Page 44 of A Constant Blaze

“Forgive him,” the prior said. “He is a different man in the daytime.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Malcolm assured him. “I’m not at my best either when wakened up in the middle of the night.”

“You are most understanding. And…” He lifted his sharp gaze to Malcolm’s face. “And you appear to know the way.”

“I stayed here before. More than twenty years ago now, when Aidan was prior. I’m glad to see the guest quarters still the same.”

“Somewhat expanded,” the prior said with a shade of pride, “Although you are welcome to stay in the old house.” He opened the door to the guesthouse Malcolm only vaguely remembered.

Malcolm hesitated. “Forgive me. Is anyone else staying with you just now?”

“We have one other guest. But he, too, prefers privacy. He has quarters next to my own and will not disturb you.”

Malcolm stepped inside and found a clean, bare room with a bed, desk, and chair.

“Twenty years is a long time between visits,” the prior observed.

“I’ve been away,” Malcolm said vaguely.

“Far away?” the prior asked with open curiosity.

Malcolm let out a breath of laughter. “A different world.”

But the prior clearly misunderstood, for his eyes sparkled with wonder and admiration. “The Holy Land,” he breathed. “You’ve been on crusade.”

“It’s not something I wish to discuss,” Malcolm said. After all, the loyalties of this man, of the entire house, were unknown to him. Aidan had been an ambiguous character with sympathy for romantic causes, including his own dying religion. But the priory stood in the heart of Angus, an earldom constantly loyal to the King of Scots. And one of its nearest neighbors was the equally loyal Lord of Kingowan.

“Of course, of course,” the prior said with what he probably thought was understanding. “I’ll leave you now. May I bring you food and ale, or will you last until after Nocturns?”

*

“I can’t,” Grizelsaid simply, stepping back from the window. She knew her limitations, clearly, and recognized that climbing down the sheer wall of the castle clinging only to precariously rooted ivy was well beyond her.

“We could use the bed linen,” Mairead said. “I can easily make her a sling to sit in.”

“I rather think we’re running out of time for that,” Muiredach said. “The…my friend will only be able to distract the soldiers for so long. And your linen is so white, it will shine in the dark like a beacon.”

Mairead regarded him thoughtfully. He had the lean, ascetic look of a devout monk, and yet his shoulders were broad. He must have scuttled up that wall like a spider, and yet he’d arrived in her chamber barely even out of breath.

“You are stronger than you look,” she observed. “Could you carry Grizel on your back as you climb?”

“If the ivy will take our weight.”

“No,” Grizel said flatly. “Lady, you go. I will stay and hide your absence as long as I can.”

Mairead hesitated. Her need to be free was a gnawing pain in her heart, made all the worse, somehow, by the abrupt arrival of the musician and the hope of escape he’d brought with him. More than that, something about him disposed her to trust him. She didn’t have much choice in that.

“It might be the best solution,” Muiredach said. “If she will be safe—”

“She won’t be,” Mairead interrupted. Without meaning to, she touched the bruise on her face, then hurriedly dropped her hand as she saw Muiredach’s gaze following it. She lifted her chin. “She has no one to protect her but me. No one who counts, that is. When he discovers she’s lied and covered for me, he’ll kill her. If he truly believes she knew of a connection to Roxburgh, he’ll torture her. She has to come.”

There seemed little point in hiding such matters now. Grizel and Muiredach both knew her connection to Adam MacHeth and, no doubt, to Malcolm whom she devoutly hoped was safely home in Ross.

Oddly enough, Muiredach neither scowled at her nor berated her. Instead, he bestowed a surprised smile upon her, like a teacher just discovering he has an unexpectedly bright pupil. “Then we had better reconsider. I wish the—my friend were here to do the planning.”

“I planned my way in and out of Roxburgh for nearly two years,” Mairead said tartly, throwing the last remnants of caution to the wind. After all, the three of them were in this together now. “I’m sure we can manage without your mysterious friend.” Her eyes widened suddenly as she stared at him. “Please tell me you haven’t brought Malcolm MacHeth here!”

“I have never met Malcolm MacHeth.”

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