Son and Throne (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 11)
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Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. The world is full of entertainment and I appreciate that you chose to spend some time with Magnus and Kaitlyn. I fell in love with Magnus when I was writing him, and I hope you fell in love a little bit too.
Please leave a review. I’m writing the next installment and I love the encouragement.
Review Son and Throne
I dreamed up the story one day while visiting the town where I grew up, Fernandina Beach. I had taken my four kids (aged between 5 and 16) to the beach and, after frolicking, they joined me in sifting through the sand, searching for sharks teeth.
I remember that day so clearly, my eyes swept the beach: my children, the great loves of my life, the high blue sky, calm ocean, warm sand, gorgeous shells and yes, when I sifted, a wee black triangle.
The idea flooded me. Magnus setting his leather clad foot on the shores of my hometown. And Kaitlyn meeting him there.
There are more chapters in Magnus and Kaitlyn’s story and in Fraoch and Hayley’s story as well…
Coming soon... Book 12
If you need help getting through the pauses before the next books, there is a FB group here: Kaitlyn and the Highlander, now at over 3,000 fans.
Kaitlyn and the Highlander (Book 1)
Time and Space Between Us (Book 2)
Warrior of My Own (Book 3)
Begin Where We Are (Book 4)
A Missing Entanglement (now a prologue within book 5)
Entangled with You (Book 5)
Magnus and a Love Beyond Words (Book 6)
Under the Same Sky (book 7)
Nothing But Dust (book 8)
Again My Love (book 9)
Our Shared Horizon (book 10)
Son and Throne (book 11)
(Book 12) coming soon...
Series Order
Kaitlyn and the Highlander (book 1)
Time and Space Between Us (book 2)
A Warrior of My Own (book 3)
Begin Where We Are (book 4)
A Missing Entanglement (short, optional, between 4&5)
Entangled With You (book 5)
Magnus and a Love Beyond Words (book 6)
Under the Same Sky (book 7)
Nothing but Dust (book 8)
Again My Love (book 9)
Our Shared Horizon (book 10)
Son and Throne (book 11)
Some thoughts and research…
Characters:
Kaitlyn Maude Sheffield - born 1994
Magnus Archibald Caelhin Campbell - born 1681
Isla Peace Barbara Campbell - born October 4, 2020
Baby Archie Colin Campbell - born August 12, 2382
Lady Mairead (Campbell) Delapointe she is the sister of the Earl of Breadalbane
Hayley Sherman - Kaitlyn’s best friend
Quentin Peters - Magnus’s security guard/colonel in his future army
Beaty Peters - Quentin’s wife. Born in the late 1680s
Zach Greene - The chef
Emma Garcia - Household manager
Baby Ben Greene - born May 15, 2018
Sean Campbell -Magnus’s half-brother
Lizbeth Campbell - Magnus’s half-sister
Sean and Lizbeth are the children born of Lady Mairead and her first husband.
Bella Florentin - mother of Archie
The Earl of Breadalbane - Lady Mairead’s brother
Grandma Barb
Grandpa Jack
Fraoch MacDonald - born in 1714, is aged 26 in 1740 when he meets Magnus is pretending to be a MacLeod
Colonel Hammond Donahoe - Magnus calls him Hammie, come to find out — cousin.
King Roderick - now just plain Roderick, because Magnus has kicked his arse and sent him into hiding. Wait, he’s back.
The line of kings in Riaghalbane
Donnan the Second - murdered by Kaitlyn Campbell in the year 2381
Samuel - Donnan’s brother. Attempted takeover during the transfer of power between Donnan and Magnus, uncrowned. (Killed in the arena by Magnus.)
Magnus the First - crowned August 11, 2382 day before the birth of his son, Archibald Campbell, next in line for the throne.
Some Scottish and Gaelic words that appear within the book series:
Chan eil an t-sìde cho math an-diugh 's a bha e an-dé - The weather's not as good today as it was yesterday.
Tha droch shìde ann - The weather is bad.
