Son and Throne (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 11)

by Diana Knightley

  I snuck back into the tent and closed the flap. A few minutes later, Magnus’s voice: “Pack up, we need tae move our location.”

  “Oh.” I shoved the lantern and the leftover food in a bag, rolled up the sleeping bags and stuffed them in their bags. The issue was the tent, I hadn’t watched him put it up last night. And it was cold as shit outside, and my fingers and brain were having trouble coordinating. Luckily Magnus hustled down a trail from the hill, carrying a pair of binoculars and his radio.

  He packed the binoculars and radio as I brought him the sleeping bags. He said, “Pack them, I will take down the tent.”

  It took him about two minutes to have it collapsed, rolled up, and the sticks broken down small. “Practically professional,” I said.

  “Aye, speaking of professional, ye are goin’ tae ride this horse.”

  “Which horse — this strange horse? She’s not Osna, or Sunny, or any horse I — I barely know her. I don’t think I’m ready to get on a strange horse all by myself.”

  “Tis a gentle horse, I picked her because she is old and daena want tae do anythin’ but follow the other.”

  “Gentle? Then why is she looking so menacing?”

  He lifted me to the horse’s back.

  “She inna, she is lookin’ at ye suspiciously because she believes ye might complain the whole time she is carryin’ ye.”

  “I’m in the deep dark woods of Scotland in the wrong century and I’m on a strange horse who doesn’t want me to be on her back.”

  “She will follow me, ye daena do anythin’ but ride.”

  “Okay.”

  He climbed onto his own horse and led the way from our clearing.

  Forty - Kaitlyn

  I pulled a blanket around my skirts for warmth, ate a protein bar, and casually conversed with Magnus while we were on a straight away, but once we were picking a treacherous path up and down mountainsides all I could do was hold onto the reins, terrified I would fall off. The wind slowed as the sun rose higher in the sky. We stopped by a stream and ate some salami passing it from horse to horse. I said, “There were really men coming?”

  “Aye, they were a few miles off, and might hae passed by without seein’ us, but I dinna ken their purpose. Twas best tae move.”

  “It means Lady Mairead will have a harder time finding us, but on the bright side, it will give her something to do. A long horse ride will be good for her. Give her time to think about her actions.” I grinned.

  Then I complained, “I have to pee though and my breasts are twice as big as yesterday, it hurts like hell.” He brought our horses to a group of trees and helped me drop to the ground, and passed me a towel. While he wandered a bit away to look over the landscape with the binoculars. I used the horse to block the wind, and with my forehead against the side of the horse I stuffed the towel under my breasts and expressed some milk to relieve my pressure and suffering.

  Magnus returned. “Finished?”

  “Yeah. Just milking myself. Even horse was judgy about it.”

  Horse moved her head around to nuzzle my cheek. “Aw, she likes me.”

  “I expect she would, ye are just ridin’, nae being a bother.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Her name is Hurley, his is Cynric.”

  “Perfect, she is beautiful, like Elizabeth Hurley, and the other is brown like cinnamon, Hurley and Cinny. Your horse even sounds like Sunny.”

  “Och, I miss him.”

  “I know. I’m sure he misses you too. I bet he wishes he could go on all your adventures.” My breasts felt less explosive. “Okay, I’m done. It feels better.” I added, “What the hell, man, female bodies are constantly in mutiny. Milk? Blood? My back is still aching, and my arse is sore from riding...”

  “We winna ride much farther, mo reul-iuil.” He pushed me up to the horse. “And my body is often in mutiny as well, ye remember m’broken rib. My weak heart, m’cock goes soft after I hae had ye.” He climbed on his horse, and joked, “If it were tae listen tae me on it, twould never go soft.”

  “Ha! Now that’s a thought.” My horse followed along behind his. “Imagine if you were hard from the moment you woke up until you went to sleep.”

  He shivered with a laugh. “Twould be exhausting.” Then he shrugged. “But twould be majestic as well, and I would be the undisputed ruler of everyone. I would walk intae a room and they would all say, ‘Och, look at the cock on him.’ Then they would bow and get out of my way.”

