She snapped her head up to look at her sister. “What do you mean?”
“Jamie. Despite his roguish attitude, he has a good heart.” She clasped her hands in front of her round belly.
Heat flushed through her, pounding in her cheeks. It was clear Evie knew what they’d been up to last night. Of course, sitting on the edge of his bed in his tunic was the biggest sign of all.
“I don’t plan to,” she said. “And what makes you think I will?”
Evie shrugged, as if she had some secret knowledge she didn’t want to admit. She headed back to the door and pulled it open. As she disappeared through it, she left Brianna wondering what, if anything, she knew.
*
A frustrating hourlater, she made her way out of the bed chamber and down the curved stairs. She’d taken care to place the piece of her keystone in her dress pocket and not leave it behind. After her vision and talking to Jamie the night before, she had an idea about the stones.
Chloe and Evie were in the great hall. The men were nowhere to be found, perhaps tending to their manly, medieval duties. Both looked up at her as she made her way into the room and picked a chair. Evie sat near the head of the table, Chloe on the other side.
“Coffee?” Brianna asked, hope pricking through her.
“No coffee in this time.” Evie motioned to the kettle on the table. “But there is my herbal tea.”
“Herbal tea?” That must have been what she’d had earlier that smelled faintly like weak tea.
“Evie learned how to make herbal tea,” Chloe said, accepting her cup. She sipped it, then held the cup between her hands.
“You did?”
Brianna tipped her head as she examined the younger twin. Evie had been born three minutes after Chloe, something she wasn’t sure either of them knew. Color pinkened her cheeks asshe took her cup and perched on the edge of the chair between them, like a proper lady.
“There are plenty of herbs in the garden,” Evie said. “I learned by doing.”
Brianna waved off the drink, disappointed as the need for a strong cup of coffee pounded through her. She reached for one of the little cakes on a nearby tray as Chloe watched in silence.
“I have an idea about the stone,” she announced.
“You think we should put the pieces together,” Evie said.
“I do.”
“We don’t know what will happen when we do,” Chloe pointed out.
“We should find out then,” Brianna replied. She gave Evie a pointed look. “But you should let me handle it.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re pregnant,” she said.
“I’m fine.” Evie waved away the notion.
“If the stone has the power I think it does, then you need to let me be the one to do it,” Brianna said. If the vision she’d had carried any weight, then she was the one who needed the whole stone anyway.
“Are you expecting us to just hand over our pieces then?” Chloe’s tone was less than friendly.
“I’m suggesting we give it a try,” she said.
“And then what?” Chloe folded her arms over her chest, defiant.
“And then we see what happens.” Brianna pinpointed her with her gaze.
“The stone will likely need blood magic to work,” Evie said. “Your hand only recently healed.”
