I turned in his arms and straightened the front of his coat and smoothed his hair from his face. “What are you about to do now?”
“Châtellerault received an emissary with a treaty from France. He has asked me tae witness his signature upon it.”
I said, “Every signature gets us closer to being found.”
“Aye, and he kens ye are a friend tae Mary of Guise. He wants tae hae me on the record. Tae hae me tied tae his aims.”
“It grows ever more complicated, but we’ll get through this. I used to compete on YouTube. I was high in the ratings. I dealt, on the daily, with crazy, conniving YouTubers. I can steer us though the maneuverings of medieval men. Or, if not, you and I, my love, have a tent. With heated sleeping bags. If things get too messy, we can always leave and hide for a while.”
He smiled and nodded. “I am glad ye are hopeful.”
He stood and straightened his coat and we walked together through the castle to Châtellerault’s office. At the door, his eyes twinkled, he held up his pen. “I hae m’blue ink ready”
I laughed. “Good, easier to find.”
“Och aye, and when Châtellerault signs, I sign twice as large as his.”
“Awesome, do that, blue and big enough to be seen from space.”
I left him at the door and returned to archery practice.
Seventy-eight - Hayley
Fraoch was walking up the driveway with a string of fish over his shoulder. I was standing on the porch waiting. Now that he wore a watch, he was like clockwork. Now that he knew how to take James’s boat from the dock out into the intracoastal waterways, he always returned with some fish too. The deep freezer stocked, Zach joked we’d never eat it all. But for Fraoch it was comforting. In a world of everything being totally new, he was fishing for normalcy. Setting out into the waterway in the boat, casting a line into the water. That and riding the horses was the closest he got to familiar.
He waved as he saw me, and as he drew close, said, “I caught a giant iasg mòr, look at him!” He held up a big, long flounder. “And I witnessed a uile-bhèist. He was as long as the boat.”
“You did, you mean a gator? Did you growl at him to scare him away?”
“Nae, we hae come tae an agreement, I winna acknowledge them and they winna eat me.”
“I’m relieved about your agreement. And yum yum, can’t wait for fish.”
“Och aye, we will hae a feast!” He kissed me and we trudged around to the back of the house where the cleaning sink was.
He set up his knives and cutting board. “What hae ye been doin’?”
“I checked in at work. It’s all good. Came back to have some afternoon fun with you, I was thinking we could go to the stables after lunch, take the horses for a ride,” He sliced through the fish and expertly filleted it. “It’s awfully hot today though, maybe nap time, by which I mean sex, in our air conditioned bedroom.“
Fraoch tossed the fish into a Tupperware box, added a bit of water, and sealed the lid.
“I also thought we could go up and have dinner tonight at Joe’s 2nd Street Bistro and after we can hit the Green Turtle. It was, I mean is, one of Magnus’s favorites. I would love to show you. Are you ready for going out in public—”
Quentin called down, “Fraoch, Hayley, check this out!”
“Coming, hold on a second!”
Fraoch put the last of the fish in the deep freezer, and we washed our hands in the sink with lemon to get the fish smell off them. I washed out of solidarity, because Fraoch was still getting used to the idea that hand-washing was necessary. Then we went upstairs.
Quentin was waiting for us, “Shit, y’all take your time?”
Chef Zach said, “We had something fucking crazy to tell you.”
They were at the table again, surrounded by the research.
Emma flattened a magazine in front of me. “This! Check it out! I was taking a nap, flipping through this month’s Smithsonian magazine, and look at this article!”
I read out loud: “The Mysterious case of the Medieval Ballpoint Pen Signatures.”
I screwed my face up. “What?”
She pointed under the headline, “Here! It’s important, read it!”
I read, “Okay, yes, it says...” I read for a moment not understanding why. “What is this, I’m not getting it?”
She huffed. “Fine. To paraphrase: there are a bunch of Scottish documents from