  “I suppose you wouldn’t need to carry a sword, that would be nice.”

  “Nae sword, nae sword at all. I would just stand with m’fists on m’hips and allow m’cock tae threaten everyone intae obedience.”

  “That is a fine thought. I would be on the side of the room with all the women and they would say, ‘who is that man with the giant cock?’ And I would say, in m’scottish accent, just for the occasion, ’Tis m’husband, daena let the enormity of his cock fool ye, he is verra kind and considerate in the bedroom,’ and they would all swoon at the idea of you, but you would come home to me every night. Do you know why?”

  “Och, yer accent is liable tae bring m’cock tae attention right now.”

  “You sir, are easy.”

  “And I ken why I would come home tae ye, but perhaps ye should tell me...”

  “Because ye would need me to rub your temples, because you’d have a nasty headache from all that carrying on, and so I would rub your temples and say to you, ‘Master Magnus of the Big Cock, you are so much more than that, please don’t forget, and I love all of you, even your soft side.’ That’s why you would come home.”

  “Tis true. I would come home just tae hae ye say that tae me.”

  A while later, our horses descended into a protected gorge along a river.

  He said, “This is where we’ll stay the night, from the looks of the sky it will be snowing on the morrow.”

  “Great.”

  Forty-one - Kaitlyn

  Magnus taught me how to pitch the tent, so I would know how to take it down in an emergency. He thought the snow would slow down anyone following us, but it would also slow us down. And it would slow down Lady Mairead too.

  We set up our camp. Water from the creek. A small fire in front of the tent. I got out two of the food pouches from a box he had brought, carried them to the fire and tossed one to him. “This says Chili with Beans, sound good?”

  “Aye, I could eat a horse.” He was crouched by the fire and looked up at me with a smile.

  I pretended it was the first day we met. “Well sir, what did you say your name was again?”

  “Magnus, yer future husband.”

  “Well I don’t know about that, but I do know that McDonald’s doesn’t serve horse.” I ripped open the top of the pouch and looked through the contents. “The main course, they have Mexican Style Corn... what are these, oh, crackers and jam. And this is the whole reason for choosing this one: dairy shake, chocolate, really just chocolate milk. Wonder if we could add snow?” I shook my head. “Nah, too cold, I’ll stick with coffee.”

  We ate our military rations and actually enjoyed the quiet. The sounds of the creek gurgling. It was warmer by degrees, warm enough to be outside wrapped in blankets. Warm enough to pee without risking frostbite, but cool enough for some puffs from our mouth and for the coffee to taste wonderful.

  He set up the RF-tracker.

  I asked, “So there’s one at the clearing?”

  “In the tree. They will ken we are here in this time. I hae one on m’belt as well. Hammie will make sure Lady Mairead has the RF-tracker tae find these transmitters and we will turn them on every time we stop tae camp.

  “And we’ll be moving?”

  “Aye. So they will hae tae look for us.”

  I said, “Do you have a pen I can borrow?”

  His eyes crinkled with a broad smile, he dug a hand inside his sporran and drew out at least eight.

  “I did not know this was a thing with you.”

>   “Tis new, I daena ken, I just started puttin’ them in m’pocket. Ye ken tis difficult for me tae write. I daena want tae be without one if I need it.”

  “I saw a notebook in the bag with the equipment.” I jumped up to go get it. Then I sat across from him, the fire warming me a little with the blankets wrapped around my shoulders.

  “I know we’re going to go home soon, but I thought I’d keep a little journal of what we did, things we saw, so we can show Archie and Isla when they’re grown up. Because this is an adventure.” I opened to a clean page. “What day did we arrive?”

  He told me the date. “And it took you three days to find me.” I wrote it at the top of a clean page, then I counted down dates. It had been four nights so far. That gave me pause.

  I shook my head. “That’s okay, Lady Mairead has to find us. It will take a few days. We’re staying close to the clearing, right?”

  “Close enough.”

  “Good.” I wrote a little description under each date.

