Chapter 26
“Praise God we’re at last shed of them.” Catriona leaned back against him, hugging his arms tighter around her as they watched the king’s regiment and Campbell’s men leave the glen. A sea of red uniforms followed by a multi-colored mass of grays, blues, and greens exited out the narrow pass like water poured from a bucket.
“Aye.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her closer, breathing in her sweet familiar scent and reveling in her soft warmth against him. He supposed he should feel happier. Jameson Campbell bound for the Tollbooth at Fort William and the regiment withdrawn without the slightest scuffle. Relieved, he should be.
But he wasn’t.
Edward’s warning of possible trouble on the horizon replayed in his head and the thought of a traitor, or traitors, still in their midst gnawed at him like a dog worrying an old bone. He would no' rest until he discovered who had betrayed their first escape, risked Catriona’s well-being, and cost Murtagh and the stable lads their lives. Edward had spoken of a fragile balance. Too much was at risk. A traitor among them threatened destruction of them all.
“Ye be wool-gathering.” Catriona pushed her way out of his arms, turned, and faced him. “What troubles ye, dear husband?”
She read him so well. He didna ken if that was a good thing or no'. Cupping her face between his hands, he sank into the sweet concern filling her eyes. “I fear safety eludes us yet.” He wouldna lie to shield her. To do so would cause her more harm than good.
Catriona pulled away, her mouth tightening into a flat line as she glanced up at the sky and squinted against the brightness of the day. She pulled her arisaidh tighter about her, and strolled across the path to the battlement, returning her attention to the emptying of the glen. “If we keep to ourselves, surely Edward will let us be.” She stared at the vista before her, the wind whipping her hair. “He said he’d do so as best he could.” She tore her gaze away from the glen and pinned it on him. “Think ye he lied?”
“I've never known Edward to lie, but I do know he's loyal to a fault with whatever duty he’s sworn to keep.”
“Even if it betrays his conscience?”
“Even if it betrays his conscience,” Alexander confirmed, grinding his teeth at the admission. 'Twas the one thing they’d always disagreed upon, even come to blows over once long ago. Edward followed orders—no matter what. Alexander had always felt it to be the man's greatest weakness of character. To Edward, extenuating circumstances didna exist. Orders were orders. Never questioned. Always followed.
A weary huff escaped him. “Truth be told, it fair shocked me when he said he’d leave us be as long as he could.” Alexander only hoped Edward had at last come to the realization that life was no' a case of black and white. Proper choices came in a myriad of shades tinted by a man’s heart, soul, and conscience.
“But he warned us to tread lightly.” Catriona rested her hand upon the battlement and bowed her head. “He meant if we did anything to insult the Crown, he wouldna hesitate to destroy us, aye?”
“Aye.” Alexander pushed away from the stone wall of the tower and joined Catriona at the low, crenelated wall surrounding it. “But at least his threat is out in the open and we’ll see the danger full on before it hits.”
Catriona scowled at him with a confused look. “What are ye saying?”
“We’ve a traitor here, Catriona. Somewhere.” He encompassed the keep and the grounds with an impatient flip of a hand. “The night we tried to escape. Tried to free ye. Someone alerted Calum. Someone close to ye. Had to be someone close to ye.” Scowling down at the courtyard below, he allowed his gaze to follow the repetitious movements of one of the serving lads loading armloads of wood into the pit for roasting meat. Back and forth the lad went from woodpile to pit, stacking the wood loose for when it came time to light the fire beneath the spit.
“Someone couldha heard us in the hall,” Catriona defended.
Fair point. Alexander thought back but instinct told him no. “I dinna believe we said enough in the hall to give away our plans.”
“Then someone in the kitchens.” Catriona’s voice fell, and she closed her eyes. “Or someone close to Murtagh.”
“His wife, perhaps?”
Catriona shrank away. 'Twas a sure sign she too suspected Mrs. Aberfeldy.
“Aye, perhaps so,” she said in such a soft, low tone he strained to hear her. She lifted her sad gaze to him. “I told her of our plan to escape and bade her tell Murtagh so he could ready the horses.” She rubbed her fingers to her forehead as though trying to wipe away the memory. Catriona closed her eyes and shook her head. “But why?” She opened her eyes and stared at Alexander. “Why would she betray me knowing it endangered her husband’s life?”
Alexander held out his arm. “Let us find out.” They’d go to the hall and have the woman summoned to appear before them. The chieftain and his wife. Their first hearing and judgment as leaders of Clan Neal.
With a resigned sigh, Catriona hooked her arm in his. Together, they made their way down from the guard tower to the main hall and seated themselves in the ornate upholstered chairs on the dais beneath the Neal crest. Servants milled about the room, sweeping, dusting, scrubbing the flagstones.
Alexander motioned the closest of them forward. A young maid, her sleeves pushed up past her elbows, busy at her chore of scrubbing table tops with what smelled like strong lye water. Eyes flaring wide at his summons, she dropped the rag into the bucket and hurried to him.
“Aye, my chieftain?” she said in a quivering voice as she clutched her dark skirts with her reddened hands and curtsied.
“I bid ye fetch Mrs. Aberfeldy and tell her to make haste.” Alexander gave the young maid an encouraging nod. “On with ye now.”
The young girl’s freckled cheeks flamed redder than the curls peeping out from under her white cap. She made another quick curtsy then shot off toward the kitchens.
“What will ye do to the woman?” Catriona asked under her breath.
“That depends on what she says.” Alexander paused then took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “And your wishes.”
