Page 78 of The Empire and the Wolf King

“Ye may take both, they are yers. I want ye tae hae them. I am glad that ye hae Sunny’s son, he will be a good horse for ye.”

“When ye see Mario will ye tell him I love him — tell him he is a good boy.”

“If I can, I will tell him, aye.”

“In the meantime, if I pray on it, will God send messages tae horses for us?”

“Aye, God will always want a man tae get a message of goodwill tae his horse, horses are a gift from Himself, He understands.”

Archie nodded and blinked his eyes, then reached in his bag for a map. “I’m not going to jump from here, I need tae get back tae the woods where I jumped in. I left my weapons and gear, some food, dost ye need any of it?”

I shook my head, “Nae, I daena need anything, thank ye, son. Ye hae all ye need?” I stood.

“Aye, Grandmother gave me stacks of supplies, I hae enough.”

“Good.”

I hugged Archibald, “Thank ye for everything.”

“Of course, Da.”

I howled. He howled back.

Kaitlyn put out her arms and so we crouched and hugged her and we all howled, low, but taegether. Then I broke from the hug and Kaitlyn put her arms around him and hugged him then looked up intae his eyes and said, “I love you, Archie, thank you for taking care of your sister and brother and rescuing us all.”

“Ye’re welcome.”

“You weren’t born of me but you live in my heart always.”

She wiped his eyes and patted his cheeks. “I miss you already.”

A sad smile crossed his face. “I remember ye sayin’ that. I miss ye already as well.”

He kissed her forehead and then pulled his bag tae his body and said, “Thank ye, Ma and Da, glad I got a chance tae see ye,” and without looking back he left through the kitchen tae the back door tae sneak away.

CHAPTER 35 - KAITLYN

THE PHYSICIAN’S OFFICE - CHARLOTTESVILLE 1775

Ihad my hands clasped and tears running down my cheeks. “Dammit, that was really, really hard.”

“Aye.”

There was a knocking on the front door down a narrow hall and we heard Doctor Everett and his servant whispering as they went to answer it. I said, “Here they come.”

Magnus sat in his chair. “We ought tae get our stories straight as we are goin’ tae need tae speak tae the constable. I will explain we were beset upon by highwaymen. They were robbin’ us because they saw us meet with Thomas Jefferson in Coachman’s Rest.”

“Good, name dropping. They followed us all the way here?”

“Aye, it means they were relentless. They caused all the trouble and we are merely an innocent Duke beset upon by bandits.”

“Why did the man we were with drag the body outside, where’s the body?”

“I daena ken why he did that, what dost ye mean where has the body gone? Tis there in the darkness — dost ye mean tis missing? Did a bear take it?”

“Good answer, also why did we flee the crime scene?”

“I dinna ken what else tae do. M’wife, the Lady Kaitlyn, aDuchess, was injured and I was out of m’head tae get her tae the doctor. She has been recovering, my apologies, law officer, I was verra concerned about Lady Kaitlyn. I planned tae speak tae ye as soon as she was rested enough tae move.”

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