Page 27 of The Anguish of the Scottish Lairds
No one had called her Lina since she arrived. Her brother Micheil did all the time, but he wasn’t here, and Logan hadn’t used it yet that she had heard. “How did you know?”
“Oh, I picked it up somewhere.” Lia smoothed her skirt as though she were the queen of the royal court.
“May I ask you a prying question, Lia?”
“Of course. As long as I may ask you the same.”
Maitland shrugged his shoulders. He faced his mother and now stood behind Lia, watching his son.
His mother replied, “All right. I’ll agree if you ask your question first.”
“I’d be happy to,” Lia replied. “If you had one wish, what would it be, my lady?”
“That’s an easy one to answer. I would wish that no harm would come to my son, his wife, and their son until Alexander was of marrying age.”
Lia tipped her head. “Hmmm. I must reflect on that as it could be considered three wishes. But while I do that, please askyourquestion, my lady Avelina.”
Without hesitation, she asked, “Why do you stay by my grandson’s side?”
“Because it’s my duty.”
“Who gave you this duty, lass?”
“The universe. I sleep at night, and that’s how I learn of my duties. Where my time can be best spent. It’s most difficult to explain. First it was Magni, then Tora, Rowan, and Magni. Then Thane. Now it is your grandson. I have other smaller tasks to accomplish, but I always have a focus. Does it please you that he is one of my duties?”
“I think so.”
“Why would you doubt this? You have special talents, as well.”
“Because I fear it means there could be danger coming to him. Is there? Is that why you are here, Lia? Is my grandson in danger?”
Maitland took a step forward, afraid to hear her answer. But he convinced himself that no matter what, he had many people who would help him. He wasn’t alone in a dungeon. He was in a strong castle with a curtain wall that was nearly two horses thick, and he was surrounded by the best swordsmen in all the land. And archers. So many strong ones. Alasdair, Broc, Connor, Logan, Derric, Dyna, Gwyneth, Eli, and Alaric, plus countlessguards. And the MacVeys, the Rankins, and the MacQuaries were but a short distance away.
Yet something still bothered him. Four bairns had already been kidnapped. Would it happen again? He couldn’t help but wonder if that was why Lia was here.
That fear ate at his insides all day long. Every time he looked at Grant in Maeve’s arms, he was nearly ripped in two by the fear of losing either one of them. He knew that pain well because he’d been through it and almost didn’t survive it before.
He and Nesta had been traveling back to visit her parents on Drummond land when they’d been captured by the English and thrown into a dungeon. Unfortunately, they’d been thrown into two separate cells. He’d listened to his wife’s cries of pain that night, thinking she was being beaten, but it had been a wee lass named Callie who had informed him that Nesta had delivered their bairn in the cell. She’d cried from the pain of bearing the child, not from any beatings. But their child had been born dead, something that couldn’t be helped.
For many years, Maitland had carried the guilt of their deaths with him, thinking he should have been able to break free of his restraints so he could have saved them. But Callie, the guiding angel who had revealed herself to Maeve and Maitland, had said that there was naught he could have done. And she’d told him it was time to marry Maeve so their son could be born.
He’d never survive it if any such thing happened again. The pain of it still gripped him on occasion, much as he tried to fight it.
Lia did something that surprised him more than anything else she could have done. She pushed a stool over next to his mother, then turned back to him and took him by the hand, a movement that was a bit ridiculous, but he allowed it, the girl leading him over to the stool, pointing for him to sit. She glancedover at his son, but he was happily chewing on his snack, his legs still kicking.
Maitland sat as requested, his arms touching his mother’s side. Lia leaned forward and cupped Maitland’s cheeks with her tiny hands. In a quiet, soothing voice, she said, “I need you to listen carefully to me, Maitland Menzie. I am here to protect your son from any harm, and I wish to tell you that I have been granted special powers to see that it happens. I cannot explain it all to you, but I am charged to bring the heavens down to protect him if I must. And Nesta is standing behind me to inform you that we will not lose him and for you to stop worrying so. She says that Callie assures you the same. Trust me, even when the skies are darker than you have ever seen them before, the light will prevail.”
She stood back and lifted her arms over her head, a green aura surrounding her. She smiled and tipped her head to bask in the light.
Immediately, Maitland’s mind jumped to when he had fallen for Maeve. They’d met Callie in the snow. Lia reminded him of Callie, and Maeve had been with him when Callie appeared in front of them later, angel wings and all. She’d said the universe had sent her to them. Callie had been the one who told them they would have a son together, and that he would be quite special.
Had the universe sent them Lia?
A voice on the staircase interrupted them and Lia’s aura fell away.
Lia turned back to Grant, finding another toy for him, acting as if nothing had happened. How grateful Maitland was to have his mother next to him, so he had another witness to Lia’s words.
The person on the staircase was his father, who’d seen and heard enough. But even his father wasn’t prepared for what he found when he reached the group.
