Katherine’s cry alerted the surrounding men, and they all turned to see where she was pointing. Transfixed, they watched as the battered woman swayed slightly and took hold of the banister.
A smirk stretched across Selina’s bleeding lips until her gaze fell upon Garth. With her hand over her mouth as if to stifle a cry, she turned and disappeared back into the shadows of the second floor.
“After her!” Garth cried. “She’s the one who tried to kill Katherine!
Garth, Alex and the constable immediately took pursuit.
“You’ll nair find her!” Brice hollered up at them. “She be a crafty one!” The echoes of his throaty laughter drowned out the sound of their retreating steps. “All this time she be right under yer noses an’ ye dinna find her!” A threatening hand from one of the officers silenced him.
Fear soared through Katherine’s heart, and she paced nervously awaiting the return of the men. She told herself that Selina would soon be caught, and she tried to believe it. She wanted everything to be right, to be normal again. But what was normal? That she had spent her life hating a father that had, in reality, actually loved her, even if it were in a strange way? That the course of her life had been changed by a stableman and by an act of murder? The events of the past churned through her pounding head as a disruptive thought suddenly took form. Putting Selina from the foremost of her mind, she turned to the manacled Brice. She had to know the truth from this man. Her voice trembled as she spoke.
“You killed May-Jewel’s mother by setting fire to her house,” she accused in a hard voice. “My mother died by fire. Was that your doing also?”
Brice snickered at her, as if it amused him to see how her mother’s death affected her. His cold almost inaudible reply came from deep within his throat. “Nay, her dyin’ ‘twere by the hand o’ God, a bolt of lightning.” Then he added spitefully, “I would hav’ been glad to do it, but fate struck first.”
The callousness of his words struck her tender heart, and she retreated from him, anxiously resuming her wait at the bottom of the steps for the men to find Selina. The minutes passed slowly. It seemed like hours before they returned, and she could see as they descended the stairs that they had been unsuccessful in their attempts to find the woman.
“I told ye,” Brice touted to them all, “that ye’d nair find her!” Suddenly looking up to the top of the stairs, he jerked free of the officers relaxed grip and raised his chained hands. “Selina, m’ beloved,” he cried out. “Coom see what they be doin’ to ye lover!”
In shocked silence all attention was again focused on the small, dark form who reappeared, leaning on the banister above them.
Constable Reed’s men started up after her again.
“Nay, men stay where you are,” he cried, realizing that the woman had little strength left. How she had evaded their search for her before, he had no idea. But he was sure that she hadn’t much time remaining, and he wanted to hear what she had to say.
Clutching her side, Selina inched toward the steps. Her bruised lips, though pursed to speak, remained mute as she looked over the stilled group below her.
When Selina’s eyes came to rest on Katherine, Garth suddenly moved to her side as if to protect her.
“Selina, why have you come to this country? To Wistmere?” He demanded of her in Hindi.
“To do my husband’s bidding,” came the whispered answer.
Katherine didn’t understand what was being said, but Selina’s raspy voice sent a shiver through her, and she attempted to move back away from the stairs. But Garth, grasping her arm, held her to him. His steel grip tightened as he spoke again.
“He told you to murder his children?” He demanded in Hindi again.
Near faint, Selina clutched the banister, her black eyes raking Garth’s face. “I would have killed you first,” she hissed, “if I had known that you were still alive. No one will take my husband’s wealth from me.”
Garth’s face tight with anger, he shouted, “Death will!”
Selina’s wicked expression suddenly turned into a questioning frown as if hearing those words reminded her of something, and she released the banister. With a resurgence of purpose overriding her injuries and pain, and not taking her eyes off of Katherine, she made her way unsteadily down the steps. All the while, she clasped a small vile that hung by a cord at her throat.
“I will embrace death,” she sneered this time in English. “But I will take this one with me!” Ripping the tiny glass tube from her neck, Selina hurled herself and it at Katherine.
“No!” Garth’s cry filled the air as he jumped between the attacker and her prey.
Several things happened at once. The force of Garth’s movement pushed Katherine to the floor. Constable Reed and two of his officers ran forward in an attempt to stop the inevitable. And Vicar Hawes materialized as if from out of nowhere.
Selina’s propelling form crashed into Garth, the vile in her hand smashing into the side of his face. As Selina’s lifeless body slipped to the floor, Garth felt the small trickles of blood and a strange burning sensation. Though the wound seemed no more than a few small, harmless punctures, his legs began to weaken. Garth reeled around in search of Katherine, his hands outstretched, his eyes unable to focus.
The realization that he had been poisoned slowly enveloped Katherine. In horror, she screamed as she watched Garth
