Page 103 of The Empire and the Wolf King

“Archibald is winning.”

“What do we do now?”

“We hae tae give it time.”

CHAPTER 47 - KARRIE

BALLOCH CASTLE - PRESENT DAY

Our limo slid up to the front door of the grand castle in Scotland, as Finch and I gawked out of the window. “Wow!”

“Aye, this is a verra nice house for a vacation.”

The limo driver opened our door and then my former boss, Blakely, rushed down the steps, her hot new husband, Liam, standing behind her.“Karrie!”

“Hi! And wow! Look at this place.”

Finch and Liam shook hands, having met each other the weekend of Blakely and Liam’s wedding. It was then that we had also figured out our connection here in this castle. My husband’s half-brother, Magnus, who I had met in person, once, was the owner of this castle and had offered it to Finch and me as a getaway after Finch’s world tour.

Magnus had also asked Liam Campbell, who was a descendant ofanotherrelative to be the caretaker of this castle. And Liam Campbell was married to my former boss.

All of this seemed too coincidental, but life was like that sometimes, full of patterns and connections. Blakely said, “I am so excited you’re here, wait until you see the place! You have options, you can do absolutely nothing, and justbehere, or we can sightsee all the Outlander and Harry Potter sights, up to you.”

I said, as we went up the steps to the front door, “Mix of both, couple of days of relaxing and nothing, then sightseeing, but no Harry Potter — Arlo would never forgive me. We have to bring him next time and then do it.”

We entered the house, and Finch was looking around at the entrance and up at the chandelier. “Och, it’s verra fine. Do ye see it, Ree-ro?”

“I do, it’s amazing.”

Liam said, “I grew up just down the road, and always knew my many-times great-grandfather had lived here, but it had fallen out of the family until Magnus bought it recently.” He pointed out a few things, then said, “Hungry for brunch?”

I said, “Famished! Is it brunch time? I’m all upside down.”

Finch said, “It’s the middle of the night for us, ye ken, I need food and a drink as well.”

Blakely said, “Day-drinking then, Liam and I are on vacation too, I guess.”

Liam ordered a meal but in the meantime took us on a quick tour of the house. In the Great Hall I looked around at the carved ceilings and the large paintings. “The history in this place is mind-boggling.Imaginethe things that happened in this room?”

Liam said, “Aye, it’s wild tae think of the centuries of meals that were shared here, it was originally built in the year 1552, and added ontae in the year 1806, three hundred seventy-five years, there is a great deal of history here.”

Blakely said, “I’m researching everything, but we’ve only been here a few months. There’s a lot to learn — did you hear we are going to have a title? Liam will be the Earl of Breadalbane, they will call us Laird Breadalbane and Lady Breadalbane.”

I said, “Wow, that sounds... like,important. I feel like a hick from the colonies.”

Blakely said, “Yeah, as an American I don’t even understand what this means, what do an Earl and his wife wear? How do we act? Do I have to act like a lady all the time? And girl, you do not look like a hick, in your Dior jeans and Marc Jacob bag. Man, I miss dressing up in LA.”

We ended the tour in a study where a table had been spread with food and we noticed the staff sneaking into the room to see Finch. Three servers appeared to tend bar and Finch ended up signing autographs and taking photos for a few moments.

We ate and drank and talked about married life and what it was like for me and Finch to have spent the last months on a world tour. And then what it was like for Blakely to adjust to living in Scotland and for Blakely and Liam both to adjust to living in acastlein Scotland.

Finch said, “So what’s it like, Laird Liam, tae work for m’brother? Magnus is a mystery tae us.”

Liam said, “It’s more like we work for his mum, Lady Mairead. She was just here earlier this morning, givin’ me chores tae do. I haena seen Magnus or Fraoch and Lochinvar in months.”

I said, “They’re basicallyallFinch’s brothers.”

Finch held up a beer mug to his lips. “All different mums. Our da got around with the ladies.” He swigged from the beer and put it down. “Och, twas a long tour, I am relieved tae no’ hae a show tomorrow night.”

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