Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1

by Bethany Claire

  “Do ye think so? What will we have to do?”

  “Yes, this is it. She even wrote notes in the margins about what she intended to use the spell for. It’s amazing really. She knew that Bri would be born, and that the two of you would look identical. She hoped that by switching the two of you, Bri could help stop the tragedy that befell everyone at Conall castle all those years ago.”

  “Do ye think that she can?”

  “I don’t know. I hope she’s listened to me speak of this enough to know that she’s approaching the time of the tragedy. But I don’t intend to wait and see if she stops it. We are switching the two of you back as soon as we can gather the materials.” Adelle didn’t miss how Blaire’s smile shifted into a rather uncomfortable position at the mention of returning home. The girl’s heart was hurting from something recent, and although Adelle didn’t know the cause of her pain, she’d seen the same expression on her own daughter’s face enough times to recognize it.

  “What do we need?” Blaire moved about the small room, trying to look as helpful as possible.

  “Most of the items shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Herbs and things grown locally, which I’m sure Gwendolyn will have no problem helping us locate. We also need the portrait, which we already have. The only thing that we don’t have is Alasdair’s ring. Morna says here that she gave it to him, and that he would’ve passed it down to Eoin. We didn’t find any such item in our original dig, so we better hope that it’s down here in this room somewhere, or we may have a problem.”

  “Oh, doona worry yet. We’ve spent our time looking through the books that could hold the location of the ring.”

  Adelle leaned to the left as Blaire approached her right-hand side, giving the girl a better view of the spell.

  “Adelle, did ye see this? It looks as if the spell may only work for a short time.”

  “What?” Adelle leaned forward to stare down at the page once more, her veins suddenly flooded with panic. Sure enough, scribbled in tiny Gaelic letters, the paper stated that once the original spell had been set into motion, it could only be reversed until midnight of the night before the anniversary of the massacre.

  One month from today.

  * * *

  1645

  Just passing through on his way back to Kinnaird Castle, the stranger sat silently in the back of the tavern. He watched as Arran Conall downed one goblet of whiskey after another, until he couldn’t begin to contemplate how the lad was still conscious, let alone rambling on as he was doing.

  “I doona think I should give ye another, lad. Ye are far enough gone into the cup as it is, aye?”

  The stranger listened in as the tavern master tried to discourage the lad from drinking more.

  “Nay, not nearly far gone enough,” Arran argued. “We shall all be dead within the month, according to my brother’s wife, and I dare say I’ve no had nearly enough to drink to let me forget that.”

  The stranger stood and slipped quietly outside into the cold night air. It was time he finished his journey with haste.

  He had very interesting news to share with his master.

  Chapter 24

  Morning brought particular success down in the spell room and we’d only been working for a short amount of time. We’d finally found the spell book with the title that matched the one I’d been trying to sound out when Eoin walked in on me a few days earlier.

  The process of searching through the Gaelic books in the spell room moved much more quickly once Eoin knew the truth. Since our heart-to-heart a few days prior, our days were spent either in the spell room sifting through books or meeting with Arran to discuss the best way to find out who was to be responsible for the upcoming tragedy.

  It was nice to live openly among them and to finally be able to behave normally. It seemed to me that the friendship I shared with Eoin grew stronger with each passing day. I enjoyed every moment I spent with him, and the realization made me even more anxious to return home before I surrendered my heart completely.

  I hovered uncomfortably around the spell room while Eoin read each page, searching for whatever spell might be helpful. I was unsure of how to help, most of the books already having been gone through, and found myself staring at him while he worked.

  God, he really was beautiful. I’d never in my twenty-eight years in the twenty-first century seen a man that looked so much like a man. He oozed masculinity, but not in a way that seemed to diminish his intelligence. He was smart as a whip, no doubt, and his eyes displayed a sort of hidden kindness; the kind that, while hard to get to, would change your world if you were able to get him to open up and show you his true self.

