Page 91 of Desiring the Highland Laird
It was tobe war. He understood that all too well. And so did Evie.
The moment she saw the image in the wall hanging, she understood. She didn’t know if showing him would help. She hoped it would give them a fighting chance to be prepared for whatever may come.
She had never been in a castle under siege which was a silly thing to think. The closest she’d come to being under siege was in the museum the night of the gala when Bruce MacDonald tried to steal the stone from her.
In her haste to get to Callum, she’d left the keystone. She admonished herself for leaving it behind with the door to the bedchamber open. Callum entrusted her with it and what did she do? Left it on her bedside table like an idiot.
As soon as she was back in the bedchamber, she tossed the tapestry on the bed and swiped the handkerchief off the table. She double-checked to make sure the stone was within the folds of the soft material and was relieved to see it was.
The lines were glowing. Faintly. What did that mean?
She hadn’t a clue. The keystone was largely a mystery to her. She quickly wrapped it back up and slipped it into her pocket. Roslyn rehung the tapestry on the wall next to the one of her sister, Chloe.
“I’ve gathered yer things, lass. Shall we move to the laird’s chamber?”
Evie stared at the wall hangings one last time, thinking of Chloe and Brianna. If what they suspected was true about the keystone, then both of them would be arriving in the past soon enough, each with a piece of the keystone.
“Lassie? Are ye well?”
“Oh, yes.” She turned away from the tapestry. “I’m ready.”
Together, they left the guest bedchamber behind and headed for Callum’s.
*
Evie was fullof nervous energy. To keep herself occupied, she insisted on helping Roslyn in the kitchen, even though she tried to wave her off and tell her the scullery maids would be plenty of help.
“I need a task,” she pleaded.
When Roslyn saw her desperate expression, she gave a nod of understanding.
The last time she had helped Roslyn in the kitchen, she hadn’t noticed the other maids there to help. Now, though, she was met with wide-eyed gazes of curiosity.
“Back to work now,” Roslyn snapped.
The two girls jumped to return to their tasks. One busied herself with scaling a fish. The other scurried out of the kitchen with a bucket to fetch fresh water. Roslyn handed her a basket and asked her to grab the eggs from the hens. Once she’d completed that and returned, the woman sent her to the herb garden to gather herbs for the evening meal.
Evie didn’t mind. It gave her something to do while she tried not to fret about Callum, his brothers, and their impending doom.
She knelt and picked the requested herbs—rosemary and thyme—but as she picked them, she got a whiff of mint and something light and fruity. As she paused there, she thought how wonderful it would be to have a cup of herbal tea.
The caffeine headaches had subsided, finally, but she still craved a hot beverage in the morning. It seemed Callum and his household were not that interested in having breakfast on a daily basis and there was for sure no coffee. But perhaps she could find a way to make a pot of herbal tea.
She plucked a few stems of mint and set them inside her basket. Then she inhaled the sweet, grassy aroma of the plant next to it which looked, to her, like a white daisy and seemed to grow wild. As she inhaled it, closing her eyes to savor the scent, she realized with some elation it was chamomile. What she knew about chamomile was that it had calming properties, which she needed. She snipped several of the flowers and placed them in her basket with the mint.
Evie hadn’t a clue how to make herbal tea from the items in her basket, but she was going to give it her best shot.
Back in the kitchen, she handed Roslyn her rosemary and thyme.
“What do ye have there, lass?” she asked, eyeing the white daisies.
“I snipped some plants for myself. I hope that’s all right?”
“Aye…” she said, sounding wary with one brow lifted.
“Do you mind if I boil some water?” Though she knew next to nothing about fresh herbal tea, she decided the first step would be boiling water.
Roslyn motioned to a pot already over the fire. “I have some there.”
