“How can you be so certain of his guilt, Mary, when you are ignorant of the true facts?” Morgana challenged.
“I know it was Ruairc’s dagger that killed our beloved Conor, and Aofa told us it was Ruairc’s potions that caused Morgan’s death. Execute the traitor now, so that justice may be done,” Mary argued with an almost fanatical gleam in her eyes.
“You mean revenge! There is no justice in killing an innocent man. Ruairc was blameless two years ago, and he is innocent again now. Find me the person he would have had to pay to carry out his orders, since he was with me at Clogher all day yesterday. If he did not administer the poison with his own hands, he is innocent. Ruairc would no more stoop to secretly poisoning a man, than he would to stabbing someone in the back.”
Mary frowned and then shook her head. “You defend him because your brain is addled by your passion for him! He is a MacMahon. He is not to be trusted, for all your high opinion of Ruairc’s character.”
She lost her temper then. "Watch what you say, Mary. Take heed of me now, for this is your last warning,” Morgana threatened as she grasped the older woman’s arm and shook it. “Just remember, you are part of this clan only for as long as you remain loyal to me. If you do not like it here, you may go.”
Mary gasped and went white. “Are you telling me to leave?”
Morgana shook her head. “No, I am simply telling you that I am no childish simpleton, and only people who believe in appearance without any facts could be accused of being so.
"Ruairc is innocent of Conor’s death, and I have that from my father’s own lips. I will not permit you to challenge my father's wisdom about this matter again, or mine.
"And I will not tolerate you spreading appalling rumours regarding Ruairc to whichever evil-minded persons are willing to listen to your idle gossip. Appearances can be deceiving, it is true, so I hope I have not seen a friend in you, and wil find that I have placed my trust in you mistakenly.”
She looked as though she had been slapped. "I have been more loyal than you could ever know—"
"So tell me, how does attacking the one strong man who can help me show loyalty?"
"Ruairc is not the only one who will support you, if you are acting justly—"
"Yet no one supported this clan for two years if they let things fall into such a deplorable state!" She indicated the kitchen with a sweep of her hand. "You know what it was like only yesterday. Thanks to Ruairc and I and the men we organized, we have a full larder. So do not dare question me on this matter again. Ruairc is innocent, and if I hear you say anything to the contrary, you'll be getting his cell in the dungeon."
"If he's so innocent, what's he doing there," Mary shot back.
"Being kept safe by me from those who would stab him in the back either physically, or metaphorically,"she said with a glare.
“Maybe he deserves it! If Conor had lived, things would have been very different!” Mary raged, her grief bubbling to the surface at all she had lost.
“True. We would have probably all starved that much sooner. Conor was my brother and I loved him, but as for him being chief of the clan....”
“With a good woman like me by his side, I could have...”
Morgana glanced sharply at the furious woman, and her back stiffened.
“That’s what I have been missing here, isn’t it?” Morgana asserted, the light dawning at last. “I should have known when I went through Conor’s room and found everything lovingly mended and preserved.
"And to think all that time when I believed you were taking an interest in my brother as you would your son, Seamus, it turns out that you were lovers!”
The older woman gave a smile of triumph. “Aye, that we were! But it wouldn’t have suited Miss High and Mighty like yourself to have me as the chief’s wife now would it?” Mary hissed. “I’m not young and beautiful like you, Morgana, but I have twice as much sense and a good head for figures and housekeeping.”
Morgana crossed her arms in front of her chest, both in anger, and to steady herself in the face of alll that Mary had just revealed. Had the older woman really been so ambitious all along, and resented her so much? She had counted her a friend, trusted her so much that she had invited her to come back to the castle as soon as she had returned from the convent…
“It's unfair to say that I stood in your way, for may I remind you, before you accuse me of being arrogant and snobbish, that I worked as hard as any scullery maid in this clan! I hadn’t a thing to my name that I hadn’t earned myself through hunting and trading, or through my own handiwork.
“Why don’t you face the truth? You know full well that my father would never have allowed your marriage. More to the point, I can’t see that Conor would ever have wed you. Why, he said to me just before he died, that no matter how a woman tricked him, he would never be fooled into giving up his freedom.
“It was you, wasn’t it! What did you do, Mary, pretend that you were with child, and when he refused to marry you, you killed him?” Morgana accused.
Mary turned pale. Her hand rose then. She would have struck Morgana had it not been for the vice-like grip that Morgana used to restrain Mary’s wrist.
“Damn you, you’ll pay for this!” Mary hissed.
Morgana laughed almost hysterically. “Can’t you see I’ve already paid dearly? My brother, my intended husband, and now my father are all lost to me!