  He must have felt me staring at him, and he turned to catch me red-faced as I scrambled to look as if I were doing something productive.

  “Come here, lass. This is it.”

  I walked over to his side, surprised when he turned toward me, opening his arms and prompting me to sit on his knee. Hesitantly, I took a seat, trying to think of spilled finger paint, runny noses, and sticky fingers; anything to keep me from concentrating on the hard chiseled body I now found wrapped around my own.

  “What does it say?”

  “This is the spell she used. See, her own notes are written along here.” He grabbed my hand from my lap and, using his hand, guided my fingers along the side of the page. Tingles swam over every inch of my body. Cheetos in the carpet, boogers on the chair backs, pink eye outbreak. No thought helped.

  “I see. Will it work to switch us back?”

  “Aye. I think it will.” He didn’t let go of my hand as he continued. “We need a few items. Mary can locate most of them. But it speaks of my father’s ring, and I doona know where that is. I believe he always meant to leave it to me, but his death was sudden, and I doona think it crossed his mind.”

  “Well, we can find it, right?”

  “Ach, lass. I suppose we shall have to. But it says something else as well.”

  I looked up into his eyes, waiting for him to continue.

  “The spell will only work until midnight on the twenty-eighth of December, then ye canna return home.”

  “Well, we have to find it by then anyway. That’s right around when they think the massacre happens.”

  “Aye, we shall. Doona worry. Knowledge is the best defense we could have. It willna come to that.”

  His left hand laid casually upon my knee while his right wrapped around my back, his palm now resting just above my hip on the curve of my waist. He squeezed me in closer to him, drawing his right hand up to my shoulder so that it brought the side of my face closer to his lips.

  “I know I’ve given ye no more than trouble, lass, but I shall be sorry to see ye go.” With that he leaned in as if to kiss the side of my cheek, and I nearly turned us both onto the floor with my quick leap out of his lap.

  “Yes. I’ll be a little sad too. I think of you, and Mary, and Arran as friends, and it will be odd to no longer get to see you.” I awkwardly patted him on the shoulder and turned abruptly to make my way out of the spell room, cursing my heated cheeks with each step. I knew they’d given me away.

  * * *

  Kinnaird Castle

  “Why would the lass have told him such a thing? She has no way of knowing they will be attacked.”

  “I doona know, sir. I’m only telling ye what I heard. Arran said that Eoin’s new bride believed they’d be dead within the month.”

  “Perhaps she’s got more brains about her than I would’ve expected, being Donal’s daughter. The old sot is the silliest fool in the shire. She must’ve known that the fire and horses were to serve as warnings.”

  “Aye. I suppose she must’ve, though Arran dinna seem to know what the lass meant. He was quite drunk; I could no understand how he was still conscious.”

  “Aye? Well ye did right by making haste to come tell me. Now go, and keep in mind what will happen to ye and yer family if word of our conversation spreads.”

  Ramsay watched as the man
turned and made his way out of the room. He’d intended to warn them, to make them fear what was coming, but now that he knew the Conalls were suspicious, he found himself less comfortable with the idea of a straightforward attack.

  “Gregory, find yer way in here at once!”

  Quickly the man burst through the doorway and stood before Ramsay, awaiting his instructions.

  “Ye are the most cunning lad I have in my command. Ye know how to surprise an enemy, how to throw them off course of yer plan. I need ye to advise me on a matter.”

  “Of course, sire.”

  “We will soon be planning an attack against Conall Castle. It is my intention to destroy all who reside under the castle’s protection. It seems Eoin and his brother have heard news of a possible attack, and I doona want them to suspect us in any way.”

  Ramsay watched as the young lad took in the news with a look of shock. An attack on Conall Castle would be a surprise to all who served him. The two clans had been allies for decades.

