Page 44 of Highlanders for the Holidays
The heavens didn’t open up to let angels descend.
The air didn’t stir with the breeze of faerie wings or fill with the sound of ancient pipes.
No Viking ghosts appeared.
Indeed, the moment was remarkably unremarkable.
“What do we do now?” Caimbeul asked.
No?l answered. “I suppose we wait.”
As the moments crept by, Ysenda became more and more despondent. Nothing was happening. The spell wasn’t working. She should have known better than to believe in magic.
After an uncomfortably long silence, she finally spoke. “Maybe we should be gettin’ back.”
“Do ye think it worked?” Caimbeul asked.
“Nae.” The word scraped across her throat, like a sword blade on a sharpening stone.
Caimbeul’s brows came together. “So what do we do now?”
* * *
No?l’s chest was tight. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to answer that. He’d hoped, impossibly, that somehow the well would give him an answer. But there had been nothing.
“What we must,” he decided.
Caimbeul straightened, as much as his crooked frame allowed. “Whatever happens, I’m goin’ to France with ye,” he blurted out. “That is,” he amended, “if ye’ll have me.”
From the corner of his eye, No?l could see Ysenda had clenched her jaw.
He shook his head. “I can’t take ye from Ysenda, Caimbeul. Ye may be her younger brother, but now that ye’re grown,sheneedsyourprotection.”
Caimbeul scowled, simultaneously disappointed and flattered. In the end, all he did was mutter, “I’m not her younger brother. I’m the oldest.”
There was a long, melancholy silence.
Finally, Caimbeul’s words sank in. No?l blinked, wondering if he’d heard wrong. “What? What did ye say?”
“I’m older than Ysenda. Three years older.”
He frowned. “Ye are? And what about Cathalin?”
“I’m two years older than Cathalin.”
He rattled his head. Surely that wasn’t right. “Ye’re the oldest?”
“Aye.”
No?l closed his eyes. Was he missing something? “Ye’re theoldest?”he repeated.
“Aye,” the siblings said together.
“The oldest, as in the rightful heir to the laird?”
“Oh. Well, nae,” Ysenda explained. “The laird has never…he’s never claimed Caimbeul as his heir.”
“Hold on.” No?l’s heart started to race. He didn’t want to get prematurely excited. But something was awry here. “Are ye sayin’ ye’re the next in line?”
