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He leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. “You say you watched my cousin and uncle open the strong room to remove valuables from there, and that is how you knew where the secret chamber was located. You were not always without sight, then?”
“No, my lord. I lost my sight four years ago in an accident. I fell from my palfrey and hit my head on a rock. I lay unconscious for two days, and when I regained my senses I could not see. My brother’s physicians could find no cause for my blindness, but it is a fact.”
“That must have been hard to accept.” His sympathy was genuine. Blair could not even start to imagine losing his own sight.
“Yes, at first. But it was the will of God. I have accepted my lot and I have adapted.”
Blair nodded. Privately he could not help but admire her resilience. “And your brother beat you, you say?”
Roselyn nodded. “He did, and he threatened to put Kelso priory to the torch. I truly believed that he would do so…”
“And this is why you sent him to Mortain? To save yourself and your priory?”
She was sobbing now, her features stricken. “I am sorry. I bitterly regret what I did, and what happened as a result. If I had known, if I could have imagined…” She brushed away her tears and lifted her chin once more. “I truly had no notion, none at all, that my brother would be so brutal, so ruthless. There was no need, and—”
“On that we agree. Your brother’s brutality was beyond belief, but as his sister, his closest relative, you surely knew him well enough to have anticipated it.”
“I did not, I swear it. Alan and I are not close. We are half-siblings and have rarely lived together, and although I know him to be self-serving and lacking in either kindness or empathy, I had never known him to be violent or cruel. Not until recently, at least. His debts have weighed heavily upon him I fear.”
“Indeed. And that is what passes a justification for such an act, does it, my lady?”
“Of course not. I did not mean to imply such a thing. I just… I want you to believe that I regret what has happened and if there was anything I could do to help make it right I would do it, my lord. I do not seek to excuse his actions, or mine, but I would hope you will at least be able to understand why I acted as I did. I have no evidence to offer you though, just my word. And I realise you have no cause to accept my account alone.”
Blair stroked his chin, replaying the events at Etal in his mind. Some details which had puzzled him then were starting to make sense.
“There is evidence, or there might be. You have said that your brother knocked you to the ground and kicked you, injuring your ribs. This took place at Kelso? Were there witnesses to the assault?”
“Yes, of course. The prioress herself was present. The Reverend Mother pleaded with Alan to cease but he ignored her. She was kind enough to care for me afterwards though, once he had left. She aided me to my bed and prepared poultices for my injuries.”
“I see. Kelso is almost a week’s ride from here, however.”
Roselyn bowed her head, her expression bleak. “I know. ‘Tis too far away. And I was there for only a short time after in any case. My brother sent men to escort me back to Etal two days after he attacked me. By then though he had already left for Mortain. He returned briefly to Etal, but fled as soon as he learnt of your approach. You know the rest.”
“How many days prior to my arrival at Etal did the attack on you take place?”
“It happened almost a sennight earlier, my lord.”
“You were still in pain when we met. You screamed when I put you on the cart. I thought I had hurt you, but in truth it was the result of the battering you had from your brother, was it not?”
“Yes, my lord. I was still quite sore.”
“Why did you not say so at the time?”
“I… I did not dare to, my lord. You were so angry, so terrifying…”
“I am only slightly less angry now.”
“It… does not seem so, my lord. And Elspeth said that you would be fair and hear my story.”
He let that comment go unremarked. “So, the beating was what, near enough three weeks ago now? Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If your injuries pained you so badly and left you struggling for breath your ribs might have been cracked. At the very least there would have been severe bruising, however effective the Reverend Mother’s poultices.”
“I suppose that is true, my lord. It certainly felt so though of course I could not see it.”
“But I could. There is a possibility that the marks might still be upon your body.”