  “Give them cause to suspect another clan. Send me to Conall Castle, but dress me in the tartan of a distant clan. I will say I am a runaway criminal, seeking refuge with the clan for the information I bring to them. I will tell them that my laird is planning to attack them.”

  Ramsay clasped the boy on the shoulders. “Aye, perfect. Ride out come morning.”

  Chapter 25

  “Where’s Arran? I haven’t seen him all day.” I sat down in my usual place as we gathered for the evening meal. I’d spent the day with Mary, gathering the herbs needed for the spell, while Eoin had searched through Alasdair’s things looking for the ring. Although I’d finished the day with an armload of needed herbs, Eoin’s hunt had been less successful.

  “I sent him to the village to see if any travelers or townspeople might have heard anything about a possible attack. He was also going to meet with some men to discuss our defenses. It will be important to let the villagers know so that we can be as prepared as possible.”

  “Good idea, but we will figure out who’s planning the attack and stop it before it gets to that point.” I gave him a reassuring smile across the table, quickly averting my eyes when his smile turned upward at the corner, his eyes staring flirtatiously.

  I simply couldn’t allow myself to get any more attached to him than I already was. If someone had told me six months ago I would be doing everything I could to “friend zone” a man this good looking, I would have thought they were out of their mind, but that was exactly what I was dead set on doing until I made it back home. He was making it incredibly difficult.

  Just as Mary exited the kitchen to set out supper, Arran burst through the back doors, dragging another man roughly along behind him.

  “I found him trying to climb over the castle gate. I started to throw him in the dungeon before I came to get ye, but he swears he has news that we will both want to hear.” He released his grip on the man, who stood upright and brushed his arm where Arran had gripped him with his hand.

  The man threw a very unpleased look in Arran’s direction. “Aye, sir. I come to ye seeking refuge in return for news.”

  Eoin stood from his place at the stable, briefly holding a palm up in my direction as if asking me to stay seated. Naturally, it did nothing but encourage me to stand and join him in front of Arran and the stranger.

  “Refuge from what? Are ye a criminal? Ye will no find refuge here, if that be the case.”

  “Nay, sir. I was held a criminal, but the only crime I was guilty of was loving the laird’s daughter. He caught us tupping in her bedchamber and locked me away.”

  “As right he should.”

  “Ach, Eoin! Doona be so noble. If tupping were a crime, there’s not a lad over the age of fifteen who wouldna be locked away!” Arran chuckled slightly before stopping when he glanced at Eoin’s face.

  “Aye, sir. I wanted to wed her, but he wouldna consent. I was too lowly for the old bastard.” The stranger reached up to grab his heart as if in pain.

  “Ach, well yer crime may no have been so bad, but I’ve yet to hear the news that ye think is worthy of a place here for ye.”

  “Aye, sir. Laird MacLyrron is staging an attack on ye.”

  Both Arran and Eoin’s faces shifted into a look of shock, and I was sure mine was no different.

  “I’ve never even met Laird MacLyrron. His territory is far to the south of here. Why would he attack us?” Eoin stared at the man suspiciously.

  “He’s a foolish bastard. He wants to expand his land, and yers is one of the most beautiful parts of the country.”

  “How can we know if ye tell us the truth?”

  The stranger shook his head as he looked down at the floor. “Ye doona know. I canna give ye more than me word. Allow me to stay here, and perhaps with time ye will see that what I’ve told ye is true.”

  A long silence stretched out as the stranger, Arran, and myself watched and waited for Eoin to give his decision. I could see with every twitch of his hand or pull of his eyebrow that he was trying hard to make the best possible decision. He knew that, if correct, the information the man had just given him was vital. If wrong, the man was too dangerous to have in the village. Finally he cleared his throat before speaking.

  “Ye will stay on castle grounds, and ye will work with Kip on the new horses until ye have earned our trust. Then ye may choose to move to the village if ye wish. If Kip is dissatisfied with ye or yer work, ye will be returned to MacLyrron at once. Do ye consent?”

