Moon Craving Read Free Page B

Highland laird was the result of Sybil's petition for redress, not the Scottish king's. Her mother had petitioned her king, knowing the outcome would be that her deaf daughter would be given in marriage to a stranger in a foreign land.

    Abigail put every bit of loathing she felt at her mother's perfidy in her glare. "I was looking for the truth; something difficult to come by in your company."

    Sybil dismissed the insult with a sneer. "You have no business in here."

    "By your action, you believe I have no place in this keep at all."

    A silent stare answered her accusation, but it spoke more loudly than words could have. Sybil wanted Abigail gone. Pain tore through her, the years of rejection coming together in one moment to pierce her heart with a mortal blow.

    "When were you going to tell me?" Abigail asked, making no effort to modulate her voice.

    "When I felt it necessary," Sybil replied with dismissive venom.

    "At the altar? When I stood before a priest to say vows?"

    Her mother's expression was all the answer Abigail needed. Sybil had had no intention of preparing Abigail for the wedding that was to take place across the Scottish border. Abigail didn't think anything could hurt worse than the betrayal she found between the lines of the king's missive. She had been wrong.

    Knowing not only that had Sybil arranged for this marriage, but that she intended Abigail to go into it not only deaf, but blind as well, destroyed the last vestiges of hope of her mother's love to which she had stubbornly clung all this time.

    "How could you be so cruel?" How could any mother set her daughter up so foully?

    "It is not cruel to secure your future."

    Abigail didn't believe the benevolent justification for a second. "There is no security in subterfuge."

    She should know. She lived in daily fear of being revealed as deaf. Many considered such an affliction the result of demon possession. The Church's answer to such a circumstance was enough to give Abigail nightmares. Many, many nightmares since her sister left at their king's edict to marry a Highland laird.

    "You should be grateful. What chance would you have to marry without my machinations?" Her mother had the gall to look self-righteous, but Abigail knew better.

    "Emily wanted me to live with her. I would have been out of your way then." Abigail forced the words out, knowing her mother had no patience for her affliction.

    "Not permanently. Once her husband realized you were cursed, he would send you back to us." Sybil spoke as if the words were not daggers to the heart of her eldest daughter. "This is a better solution."

    "Emily's laird knows of my affliction. She told him."

    "Of course she didn't. If she had, he would never have allowed her to extend the invitation for your visit."

    Abigail felt herself shaking. "Do you hate me so much?"

    "I am showing a mother's concern in securing your future. Jolenta is jealous of the good match you are making," Sybil had the gall to point out, confirming she had told Abigail's younger sister of the wedding plans.

    The truth that the slight had been on purpose could not have been more obvious.

    Abigail had to swallow back bile as she became physically ill at this additional evidence of her mother's hatred. "The only future you are securing is your own."

    "Think what you like." Sybil shrugged. "You clearly place no importance on my motherly wisdom. Thankfully, I still have a daughter who listens to my advice."

    The unjustness of the accusations took Abigail's breath. Sybil had withheld both motherly affection and advice ever since her eldest child had become an abomination to her. Saying as much would carry no weight with her lady mother, though, so Abigail did not try. "I think the Sinclair laird will be furious when he realizes he has been deceived."

    "Then you had better make sure he never finds out."

    "How can I do that? We will be married." She didn't have Emily to nudge her when others spoke to her or cover for her