"Yes, by all means get back to your responsibilities," Cameron said. "I myself am going to get back to the responsibilities of my wife."
Bran rolled his eyes and walked away from his cousin. In truth he was headed for the main door of the castle so that he could walk out into the courtyard to get some cold air. As soon as he opened the door, he realized just how much he needed it as the cold air touched his skin and cooled him off immediately. He pulled at the tunic shirt that seem to be two sizes too tight and at the Plaid across his chest. He stood there for a moment, not wanting to move and create more heat. He pulled the wine pouch from his belt and pulled out the cork with his teeth. Then he drank too deeply, wanting to wipe the memory of the petite redhead from his mind.
"Good evening, Bran," a young maid with black hair crossed his path, giving him bedroom eyes.
Bran knew very well that this was an invite, and he had a mind to take that invitation, but then ruled against it.
"Good evening." He nodded and then walked to the castle gate. It was better for him to get away from the young maid before he took her out of lust that he was feeling for Edith.
The guards pushed open the castle gate and he walked out onto the grounds toward the stables. He usually did this as a nightly round or had a guard do it in his stead. Just making sure that all the livestock was secure, and the stable hands were finished with their work and posted a guard. But this night it was offering much-needed relief by putting as much a distance between him and Edith as possible as well as allowing himself to cool off in the cold air.
After he did his rounds on the grounds of the castle, he made his way back inside. He stopped in the kitchen to eat some bread cheese and fruit as he walked through. He had exhausted himself with the responsibilities of the day, not wanting to go to his room until everything had been done.
But once he got to his room, there was nothing to keep his mind busy and his mind immediately went to the young lass with red hair.
"I might as well check on her," he said walking out of his room. He made his way through the castle to the east end. The corridor was quiet. Nothing was a mess. He was not going to knock on the door to wake her up, nor did he trust himself to be in the same room with her. He simply walked through and then turned and walked away, making his way back to his room and settle down for the night.
Stripping naked, Bran laid down in his bed on his back. But as he stared at the ceiling, bright blue eyes appeared before him with trembling pink lips and long red hair. This woman was going to stay on his mind, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Chapter 10
Edith opened her eyes, focusing on the gray coarse stone wall in front of her. It didn't take her long this time, she knew exactly where she was, still in the castle. She stretched her arms over her head and pointed her toes stretching her small petite body before sitting up in bed and looking around the room.
Although everything was still strange and she didn't know exactly what was going on, there was one thing that she was grateful for, peace and quiet. If she were waking up next to Gabriel, she would be on edge not knowing what the day held for her. Would he hit her? Would he try to impregnate her without her consent on the matter?
But now, she didn't have to think about that at least not for this day. She could enjoy the morning and feel free. The room was dark, but she could see slivers of light coming in from the drapes over the window. She immediately walked to it and pulled the drapes open. A flood of bright sunlight came in making her squint her eyes.
"Wow, it is bright. Not a lot of light comes into this castle, does it?"
Once she was adjusted to the light, she could see that the beautiful ocean out in front of her was glistening from the sunlight. It was quite the sight to see, in other circumstances she would be happy, but she wasn't. She was still a strange prisoner of this weird reenactment that was going on, and all she could think about was getting back to her family and getting an annulment from Gabriel.
She opened the window and a fresh, sea breeze moved about her body, making her feel just a little better. She inhaled the salty air and then turned to the room. It was obvious someone had been there, the trays of food were gone, and there was an addition. On the armchair in the corner of the room was laid out a costume, a period costume.
"Oh, come on. You all really don't expect me to wear this do you?" she said walking to it where she picked it up. The dress looked complicated with lots of laces down the back and other accessories of taut material that she didn't know where it would even go. There were knee-high stockings with ribbons around them and leather boots with laces.
"I'm not going to wear this," she said setting it down on the chair and moving to pour some water from a pitcher into a large basin, and then into a small cup. She drank the water from the cup and then splashed water on her face and washed her hands in the basin. As soon as she splashed water on her face, she felt the soreness around her eye. Looking around the room she couldn't find a mirror, so she pulled out her cell phone, and held up the camera to her face.
The swelling has gone down, and the color was a lighter purple. It seemed that whatever herbal compress Maria had given her was working, and she was happy about that. Looking at her phone she saw no reception bars just as before and couldn't log on to the internet. She tried to make a phone call but failed, there was nothing, not even a dial tone. She wondered if they had some sort of sophisticated signal jam all over the castle in order to stop people from using their phones to make it more authentic.
Then she thought about how much this experience was costing those that really wanted to feel like they were back in time, it must be quite the pretty penny considering all that she had seen and how the actors never really seemed to break character except for Maria who told her she was a detective. Though she continued on with her story of time traveling. then she remembered that Maria said today would be the day that she would show her proof that she was back in time and that gave her a start.
"I would kill for some coffee right now," Edith said.
