Abigail nodded and laughed. “Maxine. Only my sister could get away with some of the things she’s done to me.”
She wiped Iain’s wet chest with a cloth and sighed as she returned the bowl to a spot near the fire.
He frowned. She didn’t appear to be in any hurry to return to him.
He already missed the sound of her voice. If he was to die that night, he wanted to hear her voice as he left the mortal world. With what little strength he had, he asked softly, “What else did your sister do to you?”
She turned fearful eyes on him but nodded and sat down.
He knew then she was afraid of him dying and leaving her to fend for herself in what must be a strange and frightening land. “Tell me more about Max,” he said.
She shrugged and said, “One time, she built a trap in the backyard for us. It was a big cage. Where she got it from, she still won’t tell me, but anyway, she rigged up the cage so the open end was up off the ground, and she covered the top with leaves and the sides with branches so we couldn’t see it for what it was.
Plates of candies . . . ah, sweets and cakes were on a small table under the cage. Izzy and I were on them in a second, but no sooner had we popped the sweets into our mouths, then the cage crashed down around us.”
Abigail giggled and shook her head. “Izzy screamed so loud, Garrett came running, but when he saw our predicament, he fell to the ground, laughing so hard he couldn’t talk. At least that stopped Izzy from screaming. I knew Max wasthe culprit. I called for her, and she said from the top of the cage, ‘You should be more aware of your surroundings.’ She jumped down, and once Garrett pulled himself together, they lifted the cage off us.
“Max continued to lecture us on how we should notice when things changed in our surroundings while we ate all the sweets and cakes.”
Iain couldn’t imagine how Garrett came to be in pieces and how he had to pull himself together, but he didn’t question her strange words. He wanted to keep her talking. He licked his lips and moved his tongue around in his mouth for lubrication. “Was there a reason for her worrying about ye?”
“I suppose. Our parents were rich and had a lot of priceless stuff in the house. She was always reading stories about rich kids getting kidnapped and held for ransom, or how thieves broke into houses and threatened families.” She smiled wistfully. “Max was always wanting to fight the bad guys, but I wish she didn’t have to use us as practice so much.”
“Aye, sisters can be menaces.”
“What sort of things has your sister done to you?”
“When she heard I was going to join Bonnie Prince Charlie's army, she had me locked in the dungeon.”
“What? Really? How did you get out?”
“I threatened to announce her marriage to Murry.”
“Murry?”
He let out a weak laugh. “Murry is an old hermit who lives in solitude in a cave on the beach.”
“And could you have made her marry him?”
“Aye, all I had to do was announce the betrothal and it would be done.”
Her tinkling laughter had Iain smiling. “That was really mean, but I can understand why you did it. Sisters can be the worst sometimes.”
“Aye.”
Iain wanted to hear more about her family, but her visage blurred as blackness seeped into his brain. He fought it, ignoring his aching body’s plea to sleep. He didn’t want to leave her. He blinked and refocused.
He felt they had forged a connection with their stories. He wished he could concentrate, ask more questions. His entire body ached, and the blackness was encroaching from the edges of his mind. He threw his head from side to side, trying to rid his mind of the sinister stuff.
She dipped the cloth into water and placed it on his forehead, putting a hand on his chest to still him. “For Pete’s sake, will you stay still?”
Iain relaxed. His angel’s hand felt like ice on his burning skin as she ran her palm across his brow. He shut his eyes at the momentary relief.
“Please,” Abigail said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Sleep.”
She shivered and glanced at the sputtering fire. “I’ll put some more peat on the fire.”
He forced his aching lids open and was rewarded with the view of her hips swaying as she walked to the wall, collected the blocks, and bent to feed the fire. She stood up, rubbing her arms.
