Woken By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance-Highlander Forever Book 7

by Preston, Rebecca

  She fell deep asleep again, surprised by how exhausted she was still – there had been dancing, sure, but not that much. Not enough to make her feel so tired, deep down to her bones… the other women had warned her that it was likely she'd catch a cold or flu sooner rather than later, a reaction that most of them had experienced to being in a new place, with unfamiliar bacteria and microbes around… Karen had explained it in depth, clearly excited to have more future women around to talk science with, but Julia had had to admit she didn't understand any of it especially well.

  Still, she felt okay when she woke. A little hungover, maybe, as a result of one too many cups of delicious ale… but overall, well enough to get up and dress again, feeling a bit silly about putting on the same gown. She headed down to breakfast, already feeling more familiar with the castle's layout, and found herself in a much quieter dining hall this time. The servants had done a great job of cleaning most of the evidence of last night's feast – the hall was clean and tidy, with just a few telltale signs of partying here and there – like the stain on the high table where Brendan had upset his goblet of wine in an argument with Laird Donal about the intricacies of battle tactics.

  She smiled when she saw a handful of the women waiting for her. Karen was dressed for riding – she explained that she'd come up to the castle for the night with Connor to visit, but the two of them usually lived in a pleasant little cottage down in the village.

  "You must come and visit," she said seriously, reaching across the table to take Julia's hands in hers. "It's such a delightful little place – you'll love it, I promise."

  "It's not the best time to be riding at night, though," Elena put in, a worried look on her face. "Just be mindful to be back well before sunset, if you do go."

  "Oh, there's no rush," Karen said with a shrug of her shoulders… but Julia could tell she was worried, too. Was this current upswing in attacks from the Fae really that serious? She felt another prickle of guilt about the way she'd snapped at Galen. Had he really only been trying to protect her from a serious threat? No – the way he'd gone about it was ridiculous, she reassured herself firmly. These women were worried about her too, wanted to protect her – and none of them had managed to insult or belittle her in the course of trying to keep her safe. Men were useless in every era, it seemed, not just her own.

  "I must have met just about every member of Clan Grant last night," she pointed out with a sigh. "Which one do you think is my husband?"

  Anna chuckled, her mouth full of porridge which she hastily swallowed. "I don't think it works like that." She grinned. "There's not some light that goes off or some bell that chimes in the distance –"

  "Well, why not? The Sidhe are magical, right? Why can't they magically tell me who I'm supposed to marry?"

  "Well – for most of us, it was the first Grant we met," Kay said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Connor found me lying by the Loch…"

  "Well, that doesn't make any sense," Julia said firmly. "The first Grant I met was Galen, and he's terrible. Good-looking enough, sure," she added, drawing a grin from Anna, "but God, I can't imagine being married to him. I can barely stand his presence for more than a minute or two."

  "Well," Anna said innocently, "I had my troubles with Donal at first, too."

  "You did?"

  "Oh, yes. We got into more than a few fights before we sorted out our differences. Quite literally," she added, a grin on her face. Anna, it turned out, was an accomplished swordswoman – what had been a quirky hobby in the future had become a valuable life skill here in the past.

  Julia was jealous. She wished she'd taken up knitting or something practical in the future – it seemed like all of her hobbies and skills relied on electricity or other technology to work. She felt like a baby again – no skills at all to bring to this strange new place. She'd figure something out.

  Conversation moved on from the subject of marriage, but Julia couldn't help the way her mind lingered on Galen. She had run into him first… but there was no way he was going to be her husband. Why, she'd sooner marry the man he was fighting. At least the blond, green-eyed man had smiled at her, bowed to her… in the few seconds they'd been in each other's presence, in fact, he'd done more to make her feel special than Galen had since she'd arrived.

  But she couldn't dwell on Galen all day. Not when she had an entire medieval castle to explore. A hearty breakfast had banished the last of her hangover, and after saying her goodbyes to the women in the dining hall and promising to meet then again for lunch and dinner – they had much more to discuss, after all, she slipped away into the corridors, feeling like a child again. It was time to explore this place from top to bottom.

  And Castle Urquhart was no disappointment when it came to that. The whole place seemed to be composed of winding tunnels and passageways, of semi-secret paths that led from one room to the other. The kitchen especially was full of hiding places and secret doors – there was a passage through one of the pantries that led out to a spot behind the castle, between the wall of the castle and the wall that surrounded it, and she slipped along through the narrow space between the castle and the wall to come out near the stables, where she caught a curious look from a stable hand before laughing and heading back inside.

  And that was just the first floor. The castle had six or seven floors in total – it was hard to get a proper handle on the layout, as she kept getting turned about as she climbed staircase after staircase, getting the hang of gathering her skirts in her hands to give her legs freedom to move. It was quite a workout, and she was breathing hard by the time lunch had nearly come around. Still – she had one more place she wanted to visit before she headed back down… a place she'd been thinking about ever since she'd laid eyes on the castle from the road…

  She climbed step after step until she thought she was going to pass out from the dizziness… but finally, she was there. The wind whipped at her hair and her skirts as she stood proudly at the very top of the castle, on the flat stone roof. Grinning, she hastened to the edge of the roof, unable to resist seeing the view straight down – vertigo gripped her as she looked down, down, down the side of the castle into the waters below. She could see, down below, a collection of boats, small as toys from up here, tethered to a couple of jutting jetties – she remembered hearing about the docks by the castle and smiled, making a note that that might be a good spot to explore next time. Her eyes shifted up, up and across the enormous expanse of the Loch. Even from up here, she could barely make out the other shore – it was a truly enormous lake, far bigger than the tiny little things she'd explored in her career as a nature photographer.