She moved about the room, stretching her legs, and stretching her arms over her head. She wasn't going to put on the clothing, and instead she put her jeans back on, and her boots tucking her shirt into her jeans. Her jacket still laid on the chair, and she was glad for it.
She removed the braid from her hair and grabbed a wooden brush from the table and brushed out her hair. The bristles were quite soft, she thought unlike any modern brush that she had ever used. Then she braided her hair again over her shoulder and secured it. Once she had gone through this routine, there was nothing much for her to do. Her mind wandered to other thoughts, to lustful thoughts. She could not get the Scottish man out of her mind, Bran. There was just something about him. She hadn't known a man like him before and she found it very intriguing. With his tall stature and Warrior like look, it seemed like any woman that he was with would be protected at all times.
Just then there was a light tapping at the door.
"It's me— Maria. Oh, are you awake?"
"I am. Come in," Edith shouted back.
The door opened, and Maria stepped in. For a slight moment, Edith was disappointed that Bran was not at her side. She could not get the man out of her mind even though he infuriated her.
"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Maria asked.
"As well as could be considering I'm a prisoner in some weird renaissance faire."
"You are neither, I will show you. Is there something wrong with the dress? Did it not fit?"
"Fit? I didn't even try it on. I can't wear that. This is all so stupid."
"Well you and I are going to have breakfast in my private chambers, but I can't have you roaming the castle until you put that on. So, you can either do it and come with me and I will show you the proof I told you about, or you can stay in the room all day. Up to you," Maria said.
"Breakfast? Is there coffee?" Edith asked.
"No, there's not. But there's plenty of mead and hot tea to
be had."
"Mead? For breakfast? Does everyone here just drink all day?" Edith asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Maria said.
"Fine, I could use another stiff drink if I'm going to get through this ridiculous day. Show me how to do this." Edith walked to the chair.
"Okay, take off your clothes, and we'll start with the underwear. It's quite complicated and you're not going to like it, I promise you that. But it's necessary for the dress."
"Sounds great," Edith sarcastically said as she pulled off her clothes and stood in her bra and panties. Maria gestured to her to take off the bra, Edith turned her back to her feeling very weird about being naked in front of a stranger.
Then Maria put on a very tight corset, pulling the strings on the back so tight that Edith thought she would faint. Next, she was allowed to keep her panties on but pantalettes unlike none she had ever seen were put on over them and tied with ribbon at the waist. Then came the thigh high stockings tied at the thigh with ribbon and Edith knew she would be pulling out them all day as they fell down. Then Maria hoisted the dress over Edith's head, pulling it down over her body and securing and fastening it with all manner of clasp and tying. Then she pushed a stiff piece of material down the front of the dress that reminded Edith of cardboard covered with material.
"All right, we're almost done. Just need to do something with this mane and put on the boots and we can go."
"This is so complicated. I would never be able to do this every day," Edith said.
Maria responded with a chuckle.
Maria untied Edith's braid and then proceeded to pin up her hair against her head. When she was all done, Edith put on the leather boots tying them up, and then was ready.
"You will fit in perfectly. Now if anyone asks, you are a cousin of mine that has come to stay with me. That is what we have told everyone as we very well cannot tell them the truth. Only myself, my husband, Bran, and Heigl know the truth and we would like to keep it that way. I am known to come from York since that was as close as I could get to New York so that I didn't screw it up by blurting out I'm from New York. But I'm from a small village where the dialect is different — hence our American accents."
"Um okay, whatever," Edith said rolling her eyes. She didn't care about sticking to any sort of script. She just wanted to get through breakfast and then go see this proof of time travel Maria spoke of. Edith instinctively knew that by proof, Maria actually meant that's when the re-enactment would come to an end with some sort of festivities. For all she knew, Gabriel was in a posh room in the castle waiting to be brought out as well. This was probably some sort of honeymoon vacation package surprise.
"Can we go now?" Edith said.
"Yeah, come on Lady… what did you say your last name was?" Maria asked.
"It's Davis now… no wait, that's my married name and I don't wish to be known by it. My maiden name is Collins."
"Very well, Lady Collins. Let's go," Maria said.
Edith followed Maria out of the room, excited to get out and stretch her legs. But the constricting fabric and layers made it hard as she tugged and fidgeted with the dress.
As Edith walked along with Maria, she noticed just how much of the castle had been renovated to look like it was new, but old. They had really gone through a lot of trouble to make this little renaissance faire look accurate. She couldn't wait until it was all over, and she would do anything to get to the point of going back to America even playing along for now.
"Are we ever going to get there?" Edith asked after walking down a hallway, then a few staircases and then a corridor, followed by another spiral staircase that opened up into a large hallway with rich tapestries hanging from the walls.
"I know. This is it," Maria said as she nodded to a guard at the end of the hallway while opening a large wooden door.
"Wow. This is luxurious," Edith said looking around at the large sitting room decorated with paintings and adorned with plush furniture and silver candelabras.
"I know. It's overkill. Sit. Have some breakfast."