“You may feel you have ample cause to resent me, but do you really think you could fill my place? Can you honestly say you would like to take up all my responsibilities and cares? More to the point, if the MacMahons come over that hill yonder and try to invade our land, capture Lisleavan, are you prepared to take up your sword and shield and fight them to the death in armed combat?” Morgana challenged.
Mary slumped down onto a kitchen bench as the truth of Morgana’s tirade hit home.
Morgana sighed, and let go of her wrist. She dragged in a ragged breath,and stated more calmly, “Everything I have, I have fought for. Everything Conor had, he was handed on a silver salver, and even then he turned his nose up at it. I will continue to fight for the clan, but I will not fight with it. Ruairc is innocent, and there is nothing more to be said upon that subject.
“As for you, Mary, I give you a choice. If you won’t help me without allowing the resentment over your disappointed hopes to fester and rankle in your heart, then leave Lisleavan now,” Morgana advised, close to tears. "I will be sorry to lose your help and wise counsel, but I thought it was being given because you cared for me, for our clan, not because of your overweening ambitions."
Mary finally lifted one hand in a gesture of despair. “All right, all right, my anger is past. I am sorry. You are the chief, and I owe you loyalty if not love. But I can’t reconcile myself to Ruairc’s presence in this castle, for I am certain he is a traitor.”
Morgana shook her head. “My father told me on his deathbed that he wasn’t. All of the particulars he gave me, I know to be true. I have no time to go into it now. Suffice it to say that my father was deserving of loyalty and respect, and so his word must be good enough for both of us.
"And since Ruairc was with me all day, he is not guilty of poisoning father now. It was an acute attack and was nearly over when we arrived. I need to seek the true murderer without wasting time and effort defending the innocent.
"Now, if you are sure you wish to remain, I am pleased and grateful for you to do so, Mary. But I will also make it clear to you now that the next time you question my authority or try to thwart me, it will be your last day here. Is that clear?” Morgana demanded.
Mary nodded quietly.
“In that case, supervise the baking, and prepare those deer and pheasant. Oh, and pluck six of the geese. I’m going to go milk the cows and slaughter the pigs.”
Morgana turned on her heel and stalked out into the morning mists, her head awhirl with conflicting emotions. She ached to run down to the dungeon to confide in Ruairc, but she knew it would only add fuel to the
fire of Mary's jealousy and resentment of them both.
I’m surrounded by traitors, she reflected with a grimace of distaste as she pressed her head against the first cow’s flanks and began to milk the animal rhythmically.
Whether or not Mary had really been involved with Conor’s death was impossible to say, but it meant she was yet another person who had to be watched for any signs of guilt.
As she milked, she reflected that Mary hadn’t gained anything by Conor’s death. Morgana was confident that with the right degree of diplomacy, she could eventually win Mary around to her side once more.Or at least the side of what was best for the clan.
As for her own sister, while it was unthinkable for any daughter to murder her father, let alone one so idolised by him, nevertheless Morgana knew that such things did happen. What Aofa could have hoped to gain was a mystery still, but she felt sure Ruairc's suspicions were on the right track. And that Aofa's her eagerness in pointing the finger at Ruairc was much more than than her usual envy and malice.
The only person I can trust is in the dungeon, Morgana sighed. And of course, Morgan had warned her many years ago that a ruler of the clan could seldom afford to trust anyone.
Morgana began to think longingly of the convent as she moved up and down the rows of cows in the byre. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life waiting for the next betrayal. Perhaps it was better to leave Lisleaven now, while she still could.
But not until I finish what I've started here, Morgana reminded herself asshe brought the milk back into the kitchen and began to re-examine the menus for the guests she would sure would come.
Yet she knew even as she thought it, that it was unworthy of her. She was not one to turn tail and run. Still, the knowledge that one by one, all of her choices were being stripped from her, rankled deeply, and she was tired of feeling like a pawn in someone else's game. One she didn't even know the rules of yet. But she had a strong feeling the stakes were the highest possible, and it was going to be to the death.
She went to see Ruairc to bring him some food for breakfast and lunch, and recounted briefly the conversation she had had with Mary.
Ruairc looked genuinely astonished."I swear yo you, I had no idea—"
"I know, my love. I can see it from the expression on his face. So again it begs the question, if there was nothing wrong with it, why hide it. Yes, I can see why regarding my father. I know he would not have been happy. But why hide it from you, his best friend?"
"It makes me feel like it's impossible to truly know and trust anyone," he said with a sigh.
"Except for each other,"she said, putting her face through the bars to kiss him.
"Yes, thank God for that. I know the mind plays tricks on us with the ones we love. We fear betrayal from them most of all because we're so vulnerable." He fingered one auburn curl resting on her cheek. "But I trust you with my life. I hope if a time ever comes where you have doubts about me again, you'll listen to your heart, not your head."
