Page 118 of The Empire and the Wolf King

Lochinvar said, “Tis as good an oath as ye can give.”

Lady Mairead said, “Then, on June 18, 1291, ye were married in the family chapel at Stirling, with Mag Mòr giving his blessing.”

He said, “It canna be…”

She said, “I hae seen the record of it. I can show ye.” She pulled a folded paper from the back of her book and passed it to him.

Lady Mairead said, “Tis a marriage record, from Stirling Castle. The names are Lochinvar and Ash, tis signed by Mag Mòr.”

His brow drew down. He unfolded the paper and read it, then refolded it and put it on the table. But he kept staring at it.

“I haena used the Bridge yet, as ye ken, I canna use it as I am merely yer mother, it requires the thumb of a king, and… I hoped tae go tae Balloch and see about Sean first, afore I tidy up the timeline. In case...”

Magnus said, “Aye it makes sense.” They both turned to Lochie.

She added, “I am willing tae bide my time while Lochinvar speaks tae the maiden, just in case there are some memories lingering in the do-over. It seems it would be fair.”

He said, “So she was m’wife and now she is gone? Couldna ye do something?”

Lady Mairead said, “I am terribly sorry, Lochinvar, part of the evil that was Asgall is that he kidnapped her, and held her in a medieval compound, and much of this was happening when Sophie had given birth tae a bairn. I dinna want tae complicate anything?—”

Lochinvar said, “Aye, I understand. The bairn needs tae be safe, but I daena understand how I could hae nae memory of it — tae bemarried?”

“I pray ye will hae the chance tae win her once more.”

She pulled out another piece of paper that was covered in handwriting. She passed it across the table. “Ye and Ash hae written tae each other. Ye guessed there would be a do-over and so ye sent a message tae yerselves about it.”

Lochinvar looked down on the paper covered in writing. He flipped it over and looked at the other side. “It seems familiar…”

Fraoch said, “Dost ye want someone tae read it tae ye?”

He said, “Nae, I will read it. With Madame Emma’s tutelage I hae learned tae read well enough.” He picked up the other piece of paper and folded them together and put his hand on it. “If I hae trouble I will ask Madame Emma for help.”

He looked like he wanted to read it but was keeping himself from reading it. He said, “What kind of name is Ash, dost ye think? Tis the same as the Ash tree?”

I said, “I think it’s short for Ashley, a nickname, like Lochie.”

“Ashley, but they call her Ash, like the tree,” he nodded, “makes more sense.” He folded his arms with the letter tucked against his chest. “I will read it later. Then I will go speak tae her on the matter.”

Magnus nodded, then said, “So is this enough, hae ye changed our course? What did we do last time that we need tae do differently?”

“I think this is enough, Asgall is dead, ye are all here… except, I was wondering, Magnus, if ye would attend me tae Balloch, we will either see Sean, or… hae tae tell Lizbeth that he is gone. I haena had the heart tae go.”

“Aye, we dinna go tae Balloch last time?”

“Nae, ye haena been there in a long time.”

“Then it looks like we ought tae go first thing, but the bairn may be born on the morrow...”

I looked at Magnus’s face, worried, and Lady Mairead’s face, distressed, and said, “What if we went right now today? I mean, it’s only nine. We just heard about a whole lot of terrible things happening and this is a do-over. I don’t know, I don’t relish the idea of going to bed, and hoping for the best. I need todosomething. If this is a do-over and we’re overwriting, let’s be proactive.” I added, “We would return tomorrow for the birth.”

“We daena usually risk such a tight turn around but...”

I said, “But in this instance, we ought to, we’ve got to know.”

Lady Mairead said, “Would ye be willing tae bring the bairns along? Though I generally think ye ought tae leave the kids behind, I just spent a great deal of time with the family spread across the centuries and I daena want tae be worried on anyone for once.”

I said, “Yes, I agree, let’s get Jack and Isla up, we’ll just go, if there’s… if something happened, we all need to be together for it.” I met Magnus’s eyes. He looked very upset. “Are you okay?”

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