  She wondered, as she gazed down at the water, where the Monster was. From what she'd gathered, the creature was nocturnal – it must have been on its way to bed when it came to visit with her on the shore of the lake. She scanned the dark waters, hoping for some glimpse of it… but there was nothing to see but the tiny fishing boats. She scanned the shoreline, too, seeing the fork in the road she'd hesitated at on her walk up to the castle the previous morning, which already felt like lifetimes ago. Sure enough, the fork led up to a little village – she couldn't make out many details that weren't obscured by the forest, but she smiled to herself, looking forward to making a visit to Karen and Connor in their cottage.

  It was a beautiful place… and as much as it was going to be a hell of an adjustment, she was absolutely delighted to call it home.

  Chapter 15

  Still buzzing from the adrenaline of seeing the whole county laid out before her like that, Julia made a few laps of the rooftop, wandering more or less idly, peering over each wall in turn and seeing if there was anything more she could see from up here. Down on the road that looped around the lake like a bow, she could make out a few distant specks that may have been travelers on their way to or from the castle… and further along, her eyes widened as she spotted a familiar thatched roof about halfway between the castle and the village. She'd almost forgotten about the little house
she'd walked past… the way she'd tapped on the door and received no answer, despite her suspicion that someone was in there, waiting at the window…

  Whoever lived there, she was very interested in why it was they had a cottage right there in the middle of nowhere, when the village was so close. Was it a question of the village not wanting them there? Or them not wanting to be too close to the village? She decided to ask someone as soon as possible… though the query about the little cottage would have to join a long, long list of other questions.

  Chief among them, to her dismay, was what the hell was Galen's problem?

  She'd hoped he'd apologize to her after his conduct at the feast. She'd even waited for him to seek her out, deliberately positioning herself at the last few meals so that there was a free seat next to her — she'd never be so gauche as to walk up to him, of course, but she'd purposefully made it easier for him to seek her out. But to her incredulity — and no small annoyance — he'd refused entirely to even acknowledge her hospitality. She'd barely seen hide nor hair of him, in fact – from what she could glean from the other women's chat, he'd been pulling extra guard shifts as a result of their reduced numbers lately. Injuries and deaths thanks to Fae creatures slipping through… she bit her lip, remembering what Elena had said.

  Maybe she would go as far as to go up to him and give him the opportunity to apologize in person. It was the only concession to his grief she could bring herself to make – especially given how poorly he'd treated her, and how determined she was – in this strange new place – not to fall into any old habits that had made her so miserable back in her old life. Her old life! Julia grinned to herself as she sauntered back across the rooftop. She was already beginning to think of the future as another country, a place she'd visited once before coming home for good…

  The spiral staircases were still feeling a little treacherous, though, especially on the way down. She bit her lip as she descended, not wanting to fall and break an ankle so early in her trip… the other women had assured her that the trip down the stairs got easier as you practiced, but she wasn't sure she was ever going to feel particularly comfortable on these ridiculous steps. She supposed they saved space, but God, at what cost? That being said, as a young girl she'd been clumsy enough to fall down any staircase, spiral or no, so maybe it wasn't entirely the castle's fault.

  She'd seen the stables from the roof, and she was curious to actually go inside them, to check out just what went on in there. Horses had always fascinated her from afar as a child, but she'd never really had the chance to get up close and personal with one. Her brother James had insisted on learning to ride when they were kids, but the family hadn't quite had the funds to afford lessons for both children… and Julia had decided that whatever budget for extra-curriculars they had, she'd prefer to spend on ballet lessons. So, James could ride, but she couldn't. Maybe that was something she could work on once she'd finished looking around the castle thoroughly enough. A lady needed a hobby, after all – that was, a lady with no useful skills to contribute. She sighed, thinking of her camera. Unable to bring herself to discard it, she'd folded it in a spare pillowcase from her bed and tucked it reverently away in her wardrobe, to rest for now. Who knew? Maybe there'd be some highly unexpected technological advancements sometime soon and someone could fix it for her. Failing that, the parts could be of use. The truth was, she was too attached to it to get rid of it so quickly.

  Maybe her old life wasn't quite as far behind her as she'd like to think.

  Lost in these kinds of thoughts as she was, she wound up drifting right past the door to the stables and wandering, instead, around the walls that surrounded the castle, trailing one hand along the sleek dark stone. Up this close, it was cool to the touch, and almost felt damp – though the morning dew should long have faded. Seawater, perhaps? She slowed when she reached the gate… and jumped when she heard her own name barked in a disappointingly familiar voice that echoed from the top of the wall.