Dreich - dull and miserable weather
Turadh - a break in the clouds between showers
Solasta - luminous shining (possible nickname)
Splang - flash, spark, sparkle
Mo reul-iuil - my North Star (nickname)
Tha thu a ’fàileadh mar ghaoith - you have the scent of a breeze.
Osna - a sigh
Rionnag - star
Sollier - bright
Ghrian - the sun
Mo ghradh - my own love
Tha thu breagha - you are beautiful
Mo chridhe - my heart
Corrachag-cagail - dancing and flickering ember flames
Mo reul-iuil, is ann leatsa abhios mo chridhe gu brath - My North Star, my heart belongs to you forever
Dinna ken - didn’t know
A h-uile là sona dhuibh 's gun là idir dona dhuib - May all your days be happy ones
Tae - to
Winna - won’t or will not
Daena - don’t
Tis - it is or there is. This is most often a contraction t’is, but it looked messy and hard to read on the page so I removed the apostrophe. For Magnus it’s not a contraction, it’s a word.
Och nae - Oh no.
Ken, kent, kens - know, knew, knows
iora rua - a squirrel. (Magnus compares Kaitlyn to this ;o)
scabby-boggin tarriwag - Ugly-foul smelling testicles
latha fada - long day
sùgh am gròiseid - juice in the gooseberry
Beinn Labhair - Ben Lawers, the highest mountain in the southern part of the Scottish Highlands. It lies to the north of Loch Tay.
"And I will come again, my love, though it were ten thousand mile…” is from the beautiful Robert Burns poem, O my Luve's like a red, red rose, written in 1794 after Magnus’s time.
beannachd leibh - farewell or blessings be with you.
"Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin, Ourhailit with my feeble fantasie, Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie…” is from a Sonet by Mark Alexander Boyd. 1563-1601
breac - trout.
iasg mòr - big fish
uile-bhèist - monster
mucag is Gaelic for piglet
m’bhean - my wife
m’bhean ghlan - means clean wife, Fraoch's nickname for Hayley.
Droch-spiorad - evil spirit
Locations:
Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida, present day
Magnus’s home in Scotland - Balloch. Built in 1552. In early 1800s it was rebuilt as Taymouth Castle. (Maybe because of the breach in the walls caused by our siege from the future?) Situated on the south bank of the River Tay, in the heart of the Grampian Mountains. In 2382 it is a ruin.
Kilchurn Castle - Magnus’s childhood home, favorite castle of his uncle Baldie. On an island at the northeastern end of Loch Awe. In the region Argyll.
The kingdom of Magnus the First, Riaghalbane, is in Scotland.
His Caisteal Morag is very near Balloch Castle lying on the south bank of the River Tay about a mile from Loch Tay.
Edinburgh in the year 1554. I spent a lot of time enjoying this reconstruction...
True things that happened:
Sir Colin, otherwise known as 'Grey Colin’, began building a tower house on the east end of Loch Tay, known as Balloch Castle in 1551-1552. Balloch means 'the house at the narrow pass'.
Sir Colin is said to have chosen the site for Balloch castle because he was instructed in a dream to found it where he heard a blackbird sing.
In 1787, Robert Burns describ
ed the beauty of Balloch Castle and its surrounding lands in verse, as follows:-
The Tay meandering sweet in infant pride,
The Palace rising on its verdant side,
The lawns, wood fringed, in Nature's native taste,
The hillocks dropped in Nature's native haste...
His son, Sir Duncan Campbell, born in 1550 (I fudged that date a bit) was otherwise known as Black Duncan, or Duncan of the Seven Castles. He is the bairn Kaitlyn nurses.
Here’s a few of the dark things he did in his lifetime:
He imprisoned his first wife while he courted another, swore he wasn’t married, and made his first wife deny their marriage before he let her free.
He had many men of Clan Gregor killed and their lands given to Campbells.
Apparently he had a pit in the courtyard of his Finlarig Castle for all the beheadings of noblemen. There was also a special oak tree for the hanging of commoners.
Sir Duncan's lands were widespread and difficult to control he built or strengthened seven castles:
Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe was repaired.
