Page 55

Lina made a sound, lifted her skirts, and marched back the way they came. “Kieran, Ewan, follow me.” And to her husband, “Take the others to the courtyard. We will meet you there.”

Kieran exchanged a glance with Maisie. He smiled at her wide eyes, Maisie not having seen Lina in full force until now. She was perfectly matched with his brother, and as he followed her to the solar chamber, Kieran was not surprised her brother did as well. He was clearly equal parts angry but also in awe of her, as most people were.

Wait until they met Maisie.

Kieran had a vision of such a meeting, her and his parents. They would adore her, his mother especially. His smile fled from his face the moment he remembered.

“We come with a question. Do you know of a kitchen maid named Abele? I’d not heard of her, but thought perhaps you had.”

Clearly, as a servant closed the door behind them, this was not the question MacKinlay expected to be called on to answer.

“A kitchen maid? You came to ask me about a kitchen maid?”

“Do you know of her?”

Lina’s brother looked back and forth between them. “I remember her, aye. But am not surprised that you do not, as she left when we were children.”

“I was told she served here until recently. But that confused me, as I do not know her.”

“She is a twin, likely the reason for your confusion. Her sister served in the kitchen as well. Adeline.”

Lina’s jaw dropped. “Adeline?”

“Aye.”

“Is Abele’s sister?”

“She is. Abele left for Rosewood to live with her second husband. But Adeline never married and still uses her given surname. Why are we discussing kitchen maids, Lina?”

She looked at him.

“Because it is possible they are my aunts.”

If Ewan MacKinlay were surprised by Lina’s questions, he was even more so by Kieran’s statement.

“How is that possible? They had just one brother, a blacksmith who died in the Battle of Black Friars. He was a sworn warrior to Clan MacKinlay . . .”

Suddenly, he stopped. Stared.

It was in that moment, Kieran knew it was all true.

“You are the missing boy.”

“Apparently, aye. I am.”

“Ewan, how do you know all of this? You are not old enough to have remembered such a thing.”

“Nor do I,” the MacKinlay chief said, still looking at him. “But I am chief, and ‘tis my duty to know each and every person in the clan. How is it possible you dinnae know?” he asked.

This, he would rather not discuss, but Kieran supposed he owed the clan chief some explanation. “I’ve not yet spoken in depth to my parents of the incident, but have learned enough. Apparently, I ran from the battle and fell in a nearby river, nearly drowning. I was saved by the Duncraig’s wife.”

“Who kept you as their own?”

“Aye.”

“Did they not realize you must be a MacKinlay? And dinnae think to find your parents?”

“Father,” Kieran clarified. “My mother died in childbirth.” That was one thing the MacKinlay chief apparently did not know. “I’ve not spoken to them directly, but aye, that seems to be the case.”