  “Awful.” I wrote for when I was at the fort. “What was his name? The man in charge of the fortress?”

  “Sir Colin the Grey.”

  I wrote that too. I made some notes about the weather on each day. And on the third day I wrote, “This is the day your father rescued me, something I never believed would happen, but he is always trying to keep us safe.” I looked across at Magnus and said, “I’m going to write a bit about how much I love you so that they know.”

  Magnus joked, “Add a bit there about how heroic I am.”

  “I already did.” I wrote: Being carried from the castle in his arms was like a dream. I love him so much.

  I put the pen in the notebook. “Okay, I will write a little bit every day and we will have a record of our time away. They will appreciate it.”

  “Good, twill go down in our family history, that we are surviving on rations and livin’ in a tent. I will need tae build a verra big castle when we are home tae prove I can provide for ye.”

  “God, is it the sixteenth century that is making you all misogynistic, or are you always like this?”

  Magnus grinned and joked, “I daena ken what misogynistic means, but if ye are askin’ ‘have I always been such an awesome man?’ Then I say yes.”

  I rolled my eyes with a laugh, and then it began to snow.

  We did our chores and ate, and then undressed and climbed back into the covers. I had to freaking milk myself again to release pressure, naked, milk pouring into the towels. I groaned as I collapsed onto the sleeping bags. “Och, the indignity.”

  Magnus’s eyes glinted merrily.

  “What?”

  “Our day has been verra nice, and I am wantin’ ye.”

  I laughed. “Because I’m milking myself, really? ”

  His hand slid gently across my stomach, and pulled me closer. His mouth on my cheek, he gently kissed me and then his lips grazed down my neck, to my chest to my breasts, and then he licked a trail down and around, and oh god, Magnus. He pushed me to my back. I winced.

  “It hurts?”

  “My back doesn’t hurt as much, but it’s uncomfortable to lie down with these big breasts.”

  He grinned. “We can find a better position.”

  “Oh we can, can we?”

  I sat up and pulled off his belt and his kilt dropped away. I pushed his shirt up and off over his arms. “God, you are so fucking hot.” I ran my hands all over his chest. “I have straight up missed being this hot for you.”

  “Aye, I hae missed ye bein’ this hot for me. Tis welcome.”

  He lowered himself, licking and kissing my lips, my neck, my chest...

  “Can you say something in Gaelic for me?”

  “Tha thu breagha... ye are beautiful.” He kissed and nibbled along my skin. “Mo reul-iuil, is ann leatsa abhios mo chridhe gu bràth... I love ye forever.” He gave my chest a lick and chuckled. “Thu blas mar bainne...” He pulled me around onto all fours, a strong arm holding me to his stomach, his hand clutching my breast, bowed over me, his breath near my ear. “Tis better?”

  “Yes, much.”

  “Good.”

  He grabbed me around my waist, and with a hand on each of my breasts, pulled me down onto his lap, fast and intense — full and big, he held me down tight, rubbing his hands on my front, my chest, my breasts and down between my legs around and around, causing me to lose my mind in excitement, in his excitement — he pushed me back to all fours and rode me fast and desperately, a little as if he had lost his mind too.

  I collapsed down on my front, pulling him down with me. “I am so sorry, all of this around here is freaking wet now.”

  He chuckled and patted the sleeping bags. “Och, ye made a river.”

  He rolled to the side and dug out a wool blanket. I sat up and we arranged it under us and collapsed back down.

  “It’s like I’m sloshing over.” I laughed. “I’m a cow.”

  Magnus bumped his front, his cock now soft and exhausted, against my hip. “If ye are a cow, I am the ruttin’ bull.”

  “God, you were a lot like that. You were super hot for me right then. I’m embarrassed and you’re all, into me. What did you say that last thing?”

  He chuckled. “I said ye taste like milk.”

  I batted his arm. “I’m so glad I didn’t know that at the time. I thought you were saying something about being into me not my breasts.”

  “I am always intae ye, or want tae be, but now yer breasts are verra large. I canna help m’self.”

  “Such a man!”

