“My brother never truly succeeded in showing you your place, did he?”
If only I had the strength to punch him right in that sneering mouth of his, I could die happy, Arianna thought. “My place is right here,” she said, refusing to speak in French as he continued to do. “In Scotland. But dear old Claud learned his place, didnae he, Amiel? Ye taught him and his wife, didnae ye?”
“You think I killed my own brother?” The man sounded shocked but there was the glint of amused satisfaction in his eyes.
“Aye, I do. Mayhap ye didnae dirty your own hands, but ye hired the ones who did. Grew tired of waiting for him to die, did ye? Did ye think no one would learn that he was truly married to Marie Anne? That no one would ken that Michel and Adelar are Claud’s legal heirs?”
“They will never be accepted as the heirs. My family will see them marked as the common-born little bastards they are.”
“Aye, they probably will, so why dinnae ye just wait for that to happen? Why this hunt for them? I was taking them far away so ye wouldnae e’en have seen them about while your parents worked to annul Claud’s marriage to Marie Anne. And to ally yourself with the DeVeaux? Ye will have your whole clan wanting to kill ye and spit upon your grave.”
“Foolish woman. Claud was right. You are not very clever. I could have waited but then I would have been no more than another Lucette, another titled, landed Lucette among dozens of titled, landed Lucettes. But, with only the gifting of a small piece of land to the DeVeaux, I have an ally all the other Lucettes fear.” He shrugged. “And the very full purse they plan to give me as well.”
“All that still doesnae explain why ye hunt the boys. It only tells me that ye have no loyalty to your own blood.”
She tensed when he clenched his hands into fists, but he did not hit her. It was clear that he suddenly wanted to boast of his cleverness. Arianna could not understand how the man could betray his whole family as he had done and she made no secret of the disgust she felt for him. She knew it was revealed on her face if only because of the way Amiel grew more furious the longer she looked at him.
“Ah, I forgot that you paid little heed to the reading of the will.”
“Hard to pay attention when one isnae e’en told about it.”
“Claud left the land the DeVeaux want to the boys. There is no way of changing that unless the boys die, for it was Claud’s land alone, to do with as he pleased. I was there when he wrote the will and convinced him to name me as heir should anything happen and the boys did not live into manhood.” He scowled. “I could not stop him from naming you their guardian, however. That was a disappointment.”
“For which ye slaughtered him and Marie Anne.”
“One of but many reasons.”
Arianna found it all hard to believe. Claud had finally done something worthy for his children and it had put a knife at their throats. It also surprised her that he had officially made her their guardian for it was unusual to name a woman one and Claud had never shown any faith in her ability to do much of anything right.
“And for that wee piece of land and a few coins, ye killed your own brother and Marie Anne, and now mean to kill two bairns who have ne’er done ye harm, your own nephews.”
“I told you that I did not kill my brother and his sow.”
“Nay, I believe ye. I believe that ye didnae bloody your own soft hands with the black deed of killing your own brother, but I do believe that ye put the sword in the hands of the ones who did.”
“The DeVeaux ...”
“Have kenned that Claud held that land for years and either didnae, or couldnae, do anything about it. Ye found a way to have it done or conspired with them to do it. Aye, I suspicion ye could stand before the king himself and claim innocence because ye didnae actually do the killing, but ye are guilty right enough. I am nay sure how ye think ye can do the same once ye kill the boys, though, since ye are hunting them down like dogs.”
“We are merely trying to retrieve my brother’s heirs, who were taken from their rightful place by the woman my brother betrayed. We feared for the safety of the children in the hands of that woman and it appears we were right to do so. Sadly, the children were murdered before we could save them.”