Chapter Nine
“I canna believe ye told him everything.” Morganna threw up her hands as she paced back and forth across the bedchamber, then halted and jabbed a finger in the air, pointing at Evie.
“Count yerself fortunate that the man’s mother was a strong believer in the auld ways and shared the lore with her son.
Else he’d have ye locked away for insanity. ”
“I didn’t tell him everything.” Evie rubbed her knuckles up and down her breastbone. Her heart hurt. Or something did. It ached like a terrible case of heartburn and only let up whenever Drummond was near. “I just told him where and when I was from.”
“Oh, is that all?” Sarcasm dripped from Morganna’s every word.
“What I mean,” Evie said, “is that I didn’t tell him anything about your curse—and, by the way, snarkiness is not helpful right now.” She twitched a somewhat guilty shrug. “But I did tell him that you and Callum were Fae who weren’t supposed to love each other.”
“From the way the man behaved, ye also led him to believe that ye had no intention of choosing yer heart and soul over yer timeline.”
“I’m telling you the same thing I told him.
” Evie returned to the fire, unable to shake the chill that had settled into her bones.
Castles of stone might repel arrows, but they didn’t stand a chance against Scotland’s cold dampness.
“I don’t belong here. Not only could my life be cut short, but my being here could risk his safety as well.
And what happens if I outlive him? What happens to me then? ”
“As the chief’s widow, the clan would see to yer care. Drummond would have it included in the marriage contract.”
“You and I both know politics, and I’m sure this time and place isn’t any different. Contracts aren’t always honored. Are you and Callum going to sweep in here and bail me out if that happens? Or once I make my choice, is it ‘So long, mortal! You’re on your own!’?”
Morganna eyed her with a displeased tightening of her mouth that told Evie all she needed to know.
“Once ye make yer choice—while Drummond is alive—it canna be undone unless ye reject him with the severing oath. But if he were to die while the pair of ye are bound, I dinna ken if we could do anything to return ye to yer original time. The love of the fated mate bond anchors ye to his century. Ye forfeit yer timeline for his, and even if ye were grieving because of his loss…” Doubt echoed in her voice.
She took a seat at the table, pulled a very modern tea bag out from inside the neckline of her gown, and doused it in a cup of hot water from the kettle.
“There’ll not be a decent tea or coffee to be had until the 1600s, but I canna abide the taste of that herbal swill.
” She sternly pointed a finger at Evie. “Ye’re not to tell, ye ken? ”
“Only if you brought enough for me too. I can’t stand that swill either.” Evie tossed the dregs of her herbal tea into the extra chamber pot beside the bed and held out the cup to Morganna. “Share.”
With an irritated roll of her eyes, the Fae woman fished another tea bag out of the front of her gown and dropped it into Evie’s cup.
“There. We must take great care about what we add or take away from any timeline. If we change history too much, it could prove disastrous and bring even more of the goddesses’ wrath down upon us.
The mother goddess herself would get involved, and she would make the curse seem like child’s play.
” She took a sip of her tea and smiled. “Always remember that, ye ken?”
Evie added honey to her cup, sipped the much-better-tasting brew, then tapped on the table. “The next time you’re passing through the future and circling back here, why don’t you smuggle me some toothpaste, a toothbrush, some tampons, deodorant, and aspirin? Shall I make a list?”
“All those things are available here, lass. They’re merely in other forms. Dinna fash yerself. I shall help ye discover them.”
“I haven’t decided to stay, remember?”
Morganna studied Evie with a look that made her feel uncomfortably bare.
“Aye, but ye’ve not decided to leave either, now have ye?
” She set her cup on the table and leaned across it, suddenly becoming more animated and determined.
“There is something ye must decide now, though. ’Tis of the utmost importance. ”
Evie took another hearty swig of her tea, then added more hot water and honey to it. An enormous glass of iced sweet tea would’ve been heavenly right now, but she knew that wasn’t a possibility. “What must I decide now? Which horse to steal to return to the sidhe hill?”
“That is not remotely funny.” Morganna tapped a manicured nail on the table. “Clan Heberdy is a danger to all we are trying to accomplish here. That Merelys of theirs is a manipulative wench if ever I saw one.”
“Merelys?”
“Aye. The chief’s daughter. She means to marry yer Drummond. Her clan and Clan MacMuirrow’s advisors have everything already arranged. Petra and Jarrah saw it in the cards.”
A surprising onslaught of jealousy raged through Evie like uncontrollable wildfire. She struggled to remain rational. “Drummond will send them packing. You’ve seen how determined he is to pursue…us.”
“Clan politics, remember?” Morganna twitched an eyebrow. “’Twill be a battle. Will ye fight with him, or will he have to fight this one alone?”
“Fight how?” Evie fisted her hands on either side of her cup, ready to run to Drummond’s rescue.
But then it hit her. Would it be fair to help him fight this battle and keep him unmarried if she planned to return to her time?
Didn’t he need a wife for heirs? Weren’t those things extremely important in this day and age?
If she was too cowardly to commit to Drummond and all that entailed, was it fair for her to expect him to live out his life alone?
She noticed Morganna watching her closely. “Is this a trap or something? Did you do this?”
With its string wrapped around her finger, Morganna idly dunked her tea bag up and down in her cup. “I had nothing to do with this.” Then her eyes narrowed.
Evie tensed, dreading whatever had put that look on Morganna’s face. “Now what?”
“It could be the Fae or the goddesses who brought Clan Heberdy here so quickly after yer arrival.”
“Either way, I’m not so sure I should intervene.” An almost unbearable ache shot through Evie, passing all the way to her shoulder blades. She pressed the heel of her hand to her breastbone. “And now I’m having a heart attack. I thought you said they wouldn’t try to kill me.”
Morganna paused with her cup halfway to her mouth. “I said that to the best of my knowledge, they’d never killed a mortal to foul