I urged her to come live with me and we’d raise my grandchild together. I believe she was considering it when she lost the bairn.”
“At least now she rests in peace, free of sin,” Abbot Bennett said.
“You lied to me. I came to you for guidance, distraught over what my sister had endured, and you lied to me,” Lord Polwarth said, turning angry eyes on Abbot Bennett. “You let me believe, even encouraged me to believe that Tarass was worse than his father when his father was a good friend to my sister and did what he could to protect her.”
“A marriage to Snow was what you needed and would prove beneficial. Snow could give you what you’ve yearned for… children to carry on your name,” Abbot Bennett said.
“Children that would continue to generously support the monastery after I was gone is what you truly mean,” Lord Polwarth said with such a malicious tone that it had Abbot Bennett taking a step back.
“I did what was best for—”
“Yourself,” Tarass accused.
“And in the process had me break my word to my friend to see Snow kept safe,” Lord Polwarth said and shook his head. “Tell me, did you also lie about Snow’s da being responsible for Tarass’s parents’ deaths in hopes he would walk away from her?”
“I do what is best for the people I serve,” Abbot Bennett said.
“Another lie to add to your many others,” Polwarth said and turned away from the Abbot to face Tarass and Snow. “An apology isn’t adequate for the distress I’ve caused you, but I offer it with a penitent heart and ask for your forgiveness. I will also see the wrong done to your father made right.”
“We forgive you, Lord Polwarth,” Snow said her gentle heart going out to the man for speaking up for her da and for the suffering the secret and lies had caused him and so many others.
“Not quite,” Tarass corrected quickly. “I hold no grudge against you for what transpired in the past, and my da made a choice to protect a friend and I will not see that taken from him now. What disturbs me is that you caused my wife unnecessary worry and an unnecessary injury.”