She looked at him, this man from a different time who had somehow become an integral part of her life. She thought about how he’d stood by her when she’d been so disorientated in Edinburgh, how he’d defended her in front of Boyd MacAllister. He’d been there for her, despite his own doubts and suspicions.
And now, he was willing to entertain the idea that she was from another time because he trusted her enough to believe that she wouldn’t lie about something so important. She felt a strange warmth blooming in her chest as she realized that yes, despite everything, she did trust him.
“Yes,” she said finally, her voice barely more than a whisper. “Yes, I trust you.”
Niall stared at her for a second before nodding slowly. He exhaled deeply as though releasing all the tension that had gathered in his body. “All right then. Let’s see if we canna get this figured out.”
He strode to a bookshelf in the corner and took down a heavy, leather-bound tome. The front cover with stamped with a stylized impression of some kind of bird of prey. He put the book down on the desk and opened it.
Charlie came to stand next to him. The pages weren’t paper, she realized, but parchment, and were yellow with age. A flowing hand-written script filled the pages, so flowery and elegant that Charlie struggled to decipher it. Niall, though, began reading avidly.
“What is that?” she asked. “What are we looking at?”
He glanced at her. “When I was a lad, my grandfather used to tell my brothers and me stories. Fanciful stories about magical creatures and fairy glens and places where the boundaries of the world are thin. I loved those stories. He also told me that in times gone by, my ancestors were part of a secret society that worked in concert with such creatures to protect Alba. They were called the Order of the Osprey.”
“Wait,” Charlie said. “The design on the cover. That looked like an osprey.”
Niall nodded. “Aye. My grandfather left me this book when he died. It’s a collection of stories about the Order of the Osprey. And some of them talk about time travel.”
Intrigued, Charlie stepped closer. Ink drawings and elaborate decoration bordered the pages. Whoever had written this, they had spent much time and effort to record the exploits of this Order of the Osprey.
“Until now, these were just tales my grandfather told me when I was a lad,” Niall said, his voice laced with a wistful tone. “Legends and myths to entertain a young boy. Time travel, magical creatures...it all seemed so fanciful then.”
His eyes were trained on the pages of the book, but Charlie could see his mind was far away. She imagined him as a young boy, sitting at his grandfather’s knee, wide-eyed and enraptured by these fantastic stories. It made her heart ache in an odd, unexpected way.
“But how is this related to Irene?” she asked.
Niall continued turning the pages, his eyes scanning the words. “Aha!” he said. “This is it.” He leaned closer, reading closely. “This is the one I remember the best, the one that stuck in my head. It says there was a guardian, a fae creature of immense power who had the ability to manipulate time itself. She was known as the Guardian of the Highlands, tasked with maintaining the balance of our world.”
Charlie felt a shiver run down her spine. “Irene?”
Niall nodded slowly. “According to these stories, she would only appear when the balance was threatened or if a great shift was about to occur.”
“But why me? Why now?” Charlie asked.
Ye are far from where ye are meant to be, and drifting further every day the more ye close yer heart.
Irene’s words had made no sense at the time and they made no sense now. What had Irene meant?
Her eyes wandered back to Niall. He was watching her with that deep gaze of his and she felt something shift inside her. It was difficult to describe, like something within her...aligned.
Will ye stay on this path, the one of cynicism and loneliness, or will ye take a chance and walk the path that will lead ye to the one who will help ye open yer heart and heal.
Irene couldn’t have been talking about Niall, could she? He couldn’t be the reason she’d brought her back here? Charlie blocked that thought out, unwilling to follow where it might lead.
Niall looked away suddenly, his gaze going far away. “Times of great trial,” he muttered under his breath. “Times when the balance is threatened.” He fell silent.
“What is it?” Charlie asked. “What are you thinking?”
He shook his head. “I...dinna know. So much has been lost. So much of what the Order once knew is gone. I feel like I’m blundering in the dark.”
Charlie snorted. “Join the club. But I still don’t get how a little old lady can travel through time?”
“I dinna think she’s a little old lady at all. According to my grandfather’s stories, she’s one of the Fae.”
Charlie blinked at him, startled. “A Fae? Like, a fairy? You think Irene is a fairy?”
He shrugged, a slight smile playing on his lips. “Ye’ve traveled through time, lass. Is it so hard to believe in fairies?”
