Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“Walsh can be found there picking up Philip’s food now and again and I have seen him talking often with Anwen,” Kinnell said.
“Hadwin is another who visits the kitchen often, talking with Verena,” Iona said.
“I tested Hadwin to see if he would drink the brew prepared for Flora and he raised it to his lips,” Torin said.
“He could have chanced you would stop him in order to protect himself,” Kinnell said.
“Then there is Henry,” Torin said.
“Who only arrived and does not even know where the kitchen is located,” Kinnell said.
“But he did know of black henbane,” Torin reminded.
“The question still begs… why would someone want me dead?” Flora said.
“Verena tasted the brew from the pot before she allowed me to bring it to you,” Anwen said, placing the tankard on the table in the Great Hall.
Flora hurried her chilled hands around the heated tankard. “Please tell, Verena I am most grateful.”
Anwen nodded, then hurried off to tend to her task.
The cold, whipping wind had left Flora shivering by the time Torin returned her to the keep’s door and she wanted nothing more than to warm herself by the hearth. She would wait to eat until her husband returned. He had gone to talk with Walsh and had sent Kinnell to speak with Hadwin. He intended for her to be present when he spoke again with Henry. Afterwards Kinnell would join them in Torin’s solar and they would discuss the conversations hoping to find even the smallest clue that would help them find the culprit and solve this puzzling mystery.
Her thoughts drifted to last night when she woke from another dream of her mum and da. This time, she searched frantically for her parents, sensing they were in danger and terrified she would not reach them in time to save them. She had been relieved to wake in her husband’s warm arms, having felt chilled to the bone.
“I would love to know your thoughts, since I learned when you get lost in them you find solutions to things,” Henry said and nodded at the bench opposite her at the table. “May I join you?”
Her husband’s warning of not talking alone with Henry sounded in her head, but it would be rude to deny him, and she was not alone, several servants were busy replacing candles and setting the dais table with a clean white cloth.
“Please do,” Flora said, trying to make sense of why Henry might be a foe rather than a friend.
“A couple of days here and while the Highlands certainly fascinate, I still cannot understand why you would give up life in Edinburgh or England for that matter. Life teems in those places. Knowledge is around every corner and its power grows, scholarly men helping to forge a wise leadership. Your da was one of them. Many respected his opinions. His lecture rooms overflowed with men eager to hear him speak. Do you not miss those days? Would you not like to partake of them again? I would bring you along with me to lectures just as your da did. You could continue to gain the knowledge you sought with such passion.”
“There was a time I would have thought I could have lived no other way, Henry. But then I knew no other way of life and now I realize it was an insulated life. Here in the Highlands a vastness of knowledge was opened to me, and I wake every day looking forward to what I will learn, to talk with the family I have gained, and most importantly to share a loving future with my husband. But enough of that, Henry, tell me what you have been doing. You mentioned a trip. Why did you go?”
“France,” he said.
“That is where my mum and da were. Did you see them there?”
“They were in Paris. I was on the coast,” he said. “I was devastated when I returned and found out they had died, and you were gone. I wish I could have been there for you. Things would have been different if I had been.”
“Lord Simon helped me a great deal. I do not know what I would have done without him.”
Henry reached out and rested his hand over Flora’s. “I am sorry to tell you this, but it was not long after you departed Edinburgh that Lord Simon died unexpectedly.”
“Oh no!” Flora said, aghast at the news. “He was such a good friend to my da and mum, and to me as well. What happened to him?”
“I was told the physicians believe it was his heart. It just gave out. Though I am a scholarly man and would accept their word, I believe his heart broke and never healed after losing Lady Adare.”
“On that we agree, Henry,” Flora said, her heart aching for a friend she had deeply respected.