“Do you?” she asked.
“It’s no’ my place to say, lass.” Then she went back to removing the last of the tangles. “But…” She paused again. “If I were to say, ’tis only one lass who can give the young lad the balance he needs.”
Her mouth went dry as she waited. Roslyn leaned down and dropped her voice low.
“Tell him before it’s too late, lass.” She straightened and put aside the comb. Then, with a smile in her voice, “Now, let’s get this mess of hair under control.”
*
Once Roslyn wasfinished braiding her hair, she sent her out of the room while she tidied up and changed the bed linens. She ventured out of the room and found it was on the same level as Jamie’s and the others’. She followed the curved staircase down to the great hall. That’s where she found Evie and Chloe. The men were nowhere about.
Evie jumped to her feet. “Bri, there’s something you need to see.”
Without waiting for a reply, Evie took her hand and dragged herfrom the great hall. Chloe fell in step behind them. She led her straight to the tapestry room where the door was ajar. Evie pushed it open to allow the light from the hallway to slash inside, illuminating the walls and the four-poster bed that dominated the center.
“We came in here for the first time today,” Evie said. She stepped aside and motioned her inside.
“What is it?”
Brianna moved into the room and immediately her heart was in her throat. She glanced around the walls at the tapestries. They were nothing more than woven textiles with a damask design.
Gone were the enchanted images that shimmered. No more Evie, Chloe, or Brianna within the silken threads showing their arrival in the past. No more Triple Goddess standing on a craggy hill. No more threat of MacDonald and his glowing great axe. No more Night of Shadows. No more Shattering.
Just as the world had shifted and changed, so had the tapestries.
Brianna stared at the hangings. She glanced down at her hand with the fading lines from the keystone.
“So. It really did shift.”
“Yes,” Evie said.
She and Chloe moved to stand on either side of her, staring up at what was once their past, present, and future.
“I don’t know why I’m surprised,” she added.
“We were surprised, too,” Chloe said.
“I guess we can’t call it the tapestry room anymore, can we?” Brianna said.
Evie laughed, but it was a humorless sound. “No, I guess not. Hamish brought me here when he wanted to convince me about the prophecy and the magic of the keystone. Callum remembers his father dying of natural causes. I remember him dying of a deep wound from MacDonald’s great axe. He was insistent that I convince Callum theprophecy was real.”
“Itwasreal, Evie,” Brianna said. “For you, me, and Chloe. It was real for us. Nothing can take that away from us.”
“I only wish the Triple Goddess would have explained this to us before…” Chloe motioned toward the blank tapestries. She puffed out a breath as she dropped her hand to her side.
“Me, too, Chlo,” Evie said.
“But would it have changed anything?” Brianna asked. “The timeline still had to be shifted if it were to save this world and the men we love.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Evie said, though she sounded as though she didn’t like the thought one bit.
She hooked her arm in Brianna’s. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving. And so is the baby.”
She grinned brightly as she placed her free hand on her round belly. She was getting bigger. Soon, they would welcome a new baby into this world.
“And me, too,” Chloe added. She pressed a hand against her abdomen.
Brianna blinked surprise. “You, too?”
