The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,52
close as we descended the stairs through the silent empty rooms of the castle.
That night, I woke to see Magnus’s side of the bed empty. I found him outside the room sitting on the carpet, leaning against the door. “What are you doing?”
“Nightwatch, mo reul-iuil .”
“I didn’t realize that was a thing?”
“Aye, we saw the men again, outside the hotel.”
“Maybe they’re just on the same itinerary…? Wait, forget that, I know that’s not how itineraries work. I’m sorry this is so stressful. I wanted us to have a nice, normal vacation.”
“I ken, and this is normal, for a king and his family tae need tae be on guard. Tis okay, mo reul-iuil, we are on vacation. Did ye see Isla this day when she was laughin’ beside the big fountain, did ye ever think ye would see that when ye were once here with Mary of Guise?”
“We were talking about our children and what it was like to have left them.”
“Aye, and if ye think on it, when ye visited here long ago, yer bairn were in the future, like ghosts they weighed on yer heart, but now we are here with our children, and the ghosts are our friends and family in the past. Nae matter how we try, there is always a ghost weighing on our hearts. Tis the nature of time traveling.”
“It’s also the nature of being human.”
“Aye. Get some rest. On the morrow ye will need tae be well-rested while I am sleepin’ on the tour of Stirling,” he said with a tired smile.
“Promise you’ll wake me up if anything happens?”
We went to Stirling for two nights and a full day of sightseeing at that castle too. More melancholy memories, and more tense moments, as if we were being followed. Hayley said, “I’m watching and I don’t know what you’re talking about, maybe you’re just being overly cautious.”
Magnus humphed.
Fraoch said, “I hae seen the same men now in three different cities in Scotland, tis nae an accident. And then there are the storms.”
“What storms?” Hayley and I both asked at once.
“The storms in the Glasgow area.”
Hayley’s mouth opened and shut and then she quietly asked, “Do we need to go home?”
Magnus and Fraoch looked at each other.
Magnus said, “Nae.”
That night during Fraoch’s watch, Magnus had a nightmare. I woke up startled and didn’t know what was happening.
The kids were in the next bed, I checked to make sure they were sleeping, then realized it was Magnus beside me. I whispered, “You’re having a bad dream.” He moaned again.
I nudged his shoulder.
His eyes opened.
I said it again, “You’re having a bad dream.”
His hand wrapped around mine. “Och.”
“Was it the same thing?”
“Aye.”
He stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, then said, “I daena ken what it means.” He kissed my fingertips, and then fell back to sleep.
We drove to Balloch castle, now called Taymouth. Last time I had been here in the present day there had been caution tape all around because of the unexplained storms.
We parked in front of the Kenmore Hotel, near the church with the loch shimmering in the warm sun just beyond, and climbed from the van to take stock. Magnus said, “Och, none of this was here except the hotel and the church.”
It was Hayley’s turn to recount memories. “See that right there? That’s where a horde of evil men surrounded us, didn’t they, Fraoch?”
“Och aye! Twas verra dreich, the loch was up tae here.” He pointed on his chest and Haley laughed.
“More like mid-shin, but it wrecked my skirts, dragging me down, down, down.” She pretended to go lower and lower as she walked giving the kids a good giggle.
Fraoch said, “I thought we would hae tae swim tae get away. The men were scoundrels and meant tae kill us.” He looked at Isla and Archie with a broad smile peeking from his long unruly beard. “They were much like each-uisge, grabbin’ yer aunt Hayley, tryin’ tae drag her under the water—”
Archie’s eyes were wide. “What’s an each-uisge?”
Magnus said, “A vicious water horse, a demon from the deep that wants tae carry women away.”
I shot Magnus a look as Fraoch continued, “Then she fired her gun—”
Archie said, “Aunt Hayley carried a gun?”
I said, “Fraoch, this is not the best story for little ears.”
“Och, he is nae so little, he is a’most a grown man! Look at his arms,” Fraoch raised Archie’s arm and felt the muscles. “He will be carryin’ a broadsword in nae time.”