Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“I am to believe this?”
“Believe what you wish. It is the truth and the reason why I wanted the Isle of Non. It belongs to me. You acknowledged that yourself when you said that your mother’s firstborn son was to inherit the isle.”
“And you claim to be her firstborn?” Tarr asked.
“I am her firstborn.”
“Then tell me about mother,” Tarr challenged.
“You wish to discuss this in front of everyone?”
“We are all family here. And dare I say we are curious?” Tarr said.
Aliss wisely remained silent, as did Fiona and Raynor, though none would dare leave.
“She was loving, kind, and generous, thinking always of others before herself.”
“Many women are like that,” Tarr said. “Besides, how old were you when you say your mother was forced to desert you and your father?”
“A small lad—”
“With few memories,” Tarr argued.
“My father’s memories served well enough, which is why he brought me here to the Isle of Non again and again, telling me of its importance to my mother. She told my father this isle was all she had to give me to remember her by. She loved this place, having spent time here with an uncle and aunt she adored and wished were her parents. She hated her father, and her mother had died when she was young.”
It was obvious to all that his words affected Tarr, who remained silent, his arms crossed over his chest and his fists clenched.
“My father spoke often of how she had told him that whenever I watched a flower bloom on this land, an animal at play, a fruitful harvest, that I was to know that she was with me and would always be.”
Tarr shoved away from the table. “My mother said no such thing.”
“Maybe not to you.”
“You imply my mother did not love me?”
“No, you were her second son and she would love you with all her heart, even while her heart broke for a son she had been forced to abandon.”
“If you believe she loved so strongly, how could you truly believe she would willingly abandon you? Would she not have fought to remain with you and your father?”
Rogan gave a guttural laugh. “Did you know our mother’s father?”
“A brave warrior.”
“A bastard,” Rogan spat. “He outlined in detail to my mother what he would do to me and my father if she did not return and serve her clan.”
“Your father should have fought for the woman he loved.”
“He wanted to, though he had barely twenty men who were willing to fight with him.”
“The rest of your clan refused their chieftain?”
“Those twenty men were his clan and would have gladly died with him defending my mother and me, and then what? Your grandfather would have killed me anyway and Mother knew it. She wanted to prevent senseless slaughter and made the only choice she felt would serve the greater good.”
“So she loved you so much she sacrificed for you?”
“Jealous?”
“Of what?” Tarr snickered. “A tale fueled over the years by a bitter man who probably kidnapped a woman from a clan, forced himself on her until she was finally rescued by her family.”
Rogan stepped forward, his fists restrained at his sides. “My father did no such thing.”
“Really, then how do you explain your similar actions, if not learning it from your father?”
Aliss rushed between the two men, reaching them before her sister, who had wobbled at a good speed to reach her husband’s side.
“Enough,” Aliss warned. “This needs to be discussed, not argued over.”
“He implies I was conceived out of forced lust and not love,” Rogan said. “He is jealous that he witnessed no love between his father and mother, while as young as I was I recall them always in each other’s arms.”
“She was probably trying to get away from him,” Tarr said.
“Stop,” Fiona snapped. “Aliss is right, verbal warfare will settle little. This matter needs to be discussed sensibly.”
“There is nothing to discuss,” Tarr said with a dismissive wave at Rogan. “He can believe as he wishes, I know the truth.”
“You refuse to see the truth,” Rogan said with a jab of his finger in Tarr’s direction.
“You think me an idiot to accept what you say as fact and not challenge your claim?” Tarr argued.
Aliss had a hand braced against each man’s chest. “Shouting and arguing will not get this settled.”
“It needs no settling,” Tarr said, and jabbed at his own chest. “I know the truth.”
“You fool yourself into believing lies because to face the truth would mean that your mother hated your father and grandfather for robbing her of the man and child she loved.”
“You cannot face the fact that your father forced your mother, never wanting you in the first place.”
Rogan lunged.
“Raynor,” Aliss screamed, knowing she was no match for the two towering giants she was sandwiched between.
Raynor jumped in and did his best to keep the two heated men apart, while Aliss tugged at her husband’s arm to pull him away. Fiona did the same with her husband.