Kanyth (Immortal Highlander, Clan Skaraven Book 4): A Scottish Time Travel Romance

by Hazel Hunter

  Taran didn’t reply.

  “Don’t get me wrong. There have been a few perks.” Rowan began scrubbing herself with the cloth. “Like how we got rescued by the Skaraven. Well, by Cade, but he’s part of the clan, right? All for one, one for all. No, that was those French guys, forget that. Anyway, one night on the run there I even kept us from starving by stealing chestnuts from a squirrel stash. The survival skills I’ve learned are just awesome. Have to admit, I never stole food from rodents while being hunted like an animal in my time.”

  The door creaked again. “Rowan, please.”

  “No, really, I can’t complain. So what if the other kidnapped gals keep getting enslaved by your clan’s battle spirits and then killed horribly? The Skaraven have been decent enough to fall in love with them, and raise them from the dead as immortals. Except me. I’m the big mortal pain that everyone except you avoids. You use me like cheap day labor, and I let you because, well, I don’t have anyone.” She reached for the dipper and stepped into the shallow empty tub. “Yeah, I think that about covers it. Your turn now.”

  Rowan waited for him to say something as she sluiced off the soap with the dipper, saving just enough water to dump over her head for a final rinse. Only when she’d dried off did she realize that she hadn’t brought a change of clothes down from the hayloft. Wrapping herself in Taran’s red and black tartan, she shoved the door open.

  Looking at the horse master made her forget everything but him, so Rowan stared at her bare toes. “Anything else you want to chat about, Boss?” she asked with forced cheer. “Or can I get dressed and ready for another fun-filled day of stable hand duty?”

  He stepped closer. “You have me, my lady.”

  That she did, and Rowan saw it as soon as she met his gaze. Taran had eyes so beautiful and vividly-colored it almost hurt to look into them. She’d gotten lost in all that lovely blue-green too many times. She knew better than to do this. Yet here she stood, sinking into the colors of him again, while he did the same.

  Since the moment they’d met they had been completely obsessed with each other, and Rowan hadn’t a clue as to why.

  Without a doubt Taran was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life. She couldn’t stop from adoring the hard, handsome planes of his face, framed by hair so fair it could have been spun from sun-gilded clouds. The rest of him, all long, lean muscle and smooth skin, pulled at her like barbed hooks in her chest. The strangest part of their reciprocal fascination was how familiar it felt. She knew this man, when she’d never seen him before in her life.

  Yet with seven hundred years separating their times, how could she?

  Every time this happened he ripped away at her anger and disappointment and confusion until all that was left was Taran, made her universe.

  And oh, God, he was reaching for her now.

  “Don’t do that,” she said quickly.

  Her heart fluttered in her chest like a trapped, frightened wren. Any physical contact made them forget the rest of the world, often for hours. After the first couple of times they’d whammied each other, all touching had become strictly forbidden by mutual agreement.

  The reminder made the horse master drop his hand, and clench it into a fist. “’Tis unbearable at times, no’ to touch you.”

  Rowan’s heart had hit rock-bottom days ago. Now it bored through the rock to go deeper. This nameless, terrifying thing between them was torturing him as much as her.

  “Please,” she tried, yet again. “Let’s tell someone. There has to be a reason for it. We could talk to Ruadri, Emeline, even Brennus, but we can’t go on keeping this secret.”

  He shook his head. “I cannae yet.”

  Rowan knew that was all the explanation she’d get. “Then why keep me? You don’t need me here.” Every member of the clan took care of their own mount and stall. She did mostly busy work around the stables, and chopped firewood for the stronghold. She’d already piled so many cords in the storage sheds there wasn’t room for any more. “Let me move back to the stronghold. I’ll find something to do for Brennus. Every castle needs a good carpenter.”

  Taran’s jaw tightened. “’Tis what you wish, to leave me?”

  Now Rowan wanted to throw up, just for suggesting it. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t fix this. I don’t even know what this is. You make me angry all the time, and I say horrible things to you. I know I’m hurting you, and that’s the last thing I want, but I can’t stop myself.”

  “I dinnae care.” He dragged in a deep breath. “Stay.”