  “Aye, ye canna blame me for it, ye taste like food. Tis like I asked God, I said, my wife, who I love, is verra kind and lets me have m’way with her and she even likes it sometimes—”

  “I like it all the time.”

  “So I said tae God, she is a verra good wife, can ye please have her breasts taste a bit like cream? And he has answered m’prayers.”

  I teased, “Because I am a good wife he has answered your prayers?”

  He laughed.

  I yawned, smacked my lips, growing sleepy. “Now that I think of it, I kind of like being the answer to your prayers, that’s nice,” and we both grew quiet and slowly fell asleep.

  Forty-two - Kaitlyn

  “Where is she?!” I scrambled around. It was pitch dark, cold, too cold for a baby. “Where did she go?”

  I patted all around. “Magnus! Magnus, Isla is gone!” I patted around frantically in the bedding and up against him and then wildly on the floor. “Where is she? Something’s wrong, she’s not crying, something happened to her!”

  “Mo reul-iuil!” Hands shaking my shoulder.

  “Where is she?!” Why can’t I find her?

  “Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn, ye are havin’ a dream.” My palm felt the cold hard fabric floor of the tent, and it shocked my senses. I burst into tears. “Where is she?”

  “She is warm and at home with Emma. Ye will be with her verra soon.” He stroked down my hair and pulled me to his chest.

  “My breasts hurt so much,” I sobbed.

  He and I both opened my shift to look down, my breasts were inflamed looking. He kissed my head. “Ye hae a fever.”

  “Everything hurts.”

  He helped me lie down and passed me the towel. I said, “I think some snow might be good, like an ice pack?” He pulled on his parka and boots and crawled from the tent to trudge into the snow.

  And I lay there and tried to get milk to come and told my breasts that I was furious at them. They were supposed to be normal — make milk, to just wait, just wait for fuck's sake, wait a minute. We’d get back to Isla.

  But they seemed content to want to explode.

  After getting a little milk out, I applied some wet cloths that Magnus dipped in a bowl of snow and that felt really good. I lay on the bedding with snow rags on my chest, spread eagle, hazy-brained. Hot and sad.

  Magnus said, “Will ye promise me ye winna die?”

  Eyes closed, I said, “If I die from this, that would
be the worst. Promise me, if I die, you won’t let exploding breasts be on my historical record, make it epic, like I fought a dragon.”

  “Tis nae funny.”

  I opened one eye. His face was worried. “Oh, my love, I’m sorry I scared you. This is not how I die, this is just one of those body-mutiny moments, I promise. And if you think about it, milk breasts are as old as time. This is nothing new. And I’m not special enough to die from something as ordinary as this.”

  “Ye are verra special. Tae me.”

  I gave him a frown smile. “I love you. No dying, promise.”

  I closed my eyes again and he lay on his side, alternately falling asleep, and waking up to check on me.

  A few minutes later I startled him by asking, “What do you think she’s doing right now?”

  “I believe she is cryin’ for ye. I believe she feels the loss greatly.”

  A tear slid from my eye and streamed down my face. "Thank you. I feel absolutely every fucking emotion about that — devastated, relieved, furious, guilty. Is Emma consoling her?”

  “Aye, right now she is in Emma’s arms. Emma is singin’ tae her. In that way she has and Isla is looking at her like this...” He made his face screw up in a look of incredulousness. “Because she is singing verra high like she does and nae singing like ye do.”

  I joked, “I do have a ‘one of a kind’ singing voice. What is Beaty doing?”

  “Beaty is accompanyin’ her with the pipes. Tis a lullaby, but nae putting her tae sleep.”

  “And Zach is taking over and trying to bounce her on his forearm, but she misses yours: big and steady. That’s where she wants to sleep.”

  I peeled the ice towels off my breasts. I dipped them in the bowl, wrung them out, laid back, and placed them on my breasts again. “What about Archie, what is he doing?"

  "He is bein' a courageous prince, guardin' the castle, keepin' his sister safe."

  "He's dragging that sword around?"

  "Aye, or the hippo pushy stick, tis just as dangerous if ye swing it well."