A Trust Betrayed by Candace Robb Read Free Book Online Page A

knew she did. “They do not appear friendly.”
     
    Andrew snorted. “Men are ever uneasy near their confessors. I shall ask about Canongate for lodgings that would suit you.”
     
    “I shall bide here until I either find Roger or learn where he is and what he is doing.”
     
    “Our uncle might disagree.”
     
    “Then I must persuade him.”
     
    Andrew sighed one of his annoying sighs. She did not think he had even attempted to understand her need to know what had become of Roger.
     
    Her attention was caught by a drunk who had walked into their table, then muttered, “Longshanks’s canons, all of you,” before lurching on to the back door. Murdoch was just entering. The drunk gave a cry of surprise as the innkeeper grabbed him by the arm and, with his other hand in the small of the man’s back, pushed him out the back door.
     
    “Pay him no heed, Maggie,” Andrew said sharply, his face red.
     
    “It would seem the clergy are the scapegoats for the town,” Margaret said.
     
    “I told him he was better off at home,” Murdoch grumbled as he sat down beside Margaret. “Keep the peace, that is the duty of a taverner. I won’t abide such talk. It starts brawls. I’ll not have it.”
     
    Andrew had already risen and was fumbling with his cloak. “Watch over Maggie, Uncle,” he said. It seemed to Margaret that he was trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye. He blessed them both, then with bowed head made his way through the crowd to the street door and departed.
     
    Sim placed a trencher, the hollowed center filled with a milky oat and broth paste, before Margaret. “I took one up to your maid,” he said.
     
    “That was kind,” said Margaret.
     
    She had not known whether she could eat. But once she inhaled the steam rising off the oats, she could not help but break off a piece of the hard crust of bread and scoop up a mouthful. Her stomach received the hot food gladly.
     
    “I thought you’d have an appetite after that journey,” Murdoch said. “It is the sort of thing your mother would do— making that journey in a storm.”
     
    Margaret ignored him and ate.
     
    Murdoch was quiet, tapping his feet to the music for a time.
     
    “Are all the canons blamed for their abbot’s support of Long-shanks?” she asked him after a while.
     
    Murdoch grunted. “If you would be wise, keep to yourself and trust none in this town, Maggie.”
     
    Not comforting advice. But at least he seemed resigned to her staying. For the moment.
     
    4
     
    Not a Good Beginning
     
    Murdoch had given Margaret and Celia his chamber. It was far cleaner than the room beside it, in which they had talked earlier, and boasted a shuttered window and a wooden door.
     
    Celia stood ready to help Margaret undress. “Let me help you with your boots, mistress.”
     
    Margaret’s boots had tightened as they dried. Now her feet hurt, though she had not noticed the pain until Celia mentioned the boots. She sat down on the one high-backed chair in the room—it squeaked when she leaned against the back. But her head felt so heavy she thought she would topple if she did not sit back. The chair held, but Celia was now ready for Margaret to stand to be unlaced from her kirtle.
     
    At last Celia stood beside the curtained bed, a sheepskin in hand with which to crown the blankets and linens. As Margaret slipped her cold feet between the covers, she found Celia had warmed the bed with a hot stone and left it down at the foot. Margaret was grateful for the cosseting.
     
    Lying there, feeling her tired body ease into the mattress, she prayed she would fall asleep at once. But the bed, though comfortable, was unfamiliar, the sounds from the tavern below intrusive and now and again jarring. All in all, conducive not to sleep but to worry. Her chest tightened and she had to will herself to breathe. With breath came tears. Useless, embarrassing tears. She tugged the curtains closed so Celia would not witness her weakness.
     
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