Although she'd had a sheltered upbringing, she'd known cold hard reality since her parents had died. Her brother had no qualms about pushing her out into the real world.
"Has Maighread talked to you about me?" Dirk asked.
Startled by his abrupt change in subject, she eyed him, but he wasn't even looking at her; he was examining the tapestry over the fireplace. He had to trust her in order to ask her that, didn't he? He seemed a wee bit vulnerable at the moment.
She was still perplexed by the half-mad way Maighread had denied that Dirk was who he'd said he was. "Do you promise not to tell her what I say?"
"Aye, of course. I talk to her as little as possible." He took the seat opposite her again.
"I think she is going senile," Isobel said.
"Why do you say this?"
"Even in private, she swears she has no memory of you."
Dirk snorted. "She remembers me, have no doubt of it. She's lying."
"Well, I thought perhaps that was the case, but she seems so vehement about it."
"I saw the recognition in her eyes. She knows who I am. That scares her. She's wanted the title and holdings for Aiden since he was born."
"She has always been kind to me." Isobel shook her head. "I can't understand this vicious side of her."
"Aye. She hides it from others for the most part, but she's held a grudge against me since the day she married my father. In truth, 'tis more like a strong, deep-rooted hatred. She attempted to kill me two other times when I was younger. Although she did not come so close as she did that last time."
Outrage sliced through Isobel. "Is the woman truly mad? How did she try to kill you the other times?"
Dirk stared into the glowing coals for a long moment. "The winter I was eight, I developed some sort of illness and fever. I was sick for days. I remember her coming into my room one night and opening the window shutters, allowing the icy air to gust into the room. I was perplexed about why she was doing that, but I was half-mad with fevered dreams and nightmares. I was too sick to arise and close the window. No servants or healers were about. She must have sent them back to their own beds. I only remember feeling cold and numb, then drifting off to comforting sleep. When I awoke, my father was shaking me violently and yelling. The room was filled with servants and clan members. They held me before the fire trying to warm me."
Isobel's throat constricted so tightly she couldn't speak and tears blurred her vision. She knew not what to say anyway. She was afraid if she opened her mouth she'd cry her eyes out. How could the woman she knew do such a cruel deed to a helpless, sick child? But she feared Dirk had seen the tears in her eyes.
He rose and paced across the library and back. "Another time when I was around ten, they told me I'd fallen and rolled down a flight of steps and hit my head on the stone floor. I only remember approaching the steps from the top and Maighread coming up behind me. I had no notion she would push me. Although I was cautious around her, I'd felt no true fear. But the memory of the rest is erased. When I awoke, my arm was broken and I was so sore all over I could hardly move. I still have the knot on the back of my head to prove it. I suspected she might have pushed me, and Uncle Conall thought that might have been the case."
Isobel dried her eyes as fury burgeoned inside her. "How could she do something so horrible to a wee lad?" Isobel could not comprehend it. "Did you tell your father what you suspected?"
"Aye. When Uncle Conall and I told Da what she'd done, he said we were both mad. It angered him that we would accuse his sweet Maighread of such treachery. He loved her so much he was blind to her manipulations." A muscle flexed in Dirk's jaw.
"Well, given her duplicity, I'm certain my mother would've never suspected her of being so cruel and malicious to a child either. She's tricked those closest to her. Those who loved her best didn't even know her." Isobel's mother would be shocked and horrified if she knew.
"Not unless she's revealed her true nature to her sons," Dirk said. "She has an evil soul. That is the only explanation that makes sense."
"Indeed." Isobel vividly recalled her conversation with Maighread in the solar. "Earlier in the day she said you and Conall should watch your backs. So I think she is making plans."
"I expect she is. She's desperate. In her eyes, I've come to steal her son's inheritance, title, position. But I no longer fear her as I did when I was a wee, defenseless lad."
Still, Isobel worried over his safety. "You cannot be too careful."
His sharp gaze pinioned her. "I am ever vigilant."
"I know." How horrible it must be to live life that way, expecting someone to ambush him at any moment.
Isobel would do whatever it took to make sure he remained safe. She'd stick close to Maighread and pretend to dislike him so Maighread would trust her.
"I hope you'll be careful around her as well," Dirk said. "And stay away from her as much as possible."
She nodded, but planned to do the opposite. Dirk wouldn't agree for her to spy on Maighread. But she had to do something to help him, to protect him. For the first time in her life, she felt she had a purpose, a noble cause. She couldn't believe how much Dirk had come to mean to her, even if she couldn't have him for her very own.
***
Both of Maighread's sons filed into the solar, lit by firelight and a few candles. Weren't they handsome? And now, all grown up. Their father would be so proud of them. After glancing out into the corridor to make sure no one was about, she closed the door.
"I don't intend to let this imposter who calls himself Dirk steal your inheritance," she said to Aiden, keeping her voice low.
"What are you talking about, Mother? He is Dirk." Aiden's green eyes, so like her own, now challenged her.
Her poor naïve son. Aye, he was intelligent but she was going to have to teach him better acting skills.
"Nay. Don't tell me he has you deceived too. I thought you were a canny lad."
Aiden frowned and glanced at Haldane.
"I agree with Mother," her wise younger son said. Of course, he probably didn't remember Dirk, so no acting skills required.
Aiden did not look convinced by her lies. In fact, he looked irritable. She could not understand him.
"Do you want him to steal your inheritance?" she asked.
Aiden remained silent for a long moment, studying her. "Nay. Of course not."
"Good." Finally, he was seeing reason. "Now, Haldane, I need for you to go find Donald McMurdo and tell him to come here forthwith. Have him hide behind the church and wait for me. You'll come tell me when you've found him. Don't allow anyone else to know he's here."
"Why?" Haldane demanded.
"Because I said so." How dare he question her? She couldn't reveal all to her sons. They were too young to understand the full consequences. They had no inkling of the extremes she would go to in order to protect them and their future.
Haldane released an impatient, longsuffering breath. "What if he won't agree to it and attacks my men?"
"Tell him…" She thought for a moment, considering what he valued most. "If he doesn't do what I say, the burial place he paid a king's ransom for is forfeit, seized by the chief." She smiled at Aiden. "And I'll have McMurdo arrested for the dozen murders he's responsible for." Instead of the one he failed at.