"Fine," Edith sat at the table. Platters of food were on display including a large bowl of something that looked like oatmeal, fruits, and of course, bread and cheese.
"What's up with that mead you talked about?" Edith asked.
Maria laughed. "Yeah, here let me pour you some."
"Is this oatmeal?"
"It's like oatmeal, it's porridge. Eat it, it's good with fruit in it, very hearty."
"Porridge? You guys have really gone out of your way to make a food very medieval."
Edith noticed that Maria gave her a look, and then poured herself some mead as well.
Surprisingly, the porridge was quite good, and Edith had more than one bowl, but also had three cups of mead more than she had ever drink so early in the day.
"All right, so where is this proof? I want to go to the door that I came through. The small one," Edith said.
"Of course, I can take you to see it. But you won't be able to go through it, I can guarantee you that."
"I prefer to see that for myself," Edith said.
"Let's go then," Maria said.
Edith was surprised, she thought that she would get some sort of push back and was relieved that Maria was going to take her so easily. They left the luxurious chambers and once again went on a very long walk, or so it seemed to Edith. They went down several corridors and staircases before finally coming to a place that seemed familiar to her, below the castle in the dungeons.
"Wait. You're sure that Gabriel is locked up."
"Yes, he has been locked in the dungeon. He is not getting out. You don't have to worry about that," Maria said.
Still not feeling at ease, Edith looked around as though Gabriel was going to jump out at her at any moment.
"Here it is, this is the room," Maria said.
Edith followed her into the room that she remembered. The small door was in the wall just as she remembered it. She looked at Maria and Maria shrugged her shoulders.
Then Edith moved to the door and tried to open it. "Is there a lock on this?"
"Not anything that I have a key to. From what I remember, there was a bar on the other side, but it came easily open when I came through. Did you open it when you saw it?"
"No, the door was wide open when I approached it and then I just went through."
"Well that is quite interesting, as you can see it is not open on this side. Go ahead and try for as long as you want."
Edith narrowed her eyes at Maria, not believing her completely. She began to once again, try to open the door, but it wouldn't open. Finally, she had exhausted herself and felt a little bit tipsy from the mead anyway.
"Okay, it won't budge. Is this the proof that you were going to show me that I had traveled back in time because this is nothing," Edith said to Maria.
"No, the proof I was going to show you is outside. If you are ready?"
"I am more than ready."
"Let's do it then and get this over with," Maria said.
Chapter 11
Bran rode hard on his stallion, moving fast across a green field. the wind whipped against his face, and the sound of the horse let him know that this was the top speed that could be accomplished. Bran had a specific reason for writing so hard, he needed to get some frustration out of him. Thinking about the petite redhead had occupied his mind, unlike any other woman he had ever come across. This was not like him. He was not a man to allow anything to distract him from his castle responsibilities. So, a small woman he had only spoken with for a short time should have no ability to take up all the room in his head, yet she did.
Suddenly, a horn sounded in the distance. Bran pulled his horse to a trot, and then to a stop. He turned his horse back around, seeing that his cousin Cameron and the hunting party were waving him in. The guard at the head of the group was blowing on the animal horn, to alert Bran that they were departing.
The hunting party had been out a few hours before dawn and had been quite suc
cessful. Bran himself had taken down a buck, which would be brought back to the castle for feasting. It did him good. His wild nature needed a release and hunting in the pre morning hours was always good for a release.
"Ya!" he shouted kicking his horse into a gallop in the direction of the party.
He rode just as hard and fast, across the field. This was one thing that he did dislike about living on the Castle Island. One had to take their horse over the bridge and onto the mainland in order to go for a quick sprint. And although it wasn't that much out of the way, it did stop him from doing it on a daily basis as he would prefer.
Therefore, anytime they left the castle, he took the opportunity to allow his horse to run across the field as hard as possible. It was good for his horse and it was good for him.
"Something on your mind, cousin?" Cameron said as Bran approached and slowed down to a trot.
"Just getting some exercise for my horse here," Bran responded.
"Yes, I am sure that is all that it is," Cameron said giving one of his guards a look as though they had an inside joke.
The guard laughed, but after Bran gave him a look, he stopped and moved away.
"It was a good hunt," Bran said, taking his place alongside his cousin as the hunting party moved out back onto the main road that would lead to the castle.
"Yes. It was."
"Have you heard from the Hildegard Prison? When will the transport for the Irish prisoners be made?" Bran asked.
"I have not. My documents have been received, but I believe it must wait until there is more room in the prison. I hear it is overcrowded. Fever and disease run wild," Cameron said.
"Those Irish bandits deserve worse for what they did. The villages are safer with them in prison. If prison should be the death of them, then so be it," Bran said.
"Yes, what they did is unforgivable," Cameron said. "Protecting the village and our people is the most important thing."
"We should provide the villages with more protection. Those men should learn to fight."
Kiss A Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance (A Highlander Across Time Book 2) Page 5