Page 36 of Only a Breath Away

“I have some wonderful letters, one addressed to the Earl of Breadalbane—”

Fraoch said, “I met him once—”

I smacked his arm.

“From the seventeenth century?”

Fraoch winced. “Och, I thought ye meant the most recent one.”

He passed the sword to Joe who hung it back on the wall. “So, Lady Mairead, you’re obviously named after Lady Mairead from back in the Earl’s day. His sister, a bit of a tragedy.”

Lady Mairead’s eyes widened in horror. “I am named for her. Her life was nae tragic, beyond the trouble her brother caused — where ye see a tragedy, I see the fount of her power.”

“You found her to be powerful?”

“If ye dinna learn of her power then ye ought tae do more studying—”

I interrupted, “But then again, you’vealreadystudied that time period and you weren’t actually studying Lady Mairead, you were concentrating on the Earl. I think what Lady Mairead means is she prefers her namesake’s story.”

Joe said, “I would love to interview you sometime, Lady Mairead, to learn about her. Maybe that could be my next book.” Lydia delivered our drinks.

Lady Mairead sipped daintily from her tea, sort of sneered at the taste, and placed the cup down on the edge of the desk.

I asked, “Joe, what are you writing now?”

“I’m working on the history of a little known king of Scotland, Mag Mòr.”

Fraoch sprayed soda from his nose on the corner of the desk.

I said, “Oh my god, we’re so sorry.”

Joe said, “Quite all right.” He passed Fraoch a tissue. “I surprised you with that?”

“I’ve heard of Mag Mòr, I was… aye, surprised.”

“You’ve heard of him? Now that’s unexpected, very little is known about him. I’ve been working on some of the dates leading up to his coronation.”

Fraoch narrowed his eyes and nodded.

I could see he wanted to say a lot of things but instead said, “Aye, tis good tae…” and went over to a table to peer down into a display case.

Lady Mairead said, “The reason we asked tae visit is because I am curious about my history and the history of the...” She cleared her throat as if it was painful to say. “The Earl of Breadalbane and the Campbells in Scotland. But I am also a collector and I am very interested in some of these… artifacts passed down from Donnan, they would fit in my collection.” Her eyes settled on the chest that we had come for. “I am especially interested in... something that might be a… box, about this big, similar tae that one, there, something that might not have a reason or a purpose or…”

“I do have that one, yes.” He pulled it from under a stack of books. He brought the metal chest closer. “Finch gave me this as well. It has the Campbell crest upon it, I can’t open it though, it’s locked tight.”

Fraoch took it and turned it, looking it over from all directions.

Joe said, “He asked me to keep it until he had a safe place for it.” Then he added, “I also have this.” He opened a display case with a small key and pulled out a velvet bag, opened the drawstring top, and rolled a vessel out onto his palm.

I said, “Oh,” and tried to be cool. “Did Finch give you that too?”

“No, I got this from an estate sale, one of the math professors passed away and I bought it. The velvet bag has a Campbell crest, and it’s old, very old, but this odd thing was inside and…” He shrugged. “I just kept it together.”

Lady Mairead sitting on a chair beside the desk was attempting to look disinterested. She stared straight ahead, with sideways glances, flitting eyes, I could see in her expression though, her eyes were recording everything in the office.

I wanted to grab the vessel, but I didn’t want to freak Joe Munro out. Embroidered above the Campbell crest on the velvet bag was an ‘M’. It could've been for Magnus or Mairead — and weren’t Kaitlyn’s grandparents professors—?

Joe said, “I wondered if the crest might be for a Malcolm Campbell or—”

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