Page 79 of Wild Scottish Beauty

“And yet, here you are. Stronger than ever.” Ramsay’s stormy eyes met mine. “Tell me about the willow tree.”

“Ah, yes. The willow tree. One of the meanings I found was that it’s symbolic of a human’s ability to withstand hardship and loss.”

Ramsay’s eyes held mine, and something shifted in his look, a gentling, I guess. He brushed one finger across the back of my hand resting on the table.

“Apt.”

“I thought so.”

“Thanks for being a friend, Willow. I guess I did need to talk about it.”

I blinked at Ramsay a moment, realizing he was done with the conversation. In what world would his three sentences about a fight with his brother, which barely explained anything or scratched the surface of the conflict, count as talking about it? Then, movement outside the window caught my eye.

“Ramsay,” I breathed, gripping his hand. “Look.”

Calvin leapt up on the windowsill, freezing at the sight that greeted the three of us.

A unicorn had appeared beside the trees.

Just…like, it was there. Just there. Out of nowhere.

It stood, unbothered by the rain, tossing its luxurious mane in the air. It reminded me of a meme I’d seen going around recently.

Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. Thriving.

This unicorn was all those things.

It glowed lightly in the rain, its pearlescent horn jutting proudly into the air, its eyes seeming to hold all the knowledge of the world. I don’t know why it appeared then, when we spoke of family and loss and love, but for a moment I thought of my mother—her warmth, her laughter—and saw the same in the depths of this magickal being’s eyes. The unicorn stepped forward, plodding lightly toward the window, sparkling.

Ramsay hooked his fingers through mine, and I held my breath, waiting.

The unicorn bowed its head to us once, as though it was giving us some sort of all-knowing blessing, and then turned and raced into the rain. Jubilation bubbled up inside me, and I wanted to jump up and run after it, to call it to come back, just so I could bask in its presence for longer.

Never had I seen anything so incredible, and I’d seen some pretty incredible things since landing in Loren Brae. Slowly, I turned my eyes from the window and met Ramsay’s look.

“Tell me you just saw that.”

“Och, aye.”

For once, I was at a loss for words, and we just stared at each other until Ramsay realized he was still gripping my hand. He pulled his hand back, and I felt the loss of his warmth immediately.

“That was…I don’t know. I feel like I want to strip my clothes off and go dance in the rain and scream and cry with joy and make music and babies and like start fires and end wars and I don’t know…” I babbled, flailing my hands in the air. Unable to sit, I jumped up and did a little dance in the kitchen, needing to work through the excitement that coursed through my body.

Ramsay leaned back, arms crossed over his chest, and arched an eyebrow at me.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” I waved a finger at him. “I’m not letting you yuck my yum. That was freaking incredible, and you know it.”

“Aye, it was, lass. I’ve never heard of this before. Did you know the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland?”

“It is?” I stopped bouncing for a moment and gawked at him.

“Aye.”

“Oh my God. So they are real. I mean, of course they are. We didn’t just have a double hallucination. Ramsay, we have to put a unicorn in our designs somewhere.”

Ramsay’s eyebrows lifted.

“Unicorn kilts?”

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