  “Aye. Thank ye. I canna begin to express my gratitude for yer kindness.”

  Eoin shot the man a hard look, his eyes cold. “Doona make me regret my decision, lad. It will no end well for ye.” He paused and turned to look at Arran. “Introduce him to Kip, will ye? And get him situated in the hut near the stables.”

  Arran nodded and grabbed hold of the man’s arm once more as they started to leave the dining hall.

  “And Arran,” Eoin raised his voice so that he would hear him before he made his way out the door, “will ye meet me in my chambers after ye have seen him put away for the evening?”

  “Aye. O’ course.” As Arran left with the still nameless man, Eoin motioned for us to return to our places at the table.

  We passed dinner in silence, only glancing up at one another occasionally by accident.

  I could see how distracted Eoin was, and it was evident in the way his facial expressions seemed to continually shift throughout the meal that he was still wrestling with his decision.

  While I understood his decision, I wasn’t sure if I would’ve made the same one myself. Granted, it was the most promising piece of information we’d received, and it would be much easier to reach out for help in preparing a defense if we knew where the attack would be coming from.

  But there was something about the stranger that made me uneasy. Something queer about the delivery of his story planted seeds of doubt deep in my stomach, seeds that were starting to take root.

  * * *

  Eoin turned his gaze away from the fire as he heard his brother enter into his chamber. “What did Kip say about the lad?”

  “Well, he was no too pleased to be tasked as caretaker, but I expect twill be good for him to keep busy. He’s still taking the loss of the horses quite hard.”

  “Aye, I doona blame him. Arran, do ye think the lad was telling us the truth?” He watched Arran’s face, trying to read his expressions as his brother sat down in the seat across from him.

  “I doona know, brother, but I’d have made the same decision. What do ye think we should do now?”

  “We canna confront MacLyrron. For if they’ve planned no attack, that’s a fine way to start a war, no? I think we must reach out to our most trusted allies, ask them to bring their forces here to help us mount a defense a few days before the expected attack. That way, regardless of who is planning it, twill be more than us alone to defend ourselves.”

  “I think ye are right. What clans will ye call on?”

  “Blair
e’s father, o’course. And although he’s a wretched old arse, Ramsay Kinnaird. Our father considered him a friend and ally, and I know that both of them would be willing to come to our aide.” Eoin waited cautiously for his brother’s reaction, still unsure of his place as laird.

  “Aye, tis the finest chance we have. Do ye want me to make a trip to both Donal and Ramsay?”

  Eoin shook his head. “Nay, I need ye to stay here and train the men in the village, strengthen our defenses, and work with Mary to help prepare the castle for so many guests. Bri and I will travel to both territories. Donal will be anxious to see his daughter, and Ramsay may not yet know that I am married.”

  “But ye doona have Donal’s daughter. He will be able to tell the difference!”

  “I doona think that he will. Bri was able to fool the whole castle for weeks, surely she can fool Blaire’s father for only a few days. The two lasses are identical.”

  “They’re no so identical as ye seem to think, brother, but ye do whatever ye must. I’m happy to stay and work here. I’ll keep an eye on the runaway as well.”

  “Aye, please do. I’m no so sure if I made the right choice, but I’m glad ye think so. Bri and I will leave in the morning.”

  Eoin watched as Arran stood to leave. “Aye, brother, I do. But ye should tell Bri tonight. Lassies like to know things ahead of time.”

  Eoin chuckled and stood to stretch as his brother walked out the door. “Ye are right o’ course. I’ll go and tell her now.”

  Chapter 26

  My skill with horses had not improved since our last little journey away from the castle, and so with no other alternative we rode together on Griffin for our journey to MacChristy Keep and Kinnaird Castle.

  The proximity of our bodies was doing nothing to help my “friend zone.” In fact, he was increasingly getting more fresh with his hands. Every hour further into our journey, the reins seemed to move closer to the point in between my legs.