As much as she wanted to escape the keep, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Quiver and Princess. Whoever did this could very well return and finish what he had started. After all, if Quiver had seen the culprit, then he could identify him. She had to find a way to protect them and herself until her husband returned home.
She sat on the floor beside the two thinking. What if there was more than one person involved? She wouldn’t stand a chance against more than one and what made her think she could stand a chance against one if Quiver and Princess couldn’t?
Her mind continued to rush with thoughts. Who had the power to lock down the keep without anyone giving thought to such action? And the other question that she had so anxiously wanted to find out… who had been first to find the three bodies?
She got her answer sooner than expected.
“You have no choice but to show yourself, Purity.”
“Are you sure you can trust him?” Royden asked, riding alongside his brother as they left Brynjar’s camp.
“Not in the least, but what he says makes sense more than anything else,” Arran said. “What Brynjar wanted had nothing to do with me or Purity. It was revenge against a bitter enemy—Wolf. I don’t know what caused the hatred between them, but it more than simmers now and one day will explode.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t instruct a small group of Wolf’s men to follow Brynjar to the sea and make sure he leaves this land.”
“I thought of it, but did you see the way Wolf’s warriors didn’t seem at all concerned with going to confront Brynjar?” Arran asked. “Not a complaint or worried look among them. There isn’t a warrior that has battled or heard of Brynjar who doesn’t fear him… unless—”
“They knew more of their fellow warriors were in the area ready to fight alongside them,” Royden finished, shaking his head in realization. “Wolf has been keeping watch on Brynjar without anyone knowing it.”
“Brynjar would have suspected and taken precautions.”
“But it would have been difficult for his men to move around without being seen, which makes it unlikely that he’s responsible for the three murders or for the Abbott’s disappearance.” He threw out a suggestion. “Could it be the Abbott?”
“He wasn’t in the area when the warrior died.”
“How do you know he wasn’t?”
“I don’t see how he couldn’t have been spotted, and I would have been informed if he’d been seen,” Arran said and his brow quickly narrowed. “I would have been informed.”
“So you said.”
Arran shook his head. “I wasn’t told.”
“You weren’t told what?” Royden asked, seeing the growing concern on his brother’s face.
“Damn! Damn!! He was right in front of us all this time.” Arran took off as if the devil was chasing him and Royden was right behind him.
“Freen,” she said, recognizing the voice and remaining crouched down where she was.
“Come out from there now,” he demanded.
She suspected he intended to kill her, since it all began to make sense. Her only hope was to somehow stay alive until her husband got here.
“Why?” she called out.
Freen laughed. “You think by stalling you give your husband a chance to return and save you.” He laughed again. “He hates Brynjar and foolishly blames him for all that has gone on here. One of them will kill the other tonight and more fighting will ensue because of it. You’re lucky if your husband returns by daybreak if at all. I’m thinking that if Brynjar doesn’t kill your husband, what wounds he inflicts on him will. With a little help from me, of course, just like with your father, though your return spoiled that.”
“My father?” she asked.
“Orvin was poisoning him slowly for me and when you returned and took his position away he feared discovery. I couldn’t let that happen. He had to die, as did your father, for my plan to work. I had to contend with him for five long miserable years, then you returned wed to Arran and the promise made to me vanished in an instant.”
The news that her father had been poison shocked her and had her asking, “What was taken away from you?”
“The Clan Macara,” he said and Purity cringed when she heard him take a fist to a table and the wood crack. “All of this was to be mine. You were to be my wife and the clan given to me. That was Wolf’s promise to me. But we couldn’t find you. No matter how much we searched we couldn’t find you. Of course, I didn’t plan on having you as a wife for long just as I don’t plan for you to survive much longer tonight. You would have been poisoned as well, then I would have brought the woman I love, who patiently waits for me at our homeland, and wed her.”