Page 43 of Highlanders for the Holidays
“While we were kissin’.” One side of his mouth curved up in a grin. “And ye?”
She gave him a sheepish smile. “While ye were sleepin’.”
He shook his head. “Come on.” His eyes twinkled as he summoned her with his free hand. “We may as well get it over with.”
She joined him where he stood over the well. “Do ye think ‘twill work?”
“I have no idea, but ‘tis worth—”
There was a sudden movement through the trees. They both froze. Someone was coming their way. Damn! The last thing Ysenda wanted was an audience for their foolishness.
But after a moment, she blinked in surprise. She recognized the lurching motion of the intruder.
No?l recognized it as well. “What the devil? Caimbeul?”
Caimbeul was struggling through the snow. His staff slipped on the slick surface. He was out of breath. But he had a wide smile on his face.
“Caimbeul!” she said, handing the locks of hair off to No?l before rushing forward to meet her brother. “Are ye all right? How did ye walk so far? And in the snow?” As far as she remembered, he’d only been to the well once before, and he’d had to ride part of the way on a vendor’s cart.
He shrugged off her questions to ask his own. “What are the two o’ ye doin’ here? Are ye wishin’ on the well? Is that what ye’re doin’?”
“Nae,” she said.
“Aye,” No?l said.
Ysenda frowned. She wasn’t exactly proud of what they were doing.
But Caimbeul only laughed and hobbled forward, then dug something out of his satchel. For an instant, Ysenda couldn’t speak.
“Is that what I think ‘tis?” No?l asked.
Caimbeul grinned. “Locks o’ your hair? Aye.”
Ysenda blinked at the white-ribboned bundle. “I’m beginnin’ to think I’m lucky I haven’t been plucked bald. How did ye…?”
“Remember when I knocked ye on your arse in the courtyard?” Caimbeul asked, clearly acting the braggart. “I might have stolen a few strands while ye lay helpless.”
No?l narrowed his eyes and nodded. “And ye took mine when ye had that ‘accident’ in the armory, didn’t ye?”
“Ye said trickery was my strength.” Caimbeul beamed with pride. “So what do we do now?”
It had seemed silly enough when Ysenda was thinking of making the wish by herself. Now, with three of them reciting the wish, it seemed absolutely ridiculous.
On the other hand, what did they have to lose? The fact that they all wanted the same thing touched her. And it made her more than willing to indulge the two most important men in her life.
“I suppose we weight them with rocks and drop them into the well together,” she said.
No?l nodded. “That should give our wish three times the power.”
Once they’d secured small rocks to each bundle, they stood together over the well.
“What are we supposed to say?” No?l asked.
“I’m not certain,” Ysenda admitted. “I suppose we wish for a way to bind our two spirits together for eternity?”
“I’ll do it,” Caimbeul offered when they stood above the well. “I think ye should hold hands.” They did. “In the name o’ the unfortunate lovers who once drowned in this well, I make this Yuletide wish that the two souls to whom these locks o’ hair belong to be blessed in their marriage and joined together forever and aye.”
They all nodded, pleased with his choice of words. And then they dropped their tokens, one by one, into the water, where they disappeared into the inky depths.
