Free Highland Destiny by Hannah Howell Page B

face as she had watched Balfour and Nigel. It had been a look of pure hate, a feeling so strong that it had briefly touched Maldie, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. She tried to tell herself that she was being foolish, that she had simply been infected by the brothers’ talk of betrayal, but she could not make herself believe that. Even though she did not know the Murrays very well, she could think of nothing they could have done to inspire such hatred. But she could not ignore or deny it, either. Grizel loathed the brothers. Maldie wondered if she had just found their traitor. She then wondered if she could make them see it.
    “Ye look weary, Nigel,” Balfour said. “Rest. We but talk round and round and find no answers. I at least have the comfort of kenning that ye share my suspicions about a traitor at Dunn-coill.”
    “’Twould be better if we kenned who it is,” Nigel murmured as he slumped against his pillows.
    “’Tis Grizel,” Maldie said, deciding that the simple truth was not only the easiest way, but nice to indulge in for a change. It was hard, however, not to take a defensive step backward when both men suddenly stared at her.
    “What is Grizel?” asked Balfour. “Was she just here?” He grimaced slightly. “God’s teeth, I think I can smell her.”
    “Ye may do so. I keep these chambers verra clean. ’Twould be easy to smell such filth when it enters now.”
    “Are ye saying that my chambers werenae clean before? I am wounded to the heart,” Nigel jested weakly.
    “They are but much cleaner than they were,” she said. “Howbeit, I wasnae speaking wholly of Grizel’s dirt or odor, just her hate. ’Tis so strong I could taste itsbitterness.” She smiled briefly at their identical looks of confusion. “Grizel hates ye and Nigel, Sir Balfour, truly loathes you.”
    Balfour rubbed his chin as he carefully weighed her words. “I ken that the woman is ill humored and appears to deal weel with no one here, mon, woman, or beast. ’Tis a long stride from that to hatred. And of what worth is it to me if she does hate me or Nigel?”
    Maldie shook her head. “Thus speaks a mon raised in the palm of wealth and ease. Those surrounded by ones who serve them are oftimes too blind to see either their worth or their threat. Ye both feel certain that someone had to have aided Beaton in the stealing of your brother, yet can think of no one with a reason to betray you. Weel, I give ye a good reason—hatred. Ere ye dismiss Grizel as a threat, mayhap ye should ponder what might have caused her hatred. Therein may lie the answers ye seek.”
    “Our father bedded her once.” Nigel shrugged gently, still favoring his wound. “She was fair, and cleaner, once, years ago.”
    “And your father cast her aside?” Maldie asked, fighting not to let her distaste for such behavior divert her.
    “Aye, when he fell in love with Eric’s mother. I fear Grizel’s fair looks swiftly left her so, e’en when his new lover died, our father felt no desire to return to Grizel’s arms.”
    “So, Grizel was once the laird’s leman and fair of face. Then she is cast aside for a new lover, watches that woman’s child raised as the laird’s son, and watches her beauty fade. Not only do I see a verra good reason for the woman to hate Murray men, but a verra good reason indeed for Grizel to wish to harm Eric.”
    “’Tis certainly enough reason to watch her more closely,” Balfour said as he moved toward the door. “I will do so. I need more than words and suspicions to call Grizel a traitor. She has been at Donncoill since her birth. Her kinsmen helped mine gain and hold this land.” He paused in the open doorway and sighed. “Although they have naught to do with her nor she with them, she does have kinsmen here. I need hard proof of her betrayal. And, now, I need ye to ready yourself to come to the great hall and dine with me.”
    “But Nigel—”
    “I will send Jennie up to tend to him.”
    He was gone