The Edinburgh Seer Complete Trilogy

by Alisha Klapheke

  As if angry they’d escaped, the storm beat against the three square windows, sleet clicking like claws against the panes. It looked like night, although it wasn’t past four in the afternoon.

  “I’ll send up some transport for you lot,” Vera said to the injured scout car group. She looked to Aini, then Thane. “We’ll have to go on without them, I think, and take our chances.”

  Shelby sipped her tea. “You probably shouldn’t have taken this main road. There are kingsman at every crossroad. They’re tailing some escaped sixth-senser, as I heard it.” She jerked her chin toward a radio above her sink.

  “May we turn that on?” Aini asked, heading toward the old device.

  “Of course.”

  The knob creaked, and a voice echoed through the scratchy speaker.

  “…and the forces assembled along that coastline had to fall back. The French have stated they will only hold the port until King John agrees to the first step in the peace treaty process. For now, London suffers shortages that we are certain King John will address in the near future…”

  Neve snorted. “Right.”

  “…and the recently exposed plot to abduct the French ambassador…”

  “May I suggest some rest? You lot look like you could use it.” Shelby gestured to an open loft level above the kitchen where a single bed had been pushed against the wall. A woolen quilt hung from pegs and a space heater sat at the top of the narrow ladder. “It’ll be tight.” She eyed the group. “But it’ll be cozy.” She winked at Thane, who looked down fighting a grin.

  They didn’t have time to rest though. Nathair could find out that Thane and Bran had betrayed the group at Bass Rock at any moment. He could be sending men to find them now. Or alerting those at Inveraray, which would ruin the plan.

  “We really need to stay awake,” Aini said. “We’ll have to get going as soon as possible.”

  Shelby maneuvered around Dodie to get to the kitchen sink. She filled the larger of the two tea pots again. A teal cat with a hopeful grin covered the side. Its tail ran along the handle. “I can tell you, I’ve lived here all my life and you’ll not be leaving here until the morning.”

  The radio kept on.

  “…weather keeping kingsmen on alert as they search for the woman accused of being a Ghost Talker. She was located originally in Skye where she told locals the spirit of a Viking raider warned of a coming political upheaval. Ridiculous and traitorous, both…”

  Aini rolled her mother’s ring around her knuckle, then slipped it to the next finger. Everyone stared at the radio.

  “…and it spurred a group of insurgents to raid local law enforcement. Nine of the rebels were killed in front of the kingsmen’s office. A man speaking for the Campbells stated that the king should see this as a sign that Scotland needs help.”

  “Speaking for the Campbells…I wonder who it is,” Thane said quietly. “He is certainly brave, calling King John out like that.”

  “You all look half dead,” Shelby said. “Go on and rest. You can plot to your hearts’ content after you’ve dozed a bit.”

  Thane looked at Aini, a question in his eyes.

  Aini sighed. “I guess we’ll sleep for a little while then. If you’re sure this weather isn’t going to improve.”

  “Och, I’m sure. I’ll keep an eye on the road,” Shelby said.

  Myles was snoring before Aini had even finished rolling out her blanket beside Thane. He covered his mouth and laughed. “Feels like home.”

  She snuggled up beside him, breathing in the scent of him, soaking in the warmth of his long, lean body. “Is this okay?”

  His chuckle rumbled in his chest and against Aini’s cheek. “Course it’s okay. Why would you even ask?”

  “You seemed…distant earlier today. In the basement at the other safe house.” She didn’t want to accuse him of keeping something from her, but that’s really what she feared.

  “Och. It’s just a big heap of madness, this whole venture.”

  She leaned back. He’d removed his contacts and stored them in his bag. The nightlight Shelby had plugged into the wall near the top of the ladder and the grassy color of Thane’s sweater turned his eyes the color of a summer ocean.

  “So you still…”

  His gaze touched her forehead, nose, and chin. She knew her skin was oily after being in such tight quarters. She should’ve washed it properly when she had her allotted time in the one tiny bathroom.