  She covered her eyes with her hand and looked up, squinting against the sunlight. Sure enough, there stood Galen in full guard regalia – she mightn't have recognized him but for the scowl that she could just make out beneath his helmet. What the hell was he yelling at her for? she wondered irritably. Had she performed some awful crime, somehow? Was touching the walls around the castle some kind of magical invitation for faeries to come and rip everybody's throats out? Not likely.

  Still, he seemed to feel the need to hasten down the stairs in the wall, and when he emerged from the recess to her left his expression hadn't changed at all from the surly glower he'd treated her to from the rooftop. Her annoyance toward him had cooled since the feast, but he seemed determined to amend that fact, and she could feel her anger rising again. Reminding herself that Galen had lost a brother not so long ago, she took a deep breath and offered him her best attempt at a friendly smile.

  "Good afternoon, Galen –"

  "You're not thinking of leaving the castle walls."

  "Is that a question or an order?" she asked wryly, folding her arms across her chest. The truth was that she hadn't been – her plan was to circle the walls then go and poke around in the stables until someone shooed her away – but knowing that Galen didn't want her to leave the castle had changed her priorities to make that number one.

  "It's far too dangerous for the likes of you."

  "The likes of me?" She suppressed a laugh. "What are you talking about?"

  "Can't ride, can't fight –"

  "How do you know I can't fight?"

  "From looking at you," Galen snapped back without a pause. She had to admit, at least he was consistent in his rudeness. "Am I wrong?"

  "Not that you asked," she said coldly, "but I had no intention of leaving the castle. I was just having a look at the gate. Is that okay? Or would you like to follow me around the castle for the rest of the day like some demented guard dog?"

  Galen's jaw tightened and he narrowed his eyes at her, clearly biting back some choice words of his own — but she saw the way his eyes shot up toward the wall, where presumably, his captain was watching him. Had there been words about how rude he'd been to her? she wondered. Well, good. Someone ought to tell him off. The captain was Elena's husband, she remembered… maybe her new friend had had a word or two about the unpleasantness that had gone on at the feast the other night. She felt a rush of gratitude for her friend… tempered by her annoyance at Galen.

  "Just mind that you don't leave the castle grounds," he warned her, pointing one gauntleted finger at her.

  She rolled her eyes, snapping with vexation. "On whose authority, exactly? I'm no expert, but are you allowed to boss me around?"

  "On the authority of common damned sense," Galen growled. "Is that enough for you?"

  Chapter 16

  Julia felt her eyes narrow, felt her blood boiling. She'd been determined to be polite, to let this man have as much space as he needed to heal from whatever traumas he'd been through… but this was beyond the pale. He'd just come charging down to yell at her for doing absolutely nothing wrong – like she was a child, or something. It was clear that he hadn't minded anything she'd said the other night, and that made her grind her teeth hard.

  "Listen, what's your problem with me?" she demanded, not bothering to keep her voice down. She could see a couple of heads sticking out over the wall, curious guards spectating on the confrontation, but curiously enough, she didn't feel self-conscious at all knowing that they were being watched. Quite the opposite seemed to be true for Galen – his face was bright red under his helmet, and she hid a smile as his eyes darted up again and again, clearly trying to work out whom among his colleagues was eavesdropping so blatantly.

  "It's for your own good," he said in as low a growl as he could manage, glaring at her.

  "But why? You clearly don't like me," she pointed out, folding her arms across her chest. "And it's obvious that you don't respect me – whether that's because I'm a woman, or more specific information you've gle
aned about me, I'm not sure, but either way it's pretty obvious."

  "I like you fine," he said blankly – and for some odd reason, she believed him.

  He just seemed to be so utterly taken aback by the prospect that his behavior might suggest that he disliked her in some way. For a moment, she softened… before she remembered that she was a new Julia now. A Julia who required more from men – and people in general, in fact – than just a hard-won assurance that they didn't actively despise her.

  "Is that so? Would you be even more officious and unpleasant if you didn't like me?" she demanded – and was rewarded almost immediately by a titter of laughter up on the walls and a dull metallic 'clunk' as someone elbowed someone in the armored ribs.

  Galen's eyes darted up again and she fought back a grin at how uncomfortable he looked at being overheard by whoever it was that was up there.

  "Listen," he said, his voice softer still, and she realized he was making an honest attempt to communicate… so she sheathed her barbed tongue for the moment. "It's not that I dislike you. I'm honestly just trying to keep you out of trouble, Julia. This is a brand new place to you – you don't know about any of the dangers that are out there. That's what I mean when I say you don't seem to have any sense. That's all."

  She stared at him for a long moment, almost lost for words. He actually looked proud of himself – as though he'd done an excellent job of smoothing it all over. She took a deep breath. "Do you really think good intentions make up for treating me like I'm an idiot child?"

  That stopped him in his tracks. He'd clearly been about to start patting himself on the back… now he just looked confused. And it wasn't long before confusion gave way to annoyance.

  Galen threw his hands into the air and rolled his eyes at her. "I don't have time for this. I'm on watch. Just don't leave the castle grounds, alright? Laird's orders."