Page 17 of Desiring the Highland Laird (Highland Destiny #1)

S he followed Hamish from 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… more about 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.

If that were true, then she was destined to go to Edinburgh just as she was destined to travel back in time. She made her way to the bed and sat on the edge, feeling lightheaded.

“Where are the other two pieces of the stone?” she asked, peering up at Hamish, trying to control her violent shaking.

“I dinnae ken. Only the Triple Goddess does.”

“And they didn’t share this information with you, I gather.”

“They did not.”

But if she were part of the prophecy…then did that mean Chloe and Brianna were, too?

Oh, if she could send them a message to ask! Centuries separated them from her. Chloe must be frantic with worry by now. And Brianna…well, Brianna was living a life of leisure in the Caribbean and ignorant of everything she and Chloe had been up to the last few years.

“Thank you for telling me, Hamish,” she said. “I do appreciate it.”

“Ye believe me and the prophecy?” He gave her a look of hope.

“You believe I’m from the future?”

He grinned. “Aye, I do.”

How could she not believe the prophecy? She glanced down at the lines in her palm. “Yes, I believe.”

“Och, good, lass. Then ye’ll have to make Callum believe.”

She frowned. It was a task she was not looking forward to. Nor was she interested in spending the night with him in his chamber, even if he did sleep in the chair. She glanced around.

“Perhaps tomorrow I can discuss it with him. Now, I’d like to sleep.”

“I’ll take ye to him—”

“No,” she said, too sharply. “Here.”

He gaped at her. “Here? This room is no used.”

“Good. Then I won’t be disturbed. All I need is a fire and some bed linens.”

The room had but one window, darkened from the nighttime gloom. She would sleep peacefully knowing she would be alone the rest of the night without anyone bothering her.

He gave a nod of understanding. “Ye have to make him believe,” he said. “Yer the one who can. I’ll fetch Roslyn to bring ye some linens then,” Hamish said at last.

“Thank you.”

His words lingered—that she had to make Callum believe she was from the future and this prophecy was true. No pressure or anything.

When he left the room, the door ajar, she turned once again to the line of tapestries.

She noticed, then, there were several blank ones after the one of her falling from the sky.

She noticed something she hadn’t seen before as she moved closer to one and leaned toward it.

An image was starting to form on the blank tapestry next to hers.

It was so faint it was hard to see. A woman’s face peered back at her.

A woman who looked remarkably like her sister, Chloe.

*

Roslyn arrived not long after Hamish left and helped her make up the bed with clean linens.

She left and returned with an armload of firewood and some peat to get a fire going in the hearth.

Evie had to admit it was cold, but she tried her best to ward off the chill that was seeping into her bones by pacing the length of the small room.

She also did her best to ignore the tapestries along the wall that seemed to move at odd intervals, as if the threads depicting the events were alive and moving.

She cut a glance at Roslyn, but the woman seemed not to notice the strange wall hangings.

She told herself it was merely her overactive imagination.

Still, it was better than sharing a room with Callum, the cad who was willing to pawn her off to some strangers.

“Dinnae fash yerself about him, lass,” Roslyn said as she lit the fire. “He’s a good lad and tries to do the right thing.”

She brushed the dirt from her hands and rose, turning to face her as the fire caught in the hearth, lighting up the room and throwing off some heat. Evie moved to stand next to her, extending her hands to the warmth.

“I know he meant well thinking he was taking me to family, but…”

It was hard for her to voice the mixed emotions she had. Betrayal. Hurt. Like a punch in the gut. Which was ridiculous since she hardly knew Callum. He had no allegiance to her, so why should she feel that way?

Roslyn gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her on the shoulder. “Get some rest, lass.”

She headed for the door.

“Roslyn,” she called. The woman turned to face her, pausing with her hand on the door. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

She gave a nod and then slipped out the door, closing it behind her.

Evie sat in the chair, extending her legs and allowing the warmth to press against the bottoms of her feet.

She wiggled her toes in the thick stockings, grateful for the warmth.

The last person who had cared for her the way Roslyn did was… her mother.

She drew up her legs, propping her heels on the chair and encircling them, resting her chin on her knees.

Since her parents died, she had often felt alone, even when she had Chloe.

Chloe was an outgoing extrovert. Evie was the introvert wallflower who would rather die than have to stand up in front of a crowd and speak.

Chloe was her best friend and her life preserver in a sea of strangers when they had to face a double funeral for her parents.

And though Brianna was their legal guardian, she was less than interested in caring for the two of them.

Brianna was distant and angry most of the time because her life was interrupted by their untimely death.

Brianna was clearly doing only what she was required to do.

Now that Evie was divided from Chloe, she was once again bereft and alone. Heaving a sigh, she stood from the chair and climbed into the bed, pulling the blankets to her chin, and finally drifting into sleep.