"I think your mother would gladly take up whatever burdens she carried if she could have you back by her side," Isabell said softly, taking Ashlynn's slender hands in her own. "I can't say for certain, but I think that the reminders of you are why she left Blackwell Manor after returning from Lothian March."
Of course, Isabell only felt like that was part of the reason. After all, the countess knew just as well as Isabell did who had betrayed her eldest daughter to a murderous husband. She had lost one daughter to the schemes of the other one. How could any mother still live in the house that carried so many reminders of the children she'd raised to suffer such a tragic fate?
