The idea was so absurd, Scarlett laughed aloud. “If Donell insists we go to my time, what do you think? I was in the middle of a media circus when I left.”
“Och, lass,” Donell griped. “’Tis a bluidy circus we’ve got here. I’m tempted to wash my hands of the lot of ye.”
“After this, feel free,” Scarlett told him and felt Emmy’s approving eyes on her.
Laird retrieved their daughter, holding her in one arm. Tucking Hermione’s hood around her snugly, Scarlett gave a decisive nod to hide the apprehension growing in her heart.
“Whatever kind of show it may be, let’s get it on the road, shall we?”
“What will your time really be like?” Rhys’s stilted question revealed his sudden anxiety.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Aye, I do. Ye’re my family.”
“We both do.” Laird’s lips pressed against the top of her head and stayed there, whispering a prayer.
“Well?” Rhys pressed.
“Hell,” she told them.
“We’ve been there before.”
Not like this, she wanted to say, but he’d experience it for himself soon enough. “There will be no bowing and scraping. No one will know or treat you as the son of an earl.”
“Och, that’s too bad. Bowing and scraping are among my favorite things in life.” Rhys winked roguishly but Scarlett could see the apprehension in his eyes.
God, her love for her family was beyond reason. Funny how this time had changed that in her, the willingness to care so deeply. She couldn’t lose them. Any of them.
“Bugger it all, enough of yer natter.” Donell fiddled in his pocket for a moment, his hand fisting within.
Then the oddest thing happened, so quick she thought for a moment she might have blinked. For a fraction of a second, Donell disappeared, then he was back a few inches from where he’d stood before.
If she wasn’t sure she’d imagined it, Scarlett would have described it as a glitch in the Matrix.
Before she could ask about it, he waved an impatient hand. “Gather close.”
“Don’t you need Laird’s sword or something to do it?” To Scarlett’s limited understanding, that’s how his power manifested itself. In an object perhaps imbued with magic.
Donell only shook his head and mumbled something about dramatic effect. “Nay, get closer.”
Scarlett closed her eyes as both Laird and Rhys smothered her and Hermione in their tense embraces.
Even through her eyelids, Scarlett saw the wash of white light. Then there was silence.
The moment of peace didn’t last long.
Scarlett
Dunskirk Castle
Achenmeade, Scotland
October 2013
“Oi, there! You can’t be in there. The exhibit is clos…ed. M-Miss Thomas? Is that you?”
The authoritative voice that had begun the lecture faded into confusion once Scarlett emerged from the huddle. Then shock, as the young woman gaped at them, sidling back in fear when Laird’s free hand fell to the hilt of his sword with Rhys mirroring the movement.