  “Yes, Aini MacGregor. I still.” His breath warmed her skin.

  She was suddenly very aware of how their stomachs pressed together. His hand lay on his thigh, but his fingers twitched like they wanted to move toward her. His chest rose and fell and she was definitely breathing too quickly.

  “Do you think everyone is asleep?” Aini whispered.

  The nightlight flickered and someone beyond Bran, who slept beside Thane, shifted and made the loft’s floor creak.

  “I think so.” It was odd to hear a nervous note in Thane’s voice. He reached out a hand and ran a thumb along Aini’s jaw.

  She really and truly hoped everyone was sound asleep. Because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to slow down once they started this. Thane’s waistband had slipped down and his boxers showed just a little. Aini brushed a finger along the cotton edge. Thane exhaled and swallowed loudly enough for her to hear. She fanned fingers over his bare stomach. Her heartbeat drummed in places she’d never known it could. Thane covered her mouth with his and he pulled her even closer.

  “Sorry,” he whispered.

  “Don’t be.” She was breathing like she’d run all the way from Greenock.

  Her hand had a mind of its own. It slid down his side, feeling his goosebumps, then rose and fell over his hipbone before stopping under the edge of his boxers. The skin was so warm there. And if she went further…

  Her face was on fire right along with the rest of her.

  He kissed her earlobe and caught it gently between his teeth. “Aini,” he breathed.

  With her other hand, she pressed his lower back and urged him closer, closer, closer. She could tell he was as happy to be here as she was. He rolled, and she was under him, the longer hair on top of his head hanging down and tickling her face. Adjusting his elbow, he arched his back a fraction and his body pushed against hers. Fingers of heat rose under Aini’s skin, before traveling down her torso, arms, and legs. Aini thought maybe the world had ended and she was in heaven. This was their own beautiful space filled with hope and heat, trust and wanting. The muscles of his arm tensed as she clasped his neck to draw him in for another slow, soft kiss. He broke away, his lips floating above hers.

  “We should stop.” His gaze went to the others. “I need to stop now.”

  “Please don’t. I might die.”

  He laughed quietly and put his forehead to hers.

  “You’re not as crafty as you think you are,” Vera said, her back turned away.

  Aini’s heart stopped.

  “Get to sleep, you two,” Vera said. “You’ll have plenty of time for that when we’re at your fancy uncle’s place.”

  Thane glared Vera’s way and growled something in Gaelic before rolling off Aini.

  Aini had no idea what to say, so she simply curled against him, one arm across his chest, and tried to stop thinking about what could’ve happened. As she pushed the wanting out of her mind, her earlier worry surfaced. Thane was definitely keeping something from her. Not a terrible secret like he had before with his father and who he really was, but another type. How worried was he about claiming the role of chieftain and Heir? Would he follow through or disappear when push came to shove? He wasn’t a coward. Definitely not. But that look in his eyes when he said he was fine…

  He wasn’t. Somehow she had to get him to open up. If he didn’t, he might not be ready when they needed him most. Worse, he might destroy himself from the inside out.

  “So the storm Dream. It did come true.”

  “Aye.”

  “Hav
e you had any other Dreams?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How could you not know?”

  Turning onto his side, he slid out from under her arm and faced her. “It isn’t easy to know.”

  “But why? You said they gave you headaches.”

  “I’m asleep when I’m having the Dreams obviously. I could be sleeping through some of the headaches. They’re dreams. It’s not like I can study them properly and come up with some way to deduce what means what and which are important.”

  She put a hand on his cheek. “Calm down. I’m trying to help.”

  Gently, he pulled her fingers away from his face and his eyes hardened. “I’ll deal with it,” he said. “I’ll figure it out. It’s my calling, right?”

  He rolled to his other side. His sweater stretched against his shoulders and along the lines of his back.

  Aini tugged her blanket higher. “If you need to talk about it. About anything…”

  “You’re here. I know. And I thank you very much for it.” His head turned like he was trying to look at her without rolling back over. “I really do, Aini. But let me be on this, all right?”

