Chapter Fourteen #2
“Uh-oh,” Gabby said. “Something is not happy. Keep reading. Maybe it will release her stronghold on the lake and castle.”
He did as she asked.
Well, he tried to. The water damage made it difficult to see it all.
‘It took me a while to figure this out, but now that I have, Catherine has met her end.’
He stopped.
What was to come was horrific.
“What?” Ian asked.
Oh, well, they were going to share in that with him. If he had to know, they had to know.
“It either says he had her drawn and quartered behind the castle, or he drew his sword and ran her through. I can’t tell which, but then, she was dumped in the water as she was in pieces, screaming.”
Well, either way was a horrible way to die.
Holy Hell’s bells.
“She had it coming,” Gabby said, admitting it. “I said what I said, and I stand by it.”
That’s when they heard the horrible scream. It was like a banshee wailing in the woods at night. It sent goosebumps down all of their arms, and made them aware of what haunted this place.
Not a good spirit.
That was for sure.
Graham went back to the book.
‘Since she deserved not a grave in my stronghold, she was placed piece by piece in the water behind the castle. I made sure she sank to her watery grave to know no peace. Her child was also killed, as I will let no more of her evil bloodline exist. There shall be no other heirs to my title and castle but my own Callum.’
Yep.
That was horrific.
“Well, no wonder she’s pissed. Killing her was brutal enough, but to end her child’s life, his niece or nephew…,” Ian said.
Gabby agreed.
The air around them was cold.
“And she’s not calmed down, either,” she said, holding up her arm to see the hairs standing there. “Figuring out she is in the lake didn’t give her peace.”
No, it didn’t.
When the lights flickered, and two teacups exploded in pieces, Gryphen put his body over Ian and Gabby to protect them.
“Oh, she’s big mad now,” he admitted. “We found one answer, but now, we’ve made it worse. How do we stop that?” he asked.
Another teacup met its demise.
Graham looked around.
“Stop that, Catherine!” he ordered. “We didn’t hurt your child! We weren’t there!”
He wasn’t sure if it would work, but the air seemed less charged with rage, and a little calmer.
That’s when they saw it. A condensation covered the refrigerator, and then something was written there with slow, shaky strokes.
‘Retribution. Find my child!’
Oh, shit.
They looked at each other with that questioning look on their faces.
“Did you just see…?” Ian began.
Gabby nodded.
“It looks like we figured out who was in the lake, and how she got there, but now, we have to find where he put the child after he killed it. We cleared one mystery, and picked up another.”
There was another rage-filled wail, and the cabinet full of fine dishes rattled.
“Okay! We’ll find your child!” Graham said to get the peace. “Stop that! We didn’t do anything to you or your child!”
At his words, it calmed right down.
Gryphen shook his head.
“So we know that Ceit was murdered, and we suspect it was her father, but can’t prove it. We then know he disappeared, never to be seen in history,” he said, ticking the information off on his fingers.
Everyone listened.
“We know that Duncan and Ciarán were betrayed, and we now know who, but to keep this from going south, we need to figure out where a dead baby is and still find Duncan’s lover’s remains to put them back, right?”
Ian nodded.
“Yep. We found out who was in the lake, but Catherine wasn’t so much mad about that as she was about her child being punished.”
Graham got their attention.
“There’s one last part in the journal. Maybe it’ll give us the where.”
Well, then, they needed to hear it.
“Do it,” Ian said.
Graham read over the words, and he translated them for the three people.
‘An eye for an eye, and it is done. As the church continued to look for her, my betrayer, I was forced to place Catherine’s child where no one would find him. The sacred place I put my love is now desecrated with her foul progeny.
Also, there is her disgustingly greedy father, who taught his offspring that money mattered more than people’s lives.
Alas, no one will find them unless I point out the way, and I will take this to my grave. When it is my time, I shall have my only child, the heir to the Granndach castle, remove Ciarán’s bones, and place them with me. We will rest only when we are put back where we belong.
Ceit will be moved back to the castle, and at that time, the curse shall be broken. It can only be broken by an heir.’
He closed the book because there was nothing more to read.
Then, he was to the point.
“It’s safe to say that Duncan didn’t kill Ceit,” he said. “Not only because he was away at war, but because why would he stay calm when we put her back in the castle?”
On that, they agreed.
It made Ian curious.
