The Bewitching Twin(92)
“Tarr is my half brother.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I asked if there was anything else—”
“What purpose would it serve? It would only hurt others if they knew and what right did I have to ask you to keep my secret? It is better left buried.”
“Doesn’t Tarr have a right to know?” she asked. “That his mother had a first husband and son she loved dearly, was forced to desert them, and was then forced to wed another man and bear him a child?”
“I would want to know that.”
They both turned to see Tarr standing there.
“Fiona isn’t feeling well. I came out to get you, Aliss, and saw you both hurry off. I followed just in time to hear the news—brother.”
“I saw no reason to tell you,” Rogan said defensively.
“I have a right to know.”
“Let’s take this inside so that I may tend to Fiona,” Aliss said.
“You go in, Rogan and I have things to discuss,” Tarr said.
She did not like the way the two men regarded each other. “No, either we all go in, or I remain out here with you both.”
That persuaded Tarr to leave. As they entered the hall Tarr called out.
“Meet my half brother.” He stretched his arm out to Rogan.
“What?” Fiona asked, rubbing her stomach.
Raynor shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
Aliss went over to Fiona.
“Tarr need not have summoned you. It is just an upset stomach, which I seem to suffer often of late. I am more concerned with this news.” Fiona looked to her husband.
Aliss returned to Rogan’s side and took his hand.
“Explain,” Tarr said, bracing himself against the edge of the table near his wife.
“It’s simple. My mother is also your mother,” Rogan said.
“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.”