  Her blanket was too thin for this kind of weather. A chill spread through the thin fabric and made her shiver. Pleas and questions flew through her mind, but all she said was, “Okay,” and watched the green and black spots behind her eyelids until she fell asleep.

  Chapter 9

  Blood and Maybes

  A dark, deep red blanketed Thane’s view of the well outside his childhood home in Inveraray. Mother faded away slowly. First her arm, then the side of her face, her white hair. Then it was all gone in the red-black blur. The sound of the birds in the pines faded to a buzzing silence. A sour odor—sweat—blocked out the scent of the resin on the tree bark and the minerals of the well water.

  When Thane woke he remembered nothing of any dreams, but there was a pulsing in his right temple.

  Probably just from sleeping on the wood planks of the loft.

  Aini was already up, but he could still smell her on his clothing. He prayed she wasn’t too angry with him. He’d snapped at her a bit last night and only because she’d been trying to help him. It was just frustrating that he didn’t know exactly how to use his sixth sense.

  Standing in the kitchen on the lower floor, Aini bent over a map that had been stretched across Shelby’s round table. Aini’s arm moved quickly as she scratched a pencil on a piece of paper. Vera, Rob, and Bran looked over her shoulder. Bran’s hair was a creature born from his odd way of sleeping in one position all night.

  After what almost happened with Aini, he was horribly glad his friend slept like a day old corpse. Bran would never have let him live that one down.

  Aini pointed to what she’d written and took a cup of tea from Shelby. “From this map, it looks like we’ll be at Huntingtower Castle by nine fifteen, depending on traffic.”

  “Huntingtower?” Shelby lowered her tea cup, and her fingers covered the little yellow cats decorating the side.

  Vera poked Aini in the ribs. “You weren’t supposed to say that part out loud.”

  Aini made a guilty face as the ladder creaked and Thane joined them on the lower floor.

  “Well,” Shelby said, “maybe the ghost of Lady Greensleeves will tell you if your next move is doomed or not.”

  “Super comforting.” Myles smiled with all his teeth.

  “Don’t let Callum hear you talk about any ghosts,” Thane said. “He doesn’t like anything not of this world.”

  “I bet he isn’t a big fan of sixth-sensers then, hm?” Aini finished her tea and rinsed the cup over Shelby’s demands that guests should not lift a finger.

  Thane recalled the first time Uncle Callum had spoken of a sixth-senser. Some men’s silence is honestly more frightening than others’ shouting.

  “No,” he said. “He is not. I don’t know why. I think it has something to do with his grandsire. The one who won their family lands back by pleasing the king.”

  “It would be good to know what exactly happened.” Aini clicked her tongue.

  Her mind was probably racing as fast as the winner of the Ayr Gold Cup. He shouldn’t have compared her to a horse, he supposed, although she was lean and mean like those beauties. Good thing he hadn’t said anything out loud.

  Outside, the icy ground crunched under Thane’s boots and the wind nipped his cheeks and tossed his newly black hair around.

  Bran punched Thane softly in the liver. “Think old Uncle Callum will be pleased to see you? How long has it been?”

  “Too long. He won’t recognize me. Even if I didn’t have this,” he motioned to his face and hair, “happening. I can tell him about our talk at the clan gathering when I was thirteen though. Then he’ll know it’s me for sure.”

  “Was that the year Nathair had you jump the biggest fire and take the blood oath?”

  “Aye. And Callum took me aside and told me no matter what oath I took, I had to follow my heart.”

  “What did you say to that piece of very non-Campbell advice?”

  “I didn’t say a thing. I thought he was daft.”

  Bran smiled sadly. “I wonder what you would’ve been like if Callum had raised you.”

  Thane touched his chest, rubbed his breastbone. “I’m not that bad, am I? Not now?” he whispered it, wishing he could take the questions back as soon as he’d voiced them.