  • • • • •

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  Glossary

  Here are some brief definitions to help you navigate the medieval world of the Immortal Highlanders.

  acolyte - novice druid in training

  Am Monadh Ruadh - the original Scots Gaelic name for the Cairngorm mountains, which translates to English as “the red hills”

  anneal - heat and then allow forged material to slowly cool to remove internal stresses and strengthen it

  apoplexy, apoplectic - medieval terms for “stroke” and “suffering from a stroke”

  arse - British slang for “ass”

  aye - yes

  bairn - child

  baggie – Scottish slang for “big-bellied”

  banger – Scottish slang for “penis”

  barmy – British slang for “crazy”

  bastart - bastard

  battlements - protective areas on castle outer walls that have regularly-spaced openings used to return fire

  bausy – Scottish slang for something large, fat and coarse

  baws - balls, testicles

  beastly - British slang for something horrible or arduous

  Beinn Nibheis – old Scots Gaelic for Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland

  besom – Scottish slang for a promiscuous woman

  besotted - British slang for strongly infatuated

  bhean – Scots gaelic for “wife”

  black affronted – very embarrassed, extremely humiliated

  blaeberry - European fruit that resembles the American blueberry

  bleeding - British obscenity, roughly equivalent to “damned” but much more offensive in the UK

  blethering – Scottish slang for talking a lot without making much sense

  bloke - British slang for a male

  blethering - chatting

  bleezin’ -drunk

  blind - cover device

  blood kin - genetic relatives

  bloody - British obscenity, see bleeding

  boabie – Scottish slang for “penis”

  boak, boaking - Scottish slang for vomit, vomiting

  bone-conjurer – a druid who uses the bones of the dead to communicate with their spirits

  boon - gift or favor

  boyo - British slang for a boy or man

  Bràithrean an fhithich - Brethren of the raven

  braw - Scottish slang for “outstanding”

  brieve - a writ

  brilliant - British slang for excellent or marvelous


  broch – an ancient round hollow-walled structure found only in Scotland

  buckler - shield

  bugger - British slang for a contemptible person

  caber tosser – an athlete in a traditional Scottish field event who throws a large wooden pole called a caber

  cac - Scots gaelic for “shit”

  caibeal - Scots Gaelic for “chapel”

  cairn - a pile or stack of stones

  Caledonia - ancient Scotland

  cannae - can't

  caraidean - Scots Gaelic for “friends”

  centuria – (plural centuriae) a Roman legion detachment of eighty men

  chap - British slang for a male

  cheeky - British slang for slightly disrespectful

  cherie - French for feminine version of “my dear”

  Chieftain - the head of a specific Pritani tribe

  chuffie – Scottish slang for fat-faced, portly

  chundering - British slang for throwing up

  clachan - Scottish word for small hamlet or village

  clodhoppers - British slang for work boots

  clout - strike

  cocked up - British slang for something done very badly

  coddle - pamper

  codswallop - British slang for “nonsense”

  comely - attractive

  conclave - druid ruling body

  conclavist - member of the druid ruling body

  confinement (relating to pregnancy) – childbirth

  cosh - British slang for “hit”

  couldnae - couldn't

  cow - derogatory term for woman

  croft - small rented farm

  crofter - a person who farms a croft

  cross - British slang for “angry”

  cudgel - wooden club

  daft - crazy; Scottish slang for “unstable”

  death oan a prin stick – “death on a prin stick”; Scottish slang for someone who looks deathly sick

  demi - French term for a half-size bottle of champagne; holds 375 ml

  dinnae - don’t

  disincarnate - commit suicide

  doesnae - doesn’t

  dru-wid - Proto Celtic word; an early form of “druid”

  eagalsloc - synonym for “oubliette”; coined from Scots Gaelic for “fear” and “pit”; an inescapable hole or cell where prisoners are left to die

  eala - Scots Gaelic for “swan”

  ducat - a gold European trade coin

  ell - ancient unit of length measurement, equal to approximately 18 inches

  epicure - a person who takes particular interest and/or pleasure in gourmet dining and drinking

  fack - fuck

  facking - fucking

  famhair - Scots Gaelic for giant (plural, famhairean)

  fathom - understand

  feart - Scottish or Irish for afraid

  Finfolk – Scottish mythological equivalent of mermen and mermaids

  firesteel - a piece of metal used with flint to create sparks

  for fire-making

  flat – apartment

  fortlet - a little fort

  fortnight - British slang for a two-week period of time

  Francia - France

  Francian - French

  funeral pyre – the pile of wood on which a corpse is burned

  Gaul - ancient region that included France, Belgium, southern Netherlands, southwestern Germany, and northern Italy

