The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,62

were vulnerable.

I pulled Archie closer as we were pushed and forced down the cell row. It was dank and smelled of rot, of urine and feces, and I thought I heard the skittering of rats. “Where’s Magnus?”

“Hospital.” A barred door clanged open and we were shoved through. The room was lacking any form of comfort but did have a giant projection of the local shitty news on the wall opposite the stone bench. Terrible fucking hotel, I thought as a woman news-anchor talked about war and death and destruction, the shifting images on a stone wall, the volume loud, the lights glowing. The video shifted to a dead person—

“Mammy?”

The video showed a pile of dead people laying on a street. A monotone voice explained it.

I was in shock, it was hard to make my words work. I stared blankly at the stone bench pretending to be a bed. There was a bucket for a bathroom— “Yes honey?” My words floated from me without effort, I had no effort.

“Where Da?”

Where is da? Where is Magnus? Shit, where the fuck is Magnus? My senses returned. I turned Isla and Archie away from the wall. “He’s in the hospital. He’s fine, don’t watch this news. They’re going to fix him right up. And then he’ll tell them they’ve made a mistake, this is his castle, right? He just has to get better and clear up the mistake.” I added, “You’re probably tired aren’t you?”

“Hungwy.”

“Me too, my love, me too.”

I sat down on the stone bed and put Isla on my front and an arm out for Archie to climb under. I clutched their heads keeping them turned from the screen. “We just have to rest for a bit and get our strength back. We need to pray for your da, and we need to grow strong enough to get out of here.”

“How do we?” His voice was so small and scared that panic washed over me.

I swallowed. “Well, we…” Deep breath. “Have you seen the springs in Florida?”

“No.”

“A spring is water that comes from deep underground, it springs up, and it never ever runs out of water.” I patted Isla’s back, comforting her, but also distracting myself.

“Like a faucet?”

“Kind of, but coming upward, and sometimes the force is so strong that it shoots up really high in the air, like a fountain. People will drive from miles around to see them, or to swim in them, and because the source of them is deep inside the earth, sometimes they are cold springs, sometimes they’re hot.”

“Oh.”

“But they are ‘always’. They never turn off.”

Isla looked up at me. “Ah-way.”

“Exactly. The wellspring has a strength deep inside, that keeps them always going. Your da has that, he will be strong enough for this.”

“Da is very strong.”

“Exactly, and because you are the son of Magnus, you’re strong too.”

“I son of you, too.”

I looked down at him and blinked. “Yes, you’re my son too, and we are Campbells. I married Magnus. I adopted you. I love you so much, and I have a wellspring inside of me, so we are going to be okay.”

“I’m scared.”

“Yeah, me too, it doesn’t mean we’re not strong, it means we’re smart. We’re scared and we’re tired and we’re hungry, but our wellspring is there all the same.” I slid Isla off to the side and stood up in front of him. “I try to be kind, to have good manners — I know I’m just a woman, that I best behave, but underneath, in my heart and my stomach…” I clutched my middle. “I have it inside, bubbling underneath the surface, ready to bust out, and so when I tap it.” I knocked on my stomach. “It rushes out, strong-ness, bursting forth, I’m all kinds of strong all over the place.”

I looked down at him and smiled. “Like you won’t believe how strong I can be.”

“Okay.”

And this is our castle. Mine and yours. It’s your da’s. It’s your da’s army. It’s your da’s kingdom. I don’t know what’s happening right now, but I sure know this isn’t my bedroom. I looked around the room. “Where’s my bed? Last I remember my bed had a pillow.”

Isla giggled because I was acting out not being able to find a pillow and it was a simple thing but her giggle made me feel better.

I stood with my hands on my hips and looked at them both, their tired eyes rimmed with dark. They were exhausted. “Look, sweetie, do you think you can sleep? Put your