  Bran squeezed his shoulder. “Ah, lad. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. You’re the only one I’d follow into death. And I’m not being a prat. I’m serious. I only meant I wonder how much happier you would’ve been if you’d had Callum as a father instead of Nathair.”

  “Callum is a good father figure for the people of Perth and Kinross,” Thane said. “Mother told me he built a fine orphanage for the children who’d lost parents in the factory explosion two years ago.”

  Bran nodded. “So he doesn’t just spend money on parties and killing people like our lovely king.”

  “No. Callum is a good man. I truly hope we can lure him to our side.”

  “It’s a grand idea, Thane. I think it’ll work.”

  “It better. We won’t succeed without him.”

  “No chance?” Thane was surprised Bran was being negative. The man was usually fairly positive in his thinking.

  “I wish I felt differently.” Bran frowned up at Thane’s face. “I can’t believe they dyed your eyebrows too. You look ridiculous.”

  “And I’m not even wearing the rockstar eyeliner they gave me. They can kiss my arse on that one.”

  “Why didn’t I get a new look?” Bran plucked at his shaggy, brown mane.

  “You got a fake ID, right?”

  “Aye. I’m Craig Dunkirk. Aged 23.” Bran wiggled his thick eyebrows and flashed his ID.

  “Och, you’re getting younger.”

  “I think Vera made this one for me. She’s trying to get on my good side.” He frowned.

  “You’re too smart to tangle with that one, Bran.”

  “Aye. I can’t stand the woman. But someone needs to tell that to the rest of my body. In Branland, there are two warring sides.”

  “Time to go!” Aini waved an arm at them before disappearing into the cab.

  Thane neared the truck door. “Branland. You’re beginning to sound like Myles.”

  “You’re welcome!” Myles called from the cab.

  Bran barked a laugh as he started toward the back with Rob and Samantha.

  The weather steadily improved as Thane drove the group along the main road toward Uncle Callum. Blue sky pushed out the steely clouds.

  Sunlight made Aini’s purple hair glow like amethyst. Her smile was radiant. “This is all going to work. I feel really good about it. You?” She touched the sleeve of his bulky sweater.

  “Hey, I’m sorry about last night.”

  Vera rolled her eyes, then looked out the window. “Sorry it ended, you mean,” she mumbled, chuckling to herself.

  “Sh
ut it, Vera,” Thane and Aini said in unison.

  “I meant I’m sorry I barked at you a bit. About the Dreams.”

  “It’s okay. I imagine it’s tough to get your head around being a Dreamer and the Heir.”

  “Ah no. It’s easy. Predict the future. Rule a country. All with zero experience. Kid stuff, really.” He’d tried to joke, but his tone had been tight in all the wrong places and he saw it in Aini’s softened gaze.

  She ran a finger over the curve of his ear, sending shivers down his back.

  “You’re not alone.”

  Her lips lifted into a half smile and he wanted more than anything to press his mouth to hers and taste her lip gloss and feel the tip of her tongue on his.

  “Road, Campbell. Eyes on the road, if you please,” Myles said from the back seat. “I want to die in a blaze of glory. Not the blaze of a car crash, thank you very much.”

  “No one is dying.” In the rear view mirror, Thane watched Neve cross her arms. Then she seemed to think better of it. She grabbed Myles tight and nuzzled into his neck.

  “I’ll talk about dying every other minute if this is the response I get,” Myles said.

  “Shh,” Neve said. “Don’t ruin this lovely moment with your mouth.”

  “I hate that we have no scout,” Vera said.

  The road twisted and showed a truck parked and blocking three cars.

  The side of the truck boasted the lions of England. Hanging from a huge hook on the back of the truck, a metal cage bore the sign Sixth-Senser. It was an exact copy of the cages the king always had at his parties.

  Thane’s stomach turned to ice.

  “No.” Aini’s voice was a whisper.

  Thane wanted so much to hide her inside his stupid, giant sweater. No side roads branched from this one. There was no escape. They would be seen. They might be questioned.