The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,13

done this long enough to know how it ended, with Magnus having to— “So what does this mean, who goes? We can’t just call her.” Magnus was in his familiar forward sit, elbows on his knees, head down. His contemplative position, his deciding position, his I have to do something I don’t want to do— “Magnus, we just got home.”

“I ken. I ken we hae, I daena want tae go but I hae tae talk tae her about a great many things.”

Chef Zach said, “Who goes with you? I don’t want to be the last guy left at the rodeo with a pissed off bull eyeing me from across the ring.”

Magnus met my eyes.

I said, “I have to stay with the kids, I can’t go.”

“I ken.” He sat quietly for a moment staring at his hands. Then he said, “I will leave tomorrow evening. In my absence we will have full security. As soon as I arrive in the kingdom I will send Hammond with part of m’army tae guard the house. I will make sure ye are protected.”

I nodded. “I think you need to be protected too though, right? Should you take Quentin?”

“Twould be good, Fraoch has been here long enough to help Chef Zach and James and once Hammond arrives we will hae an army around the house. I winna ask for a week between jumps, I will come back the verra next day.”

He looked around the room. “Does everyone agree?”

Zach said, “Yeah, I agree. I’m not cooking though, too stressful. We’re doing easy meals. I might bake though because cookies calm my ass down. But everything else will be easy, fair warning.”

I said, “It’s a deal, you deserve a break after this feast anyway.” To Magnus I said, “What time will you be returning to in the kingdom?”

“It will be a month after I left. Lady Mairead has had no inconvenience at all.”

I sank back in my chair. “She makes me furious.”

“Aye, I ken.” Magnus squeezed my hand.

We climbed into bed. “That was a weird Thanksgiving, huh?” I curled up against his chest. I wore silk pajama bottoms and a loose cotton t-shirt and he was naked, warm and furry in all the best ways, our bedding had a high thread-count, everything felt soft and luxurious and so, so, so decadent.

“The food was verra good.”

“I barely tasted it I was so caught up in worry.”

“Aye.”

“I don’t like the idea of being without you.” I drew circles with my finger in the hair on his chest.

“I ken. But our bairn need ye and we canna take them with us. This is the safest place for them. Quentin has a strong security plan so we winna be surprised.”

I said, “Good, I hate surprises.” Then I added, “I don’t know if I can sleep my stomach is so full of food I’m sloshy.” I rolled my hips back and forth and I was indeed making sloshing noises.

He laughed. “I hae nae heard ye make that sound in a long time.”

“Not since that last Thanksgiving, remember?”

Magnus said, “Aye, we had the feast two times in the same day. We shared it with Barb, and then once again with Chef Zach.”

“It was my last Thanksgiving with her.”

“Aye, tis a bittersweet memory.” He lay quietly.

“What are you thinking about?”

“We need all the vessels. Without them we will never ken who is coming. We hae tae find them all, and store them away or our children will never be safe.”

I raised up on one arm and looked down at him. “I agree.”

“I must make it a priority. Tis a pressin’ matter.”

His hand slid up my back, over the soft layers of fabric against my skin. I met his lips to receive the kiss he was offering, one full of tastes and nibbles and sighs and deep longing—

The intercom emitted Quentin’s voice: “Magnus, Bill needs to go home, can you come take a shift?”

“Aye, be there in a moment.”

Magnus kissed my throat and pulled himself slowly away.

“You’re going to be tired.”

“Aye, but tis okay, I will see ye in the morn, mo reul-iuil.”

“Good night.”

He turned on the bathroom light to dress by. I watched him across the dim room as he pulled on some clothes and his shoes and then, as my eyes grew heavy, he crept through the room headed to the upper decks for his watch.

I was lying in the bottom of a small row boat, gently raising and lowering with ripples on the surface of the water... the sky was full of