Moon Craving Read Free

she had no choice.

    Not after the argument she had witnessed between her lady mother and her younger sister, Jolenta. She wasn't supposed to have seen that, either, but needs must.

    And she needed to know more than others about what occurred in the keep. If for no other reason than to protect her own secret.

    So, without hesitation, she had watched her mother and sister's disagreement from her hiding place on the other side of the bailey. She had seen only her sister's face so knew only one side of the argument, but Jolenta's words had caused deep disquiet within Abigail, and she had come looking for answers.

    Among other, more alarming things, Jolenta had mentioned a message from the king. She had accused their mother, Sybil, of favoritism toward Abigail. Which had been so absurd, Abigail had laughed with silent, bitter mirth even as the argument continued.

    Her watching had resulted in more questions than answers. Abigail was hoping the message from the king had been written and that she would find it here.

    Before going to the Highlands to marry a laird there, her stepsister, Emily, had once said that she would never know what was going on if she did not eavesdrop. Abigail did not have the option of listening in on conversations, but she had her own methods of discovering that which her mother would keep hidden.

    Like reading her sister's lips from a distance.

    Abigail had lost her hearing and her mother's love six years ago to a fever that had almost taken her life. When she'd woken from the fever and her affliction was discovered, her mother had refused to return to Abigail's sick-room. It was left to Emily, her stepsister only a couple of years older than she, to nurse Abigail back to health.

    It had taken only one visit with her mother and stepfather after Abigail was well enough to leave her room for the girls to realize Abigail no longer held status as a precious daughter. Indeed, Sir and Lady Hamilton did their best to pretend Abigail did not exist at all.

    Once the girls realized the effect her deafness had on their parents' affections, they had known they could not let others know about it.

    Emily had been worried Abigail would not only be rejected, but be seen as cursed.
    The older girl had taken on the task of helping Abigail hide her burden from the rest of the keep. She had worked tirelessly with Abigail, teaching her to read lips and to continue to speak in a well-modulated voice.

    Emily had been a strict taskmaster, but Abigail knew her sister's insistence on practice to the point of exhaustion had been motivated by love. Nevertheless, there had been times Abigail had wondered if waking from her fever had been for the best. Out of her own love for Emily, Abigail had never given voice to her doubts.

    She had not wanted to hurt the stepsister who loved her and treated her more kindly than her blood sister ever would. Abigail missed Emily so much.

    And without her there to help, Abigail's voice had dropped to what she knew was a near whisper. Speaking was difficult enough; speaking normally was almost impossible without Emily's constant covert instruction. It was a testament to how well Emily had trained Abigail to speak that none of the servants had discovered her secret in more than two years since her sister had gone to Scotland, however.

    Abigail lived for the day she would join her sister and be able to escape the Hamilton Keep.

    Sir Reuben's attitude had softened toward her once he had seen that she would not embarrass him by making her affliction known, but her mother made it clear that she considered Abigail a stone around her neck. She pinned all her hopes of a progressive marriage match on Jolenta.

    Yet Sybil had refused Emily's initial petition to send Abigail to the Highlands for an extended visit.

    Abigail did not understand why. Unless her mother simply hated her so much that Sybil could not stand the idea of Abigail happy, as she surely would be, reunited with the one person in