Taymouth Castle, formerly known as Balloch, was strengthened at the east end of Loch Tay.
Edinample Castle at the west end of Loch Earn was built.
Achallader at the head of Glenorchy was built.
Finlarig at the west end of Loch Tay was built.
The island Castle on Loch Dochart was built.
Barcaldine was built.
From A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse* (1552), a common and very deadly illness that year.
As Cynthia Tyler pointed out, “Sweating Sickness often ended quickly, in death... But, since Kaitlyn and Magnus are from different times, are healthier thanks to better nutrition, have tried to stay clean because they know about germs, maybe that's why they didn't succumb.”
This is a short description of the tour that Mary of Guise and Lord Châtellerault took to Aberdeen in May of 1552.
Mary of Guise became queen consort upon her marriage to King James V of Scotland in 1538. Her infant daughter, Mary, ascended the throne when James died in 1542. Then she ruled Scotland as regent from 1554 until her death.
When Mary of Guise became regent on 12 April 1554. (Just two years after Magnus and Kaitlyn were there) Her daughter, Queen Mary, just eleven years old, sent congratulations to "la Royne, ma mere" ("the Queen, my mother")
Mary Queen of Scots was born at Linlithgow Palace.
James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, (also Earl of Arran) was next in line to the throne after the King's descendants, so on the death of James V on 14 December 1542, the Earl of Arran stood next in line to the Scottish throne after the king's six-day-old newborn baby daughter Mary, Queen of Scots.
Arran was appointed the Governor and Protector of Scotland.
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller was an American socialite and philanthropist and was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family through her marriage to financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. She was known for being the driving force behind the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art.
Abby Rockefeller began collecting paintings, watercolors, and drawings by a number of contemporary American artists in 1925, as well as a number of European modernists including Pablo Picasso.
There was a small Easter egg here, a reference to one of my YA books, Sid and Teddy. In Sid and Teddy, a young couple, very in love, stand just inside a door in Edinburgh looking out, seeing terrible weather, and deciding to go out anyway.
Kaitlyn and Magnus do the same thing, and Kaitlyn wonders about it... 466 years before. Sid and Teddy
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to David Sutton for beta-reading again. You have been here from the beginning and have a really great insight into the characters… This time you figured out that Mary of Guise was actually in Aberdeen in May of 1552 so I had to make her vacation with Kaitlyn and Magnus later in the summer. And you noted that I needed to add Gardyloo! The best part was that right when I was on the page, you mentioned that Kaitlyn and Magnus might want to renew their vows... and yes, they definitely did. Thank you for your notes, they make the story better and better.
A huge thank you to Heather Hawkes for beta-reading yet again and keeping my feet to the fire on Magnus. I know he can waver between cocky and too cocky, I’m glad you help me navigate it. He’s a real heroic boy, but also needs to be a lover too. I’m so glad you loved the story and thought the adventure was grand. Thank you for saying, “Amazingly awesome and beautiful as always!” And for all your help making it better.
Thank you to Kristen Schoenmann De Haan for pointing out to me (the first draft had Hayley drinking) that this was hard to watch. (I agree) I rewrote that part. And helping me work though some of the parts on Kaitlyn’s parents. And advising on how the Emma/Isla/Kaitlyn dynamic might work. I appreciate your enthusiasm for this story so much. Thank you.
Thank you to Jessica Fox for your thoughts... I was chin-deep in edits and hadn’t come up for a while, when your email arrived saying, “what a ride that was” and other awesome things that had me floating on air for a while. It means so much that on book 11 you still have all the emotions. Thank you.
And a special, gigantic thank you to Cynthia Tyler for so many great ideas. You pointed out that Magnus and Kaitlyn probably had Sweating Sickness (running rampant at that time) and told me that the entourage would be more likely to stay at Estates than taverns (thusly our gang stayed at Linlithgow, one of Mary of Guises and my own personal favorite palaces.) You read once with exuberance and then a second time with more detail, finding mistake after mistake, you help me make the story better and better. I’m filled with gratitude that you’re so good at this, thank you.