  Germania - Germany

  girthie – Scottish slang for fat or heavy

  goosed - Scottish slang for “smashed”

  gormless - British slang for someone with an acute lack of common sense

  gowk – Scottish slang for “simpleton”

  granary - a storehouse for threshed grain

  greyling - species of freshwater fish in the salmon family

  hasnae - hasn’t

  hauchan – Scottish slang for a lump of mucus one coughs up

  Hispania - Roman name for the Iberian peninsula (modern day Portugal and Spain)

  hobble – to tie or strap to keep something from straying; usually a horse

  hoor - Scottish slang for whore

  huddy – stupid

  incarnation - one of the many lifetimes of a druid

  isnae - isn’t

  jobby - Scottish slang for “shit”

  joint salve – topical rub for sore or stiff joints

  jolly good - British slang for “excellent”

  keeker - black eye

  ken - know

  kip - British slang for “nap”

  knackered - British slang for exhausted

  lad - boy

  laird - lord

  land of the white bear - the Arctic

  larder - pantry

  lardy cake – a rich dessert cake or bread made with lard, spices, currants or raisins

  lass - girl

  league - distance measure of approximately three miles

  leannan - Scots Gaelic for “beloved”

  lochan - a small lakelot - British slang for a group, usually made up of people

  lorry - UK slang for truck

  ma belle - French for “my beauty” or “my beautiful one”

  maidenhood – virginity

  magic folk - druids

  make a hash of it - British slang, to do something badly

  mandrel - a shaped cylinder around which forged metal can be shaped

  manky - British slang for “disgusting”

  mate (nickname) - British slang for “friend”

  máthair – Scots Gaelic for “mother”

  mayhap - maybe

  mettle - a person’s ability to cope with difficulties

  mind-move - telekinesis

  minging - stinky

  mojo - American slang for “magic”

  mòran taing - Scots Gaelic for “many thanks”

  morion - a brown or black variety of quartz

  mustnae - must not

  naught - nothing

  night rail – a loose robe worn as a nightgown

  no’ - not

  nod off - British slang for going to sleep

  NOSAS - North of Scotland Archaeology Society

  nutjob - American slang for a crazy or foolish person

  nutter - British slang for a mentally-disturbed person

  on about - British slang for “talking about”

  on the mooch - Scottish slang for spying on someone á la a Peeping Tom

  oubliette - a dungeon with an opening only at the top

  ovate - Celtic priest or natural philosopher

  pike - pole

  plonker - British slang for “idiot”

  podgy – chubby

  portcullis - a strong, heavy gating used to block doorways in a castle

  prattling - to talk for a long time on inconsequential matters

  Pritani - Britons (one of the people of southern Britain before or during Roman times)

  quim - medieval slang for the female genitals

  ramparts - a defensive wall of a castle that has a walkway

  reeks like an alky’s carpet - very smelly

  revenant - a person revived from death, a zombie

  ruddy - a British intensifier and euphemism for bloody

  scarper - British slang for “run away”

  schiltron - a medieval battle formation used to form a living barrier or wall of troops

  scullery - a small back room off the kitchen where the dishes or laundry are washed

  scunner - Scottish slang for an object or person that causes dislike and/or nausea

  sett – the burrow that a badger digs

  shag - British slang for sexual intercourse

  shambles - British slang for an extensive or serious mess

  shambolic - British slang for “chaotic”

  sheshey – Scots Gaelic for “husband”

  shite - British slang for “shit”

  shouldnae - shouldn't

  side ladders - the slatte
d upper sides on the back of a medieval cart or wagon

  skelf – Scottish slang for wood-splinter thin

  skellum – Scottish slang for rogue or scoundrel

  skelp - Scottish slang for slap, hit or beat

  slee - sly, cunning

  slouster - Scottish slang for kissing in a slobbery way

  Sluath – mythic air-riding demonic immortals who steal the souls of vulnerable or dying mortals

  snaiking – Scottish slang for “sneaking”

  sod (verb) - British slang for “screw”

  sod all - British slang for “nothing”

  solar - rooms in a medieval castle that served as the family's private living and sleeping quarters

  solicitor - British term for lawyer

  soul-sharing – druid term for empathy

  speak-seer - a druid who can communicate with the dead and channel their voices

  spew - vomit

  splitting maul - a type of hammer-ax combination tool

  spredith - Scottish slang for cattle or livestock

  staunch weed - yarrow

  stone (weight) - British weight measurement equal to 14 lbs.

  stone lifter – someone who dead-lifts heavy ancient stones kept in various places in Scotland

  swaddled – tightly-wrapped in linen to prevent movement, used on infants

  tanist – the rank name for a Scottish laird’s second in command

  Tha mi a ‘gealltainn - Scots Gaelic for “I promise”

  ’tis - it is

  ’tisnt - it isn’t

  tor - large, freestanding rock outcrop

  tree-knower - the Skaraven nickname for the druids of their time

  thick with - closely involved, relating to “thick as thieves”

  transom - a weight-bearing support crossbar

  trencher - wooden platter for food

  trews - trousers

  tuyere - a pipe through which air is blown into a furnace

  ’twas - it was