“What is it, Tavia?” Jamie asked. “Is Laird Alex safe? Keely?”
“Aye,” she answered. “The laird has summoned ye, Master Jamie. It’s of great importance. Strangers have arrived from Constantinople.”
Helen looked at him. “Perhaps friends have made a long journey to see ye?”
Jamie dinna have any friends there, not anyone that would travel all this way to see him. Had he failed in some way when he went there to conduct business on Alex’s behalf? That would mean he had failed his cousin twice. Twould do no good to stand about wondering. “I must go,” he said to Helen. “Forgive the abruptness of my departure. Petro, stay with the women.”
“With pleasure.” Petro bowed.
Jamie jogged up the footpath and strode through the gates with purpose. A retinue of men on horseback wearing Ottoman armor and carrying the empire’s red banner waited in the bailey, surrounded by Laird Alex’s captains.
Jamie’s heart thundered as he walked up to Keith MacKay to find out what was going on. “Where is Alex?”
“In the great hall,” Keith said, focused on the foreigners.
“Why are they here?”
“I doona know much. An old woman with a babe escorted by two men went inside with Mathe. These are hired escorts, not enemy soldiers.”
Jamie eyed the scimitars at the hip of every soldier and the bows and arrows on their backs. If not enemies, why were they heavily armed?
“Where is Kuresh?”
“Inside,” Keith said.
“Thank ye,” Jamie said, then departed for the great hall.
He climbed the stairs to the main doors, his instincts on high alert. Somehow, he knew what to expect. That old woman must be the soothsayer who foretold his future—she had come all this way to make sure her prophecy came true. As he entered the hall, everyone turned and stared at him. And that’s when Jamie saw her—Nudar—the witch. But his gaze quickly left her and focused on the bundle in her arms. A child with flame-red hair like his. His babe. His son. He could feel it in his bones. But his certainty did not destroy the shock.
“Jamie,” Alex motioned for him to step forward. “Are ye acquainted with this woman?”
Jamie joined his cousin on the dais.
“Master Jamie.” Nudar bowed her head. “I have come a long way to see you.”
“Are ye here to play a trick on me?” he asked. “To use yer magic against me?”
The old woman grinned, showing her perfect teeth. “I have brought yer son—mygrandson.”
“Jamie?” Alex glanced at the child in her arms, then back at him. “Is this the woman…”
“Aye. Her name is Nudar, and she is a famous prophetess, according to Kuresh. How did ye come by this bairn?” Alex asked her, part of him unwilling to believe her.
“My daughter was Hana.”
Jamie felt lightheaded and leaned on the high table for support. “Hana is the lad’s mother?”
“She is dead.” Nudar said with sadness. “But she left us both a precious gift. It was her dying wish for me to bring Ramsey to you.”
Jamie studied the sleeping babe in her arms. The child had golden-colored skin and a thick head of red curls, which made the lad undeniably his. Even if he wanted to deny the child’s birthright, he couldna.
“Why did Hana give him a Scottish name?” Jamie asked.
“She called him the bridge between the old and new worlds—Istanbul and Alba. She believed he should know his father. His name is Ramsey Jaleel MacKay.”
“Ye knew Hana was pregnant when ye visited me at the harbor.”
“Yes,” Nudar said. “I wanted to meet the man who cared for my daughter and gave her a child.”
