Page 42 of Desiring the Highland Laird
Hamish set aside his ale and got to his feet. He held his hand out to her. “Come with me, lass. There’s something I need to show ye.”
Chapter Fifteen
She followed Hamishfrom the great hall down a narrow corridor, pausing at the first door he came to. He pushed it open to darkness. She waited in the doorway, the light slashing into the room casting long shadows. There was the faint outline of the bed on one wall, but that was all she was able to see. He struck a match and several candles flared to life, illuminating the room in a soft yellow glow.
Evie took a tentative step inside and took in the room. The bed had no linens on it. It was a bare mattress. Across from the bed was a dark hearth that still had ashes in it, as if this room had not been used by anyone in a while. One solitary chair was beside the hearth which looked to be the mate to the one in Callum’s room. They had the same pattern on the seat and the back.
But what caught her attention were the tapestries along the wall. These were not the same type of tapestries that hung in the great hall. Right away, she noticed they were special.
The oversized wall hangings seemed to shimmer in the half-light as she stood peering at them. Hamish stood off to one side, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her with keen interest. She moved toward them, the first one a picture of three women standing on a craggy hill. The woman in the middle had silver hair and held something in her hand which glowed.
A sense of recognition shifted through her. The woman with silvery hair also had bright blue eyes and reminded her of Moira, the shopkeeper.
The next tapestry was of the same three women with swirling clouds behind them and the ground lit in a bright flash of light. She swore she saw it moving. She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it.
The third one, though, made her breath catch. She stared at it, moved closer, and reached out a hand to it to run her fingers over the fine threads. The third was of the sky split in two and a woman with fiery red hair falling through the air. She glanced down at her palm where the faint image of the stone was still there and ran her thumb over it. There was a slight imprint on her skin where the lines had burned into her palm.
As she continued to peer at the tapestry, the falling girl moved closer to the ground as if in slow motion. She blinked, certain she was seeing things, but no. The image moved again.
“Is this…what trickery is this?” She snapped her head around to Hamish who stood with his arms crossed and his feet shoulder-width apart.
“’Tis the prophecy come to life,” he said.
“Is this…me?” Evie leaned closer to the tapestry and watched in fascinated horror as the image of the woman moved closer to the ground.
“Aye, I believe it is.”
A breath shuddered out of her as she gaped at it. The material felt like any other woven textile, yet there was something…moreabout it. It was as though she were looking at a living picture.
Then she turned her attention to the other two tapestries. “And these?”
“The first is the Night of Shadows. The second is the Shattering.”
She gave him a questioning glance. He moved to stand next to her and pointed to the first one.
“The Night of Shadows is the night everything changed.”
He told her of something called the Triple Goddess representing Past, Present, and Future. He called the stone a keystone and that it held all of Time itself. The Night of Shadows was when others tried to steal the keystone and breach the barriers between the mortal realm and the realm of chaos. The three goddesses decided to break the stone into three pieces and hide it to keep it out of their hands. This became known as the Shattering.
“You said others came to steal the keystone. Who are the others?” she asked, still peering at the image of the three women on the craggy hill.
She glanced at him to see his response was a shrug of his shoulders.
So, he didn’t know. But she might.
Bruce MacDonald chased her through the museum and told her the stone called to him. It called to her, too. She was certain that was the humming she sensed when she held it. If she were part of that prophecy, then what about her sisters?
Past, Present, Future. That was what the keystone represented.
Were her sisters, too, part of the prophecy?
“What does this prophecy say exactly?” she asked.
“When the stars align and the shadows of chaos eclipse the sun once again, the time will come to unite a warrior’s heart and a maiden’s grace. Together, they’ll reunite the pieces of the keystone and protect it, to safeguard it for time eternal. Three pieces of stone. Two ancient bloodlines. One divine destiny.”
The blood drained from her head in a whoosh. She stumbled back a step, pressing cold fingertips to her forehead.
Three pieces of stone. Two ancient bloodlines. One divine destiny.
