It was true, she knew about Jirvel, but not until recently did she know the truth about Kannak. Not that she cared how many children her husband had, but Kannak was another pawn in the plot she had been forming in her mind for days. Her only way out, she was convinced, lay in the death of her husband and she thought to poison him, if she could get her hands on the poison. But no matter how pleasant she was and how many times she prevented her sons from getting into mischief, Macoran still refused to let her go to her aging father and without guards, it was not safe crossing Limond land. Therefore, only one answer remained. There had to be a war.
For that, she needed something Macoran would deem worth fighting for and it had to be something so important to him, he would fight in the war personally. Kannak was the answer. The thought of having at last come up with a sound plot made her smile.
Perhaps she might also entangle Jirvel somehow. Macoran would surely leave the village and go off to fight for his Jirvel. Time and time again, she heard her husband refuse to betroth Jirvel to a man who asked for her and Agnes found the whole matter repugnant. His reasons for denying them were unsound and to accept Macoran's answer made his men as witless as he was.
The more she thought about it, the more she believed her plan would work beautifully. Macoran was far more fond of the boy Stefan than he was of his own sons and hopefully, Stefan would die too. Every time Jirvel and her brood came to a festival, Macoran was as happy to see Stefan as he was Kannak and always asked him to join them on the landing. It irked Agnes to the bone.
At last Toran opened the door and came to her. "Ye sent for me, milady?"
"I would have ye take a message to my father and say these words exact. Say…"