She nodded. "I've learned my mistake, darling, judged by appearance, not the reality of the love we shared day after day. I swear I will try never to let it happen again." She kissed him again.
He broke of the miss and nodded, satisfied. "Much as I would love to let you continue with this, you need to go, and I need to think. This new piece of information makes me look at the events of two years ago in a whole new light."
"I'll leave you then." She gave a small wave, told the guards that no one was to go near Ruairc except herself, and climbed the stairs with a lighter spring to her step. She felt like she could take on the world so long as she had ber beloved's support.
And it might just come to that if they didn't find out who was plotting against them soon.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Once breakfast was out of the way, the O’Donnells went hunting and fishing with some of the other men in the village, while Morgana headed out into the fields with the farm workers and staked out the lands that were to be ploughed.
The ploughs were harnessed to the horses’ tails, and with a ploughman, a driver for the horse, and a man to stand on the plough to keep it in the earth, the teams set off.
Morgana then returned to the castle precincts to fire up the smokehouse. Then she and some of the experienced butchers in the village carved up the carcasses expertly.
“We will keep two pigs for the next few days, and smoke the other two,” Morgana instructed the men.
Then she helped gut the fish the O’Donnells had caught the day before, and smoked most of them as well.
“Keep those for our use.” She pointed to the last barrel, and then she went down into the dungeons with some lunch for Ruairc.
“How are you? You look tired all of a sudden,” she said quietly when they had at last broken off their lingering kiss.
“I barely slept a wink all night, and now what you've told me about Conor and Mary weighs heavily on me,” Ruairc sighed. “Morgana, I know what all of this looks like, but...”
“Sush, my love, you don’t have to defend yourself to me, and there is no sense in getting upset over things that can't be changed. We were both lied to, deceived,” Morgana soothed.
“All my pleading and badgering two years ago got me nowhere with you, Morgana. What has made you suddenly change your mind?”
“My father was convinced of your innocence, darling, which is why he sent for you. Plus, it was something Ronan O’Donnell said to me at Belleek about being deceived by appearances. He never thought you did it either.
"Up until now, all appearances have been against you. But the point is, you’re a clever man. If you really had murdered my brother or father, you would have made sure the blame was placed elsewhere. You certainly wouldn’t have been so foolish as to leave your unusual dagger behind. The very fact that all the evidence linked you to the deaths shows that someone is out to do you harm deliberately,” Morgana said.
"And someone who knew you well enough to make a copy of your dagger, Ruairc, but didn't know the jewel had broken off only a couple of days before."
At his surprised look, she nodded. "Father told me. It didn't register with him at the time, only later. And by then he thought it was too late."
"So who could have gotten the copy made?"
"Anyone here who had got close enough to you to see it regularly and know you never went anywhere without it."
“Aofa, Mary, or my brothers? But why?” Ruairc ground his teeth in frustration.
Morgana shook her head. “And why kill Father, now of all times? None of it makes sense.”
"They clearly wanted the power balance to change two years ago when they killed your brother. Morgan became a shadow of his former self, we didn'y marry, and you left. Something has made them feel they had to remove Morgan now. What could it be?"
She reached her hand through the bars off the cell to stroke his cheek lovingly. “I don’t have any answers for you, Ruairc. All I have is a fake dagger and a fortune in treasure and pirated goods which were stolen from the O’Donnells, and from a woman wealthy enough to have been a princess, as evidence of what has been happening here. But Aofa may be guilty of no more than piracy. Perhaps Fergus committed the murders?”
“No, he was here in the dungeon yesterday,” Ruairc reminded her.
“He could have paid someone to do it,” Morgana sighed, but then shook her head again. “No, it couldn’t be. We all loved my father and loathed Fergus. I doubt anyone would have done it for Fergus’ sake, no matter how much of a bribe was offered.”
“So all we are left with is a series of questions, and no hope of an answer,” Ruairc stated tensely.
She sighed, and stroked his cheek tenderly. “As we do when we are out hunting, we must simply watch and wait, and with any luck we will bag our quarry. Now, are you going to be all right here? I need to see how things are at the farm, and prepare for the funeral meal.”
“Go on, only the next time you come back, could you bring some books, pen, and paper?”
She nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner. And I'll also bring some food and wine and some warmer clothes,” Morgana promised.
"Thank you, love. I'll see you soon."
She hurried upstairs to do her errand, and returned shortly afterwards with all he needed.
"Well, I can't say I'm happy to be here, but I'll enjoy the solitude to sit and think and puzzle through our problem," he said, laying out his supplies in one corner.
"I'll let you out just as soon as I feel like we are on solid ground again."
"I know. Just keep in mind that the longer Aofa is out there, the more mischief she can do."
The Faithful Heart Page 18