Page 76 of Laird of Wrath

“Nae everythin’, Lady Mabel,” Lara said. “But there are things I ken for a fact, and this is one of them.”

“Have ye seen a candle extinguish itself before?” Mabel asked.

“Aye.” Lara nodded. “Quite a few times.”

“And did someone die every time?”

Lara seemed to consider that for a moment, and both Rhea and Mabel stared at her with bated breath, waiting to see what she would say, if she would come to some logical conclusion.

“Nay, I cannae say that they have,” she replied, frowning to herself. For a long while, she remained silent, and so did Rhea and Mabel, giving her time to process what she had just uncovered. When she spoke again, she sounded doubtful. “I suppose there were many times when that didnae happen.”

“Perhaps every time?” Mabel suggested.

“Perhaps,” Lara conceded.

Another silence fell over them, and Rhea and Mabel waited patiently once more.

Lara seemed more uncertain than ever, but then she shook herself.

“But there are many times when I was right about other things,” she pointed out.

“Such as?” Mabel prompted.

“The weather, for one,” Lara replied. “I’ve been right about the weather many times.”

“But there are many ways to predict the weather,” Rhea reminded her.

“Aye.” Lara nodded. “That’s what I’m sayin’.”

Rhea and Mabel exchanged amused smiles behind her back, before leaning forward once more to look at her.

“Well then, ye can see that sometimes ye’re right and sometimes ye’re wrong,” Mabel said.

“And there’s nay way to ken when I’m right or wrong!” Lara pointed out, panic thinning her voice.

She seemed disturbed now, as if she had just come to a horrible realization, and any hope Rhea had of talking some sense into her vanished immediately.

“Let us assume ye’re right about the weather,” Mabel allowed. “Since that seems to be the case most of the time.”

“And wrong about everythin’ else?” Lara asked.

“Aye,” Mabel said. “How does that make ye feel?”

“Terrible!”

Rhea couldn’t help but chuckle.

Lara shot her a scathing look. “It isnae amusin’, me Lady!” she complained, misery written plainly all over her delicate features. “If I’m wrong about everythin’, then that means… I’m wrong about everythin’!”

“Aye, that’s usually how it goes,” Mabel muttered under her breath.

“But that’s fine, Lara,” Rhea said, placing a comforting hand on Lara’s back. “It doesnae say anythin’ about ye.”

“But me Lady… so many of the servants trust me with these things,” Lara whined. “How am I supposed to tell them that I’ve been wrong all this time?”

“Ye daenae,” Rhea reassured her. “Ye daenae have to say anythin’.”

Besides, she was quite certain that the servants were only humoring Lara, just like she and Mabel did. She hadn’t seen any of them treating Lara like the seer she considered herself to be, and if they did, then they certainly had to know that not everything she told them was true.