“What did we find out about Oison?” he asked. “We know he came here to get his youngest daughter hitched to the money wagon, but when did he die? Were we able to find that? Maybe that will tell us who killed him. We know the where, just not the who?”
Gabby shook her head.
“No. There’s no mention of him past the marriage arrangement he wanted with Catherine and Duncan. He just disappears from history, and that explains it. He’s with his grandchild and Duncan’s lover.”
Graham shook his head.
“Well, if you’re bringing a psychic here, maybe that’s a question we should ask.”
He was right.
That would be something to ask the person as soon as they could get to the village.
“We might also benefit from asking about removing the curse. It’s clearly still here. This place is a mess.”
Gryphen laughed. His lover was absolutely right.
Ian nailed that.
“We have bigger problems. A dead body in the lake was bad, but now, we know that a child was killed in the process—an innocent child. Guess who is going to not take that lightly?”
Gabby knew.
“Elizabeth is going to be so goddamn angry about that—more than anything else. She’s fiercely protective of children.”
Graham shrugged.
“At least the ghost baby isn’t haunting the house—that we know of.”
They all looked at him.
“What?” he asked.
Ian shook his head.
“You literally put that out in the universe, and jinxed the hell out of us. We’re totally going to find a ghost baby crawling on the ceiling or something.”
Gabby laughed.
Why?
Graham looked horrified, and she didn’t have to live here.
“I don’t like that one bit. I live here! This is my home. If I wake up and see a baby on a ceiling…”
They all laughed.
That sucked to be him.
Before he could say anything, Finn walked into the kitchen through the door.
“Hey,” he offered. “What did I miss?”
They all began laughing.
Then, they clued him in, and he didn’t look happy that there was a dead child thrown into the mix.
“Why do they always have to kill the baby?” he asked, sighing.
Ian knew.
“So that the bloodline would stay how they wanted it. After Duncan, Callum would be the next one Catherine would want to kill. Now, there was no vengeance killings in honor of the baby’s name. No one appeared to be left.”
Yeah, this castle…
It was icky at times.
“Well, let’s put that shit on the back burner,” he said. “Graham, I need to show you something,” he said.
At his words, Gabby, Ian, and Gryphen headed out, leaving Graham there with Finn.
Who was suspiciously in a kilt, too.
“You’re dressed up. What’s going on?” he asked. “Is that why you’re late getting here?”
Oh, not quite.
They had to get the judge to follow them back, make sure the courtyard was decorated, and set the stage for what Graham deserved.
Romance.
“Your beau has something planned for you. You clean up really nice, Graham.”
He ran his hands over his kilt jacket. It was rare he put his kilt on, mostly because it was the colors of war, and he didn’t want to do battle anymore.
The Black Watch part of him was done, and now, he was just a normal person.
Who did abnormal things for his country.
“Well, I’m ready to see what’s going on,” he said.
Finn saw that the Purple Heart that had been sitting on the box on the counter was gone, and that meant that Gryphen had palmed it successfully.
It was on its way out to Michael.
Perfect.
“I’m ready to take you outside. Follow me, Groom.”
Graham didn’t know what was going on, but he wanted to get to D’Artangnan…Michael as soon as possible. It was painful to be away from him now that he had him back in his life.
As they walked through the castle, he took him out the front door, and around the side of the castle. Graham didn’t understand that.
AT.
ALL.
He was about to ask him what was going on when they walked through the gate that led into the courtyard, and Graham had been caught off guard.
Holy shit.
There were people there.
All of Finn’s family was sitting there on the concrete benches that were surrounded by the flowering box shrubs. The water fountain was on, and the tinkling was melodic.
There, standing in the middle of the low maze, was the most amazing sight he’d ever seen.
His man.
He was in an all-black and gray kilt, his blue eyes watching him as he stood there. Honestly, Graham had never seen a more breathtaking sight in his life.
“D’Artangnan,” he whispered, and that was when the man smiled.
He couldn’t believe this.
The surprise was a wedding in the courtyard.
It was beyond anything he could ever wish for, and this was the best gift.
When D’Artangnan held out his hand, Graham knew what he wanted.
His groom.
As soft music played, thanks to a speaker beside one of the McKnights, Graham made his way through the maze of boxwood to get to his groom.
As he did, he passed his family.
While Finn’s parents, who he loved and were glad were there, D’Artangnan’s family was also there. On a tablet on Gabby’s lap, facing out, there was Elizabeth, Chris, Callen, and their other two spouses.
They were smiling at him as he walked past them.