“I did hate him,” Margaret said unflinchingly. “I will hate him for the rest of my life, and I’ll only rest easy after my death if I know that the future of his line has been destroyed.”
“Which is why she poisoned my wife,” Edward explained.
“If your wife was killed, your brother would inherit the title in the event of your demise,” Brockhurst pointed out. “How would that help to destroy your father’s line?”
“She favors my brother. He’s the only one in the family who ever cared for her, and as a consequence, he’s the only one she cares about. To an extent, it’s understandable. I’m sure she’s never thought of doing him harm.”
“And yet, she wants your father’s line destroyed?”
“You hear the way she speaks. She’s mad.”
“Colin is mine,” Margaret spoke up. “He’s always been loyal to me. If he comes into the title, I’ll be able to bend him to my will. He’ll be the kind of gentleman who ought to run things—not someone his father would have wanted, but someoneIcan mold. As if I had a child of my own.”
“She needs to be locked up,” Edward said, staring at her. “Colin may have had respect for you, Margaret, and I understand that you don’t want to see us treat ladies the way you were treated. But he is not your child, and you cannot manipulate him in the way you’re describing.”
Brockhurst nodded. “Leave it to us, Your Grace. You’ve done well to keep her contained until we could arrive.”
“Do you have anything to say?” Edward demanded. “This might be the last time you and I see one another, Margaret.”
Margaret looked away.
“Not even final words for Colin? You and I both know he’s the one you truly cared about, after all.”
At that, she looked up. “I suppose you’re going to tell him everything.”
“You killed his father,” Edward said. “I’m not going to keep that from him for the sake of protecting his opinion of you. If you were worried about keeping his love, you shouldn’t have done that to him.”
“By doing what I did, I spared him from a much worse fate,” Margaret countered. “I was supposed to be a mother to Colin. No one else was protecting him.”
“Protecting him from what?”
“From the way your father destroys everything he touches. If your father was allowed to have his way, Edward, Colin would have one day become just like you. He only escaped your father’s influence as long as he did because your father focused his attention on you—his firstborn. But I’m sure he wouldn’t have escaped it forever. If your father had still been around when Colin was ready to marry, he would have made it known how he felt ladies ought to be treated, and Colin wouldn’t have the happy, loving marriage he has now. He would be just another copy of his horrible father, like you.”
“And you mean to claim that by killing our father, you would spare Colin the terrible fate of becoming like me.”
Edward turned away. He felt as if his heart had turned to stone. All this would hurt later, he knew, but right now, it was as if the pain was so intense that he couldn’t allow himself to feel it. He couldn’t let himself feel anything.
“The thing you can’t admit to yourself, Margaret, is that I’m the one who came rushing here hoping to save Lydia’s life. I’m the one who was willing to do anything, even show you mercy, if you would only give me the antidote. And you’re the one who’s willing to let her die. So, don’t tell me that I’m cruel and heartless, and you had to protect Colin from becoming the kind of man my father made me. If Colin is very lucky, he’ll be more like me than you—and I know he will be because my brother could never be as heartless as you’ve proven to be.”
He walked over to the window and stared out. He didn’t want to look at her any longer.
“Wait,” she called.
Edward didn’t turn around. She was the constables’ problem now.
“Edward, wait,” she called again.
“I’m not going to send them away,” he said. “You don’t deserve leniency after what you’ve done.”
“I’m not going to ask you for anything,” she replied. “But… the antidote.”
Now he turned as if drawn magnetically. “What about it?”
“It’s in the little drawer under the clock on the mantel.”
He strode over, pulled open the drawer, and withdrew a vial. “How can I trust you?” he demanded. “How can I know this isn’t going to make her worse?”
“You can give it to her or not,” Margaret said. “But I thought you deserved to have it. For what it’s worth, I believe you. You do love her.”