And a very big thank you to Keira Stevens for narrating and bringing Kaitlyn and Magnus to life. All the way up to book 8 so far, you’re amazing. I’m so proud that you’re a part of the team.
And thank you to Shane East for voicing Magnus. He is perfect.
Thank you to Gill Gayle and Emily Stouffer for believing in this story and working so tirelessly to bring Kaitlyn and Magnus to a broader audience. Your championing of Kaitlyn means so much to me.
And a special shoutout to Gill for saying about Black Duncan... “What a fine looking chap, that ruffle around his neck really makes his eyes pop.” That, of course, went in the book.
And thank you to Isobel Dowdee for advising me on their clothes, the photos, your advice on the sleeves, it all helped so much.
Thank you to Jackie Malecki and Angelique Mahfood for signing on to help admin the big and growing FB group. Your energy and positivity and humor and spirit, all the things you do and say and bring to the conversation fill me with gratitude. And thank you for giving me Hayley’s new drinks... Dirty Chai (Angelique) and Spicy Virgin Bloody Mary (Jackie) were both perfect, Hayley loves them both. Thank you. I’m so glad you’re there!
Thank you to Linda Rose Lynch for sharing the link to the reconstruction of Edinburgh in the year 1554. It was exactly what I needed at the exact time I needed it, that night Magnus and Kaitlyn were walking into Edinburgh. (Oh and thanks for sharing all the hot hunky highlanders too.)
And thank you to Anna Spain for continuing to run the weekly book club, it means so much to me (and others in the group), I know it takes devotion, thank you for that.
Which brings me to a huge thank you to every single member of the FB group, Kaitlyn and the Highlander. If I could thank you individually I would, I do try. Thank you for every day, in every way, sharing your thoughts, joys, and loves with me. It’s so amazing, thank you. You inspire me to try harder.
And for going beyond the ordinary to the most of the posts, comments, contributions and discussions, thank you Amy Selinger, Andrea Gavrin, Anna Spain, Azalee Salis, Bev Burns, Bill White, Carol Wossidlo Leslie, Caroline Twyford, Christine Cornelison, Christine Schultheiss, Christine Todd Champeaux, Connie Westberry, Crislee Anderson Moreno, Cynt
hia Tyler, Debra Mackenzie, Dianna Schmidt, Donna Lancaster, Donna Rice, Dorothy Chafin Hobbs, Emily Smith-Haskins, Fleur Garmonsway, Gina Maloney, Ginger Duke, Gwen Gangi, Jackie Briggs, Jeanne Collins, Jennifer Lysakowsky, Jenny Thomas, Jeri Wenneker, Jessica Blasek, Julz Louise, Karen Scott, Karla Ferguson Blaise, Kathi Ross, Kathleen Fullerton, Kathren Rose Sanchez Cole, Kathy Ann Harper, Kelly Stewart Hanson, Lauren Ah Sang, Lillian Llewellyn, Linda Donald, Linda Rose Lynch, Linda West, Lisa Kain, Lisa Lack Clark, Lori Balise, Lori Geiger, Lorraine Sills, Lydia Russo, Lynda Colleen, Mary Meyvis-Little, Melissa Fondren, Michelle Lynn Cochran, Nadeen Lough, Nancy Josey Massengill, Nancy Sweyer, Nannette Y. Thompson-Wiley, Pamela Beaudoin, Pamela Kathleen Ates Lehman, Pamela Pickens Barker, Risa Bee, Sandy Hambrick, Shannon McNamara Sellstrom, Shannon Victoria Fleckenstein, Sly Greenberg, Susan Dailey Owens, Teresa Lynn Potter, Tina Rox, and Valerie Villa Stewart.
And when I ask ‘research questions’ you give such great answers…
________________________
I asked:
Name me the moment in history, including a date if it's that specific, and the person that Lady Mairead could be associated with.
There were so many great answers. I wish I could write about all of them, but I chose Beth Fedornak’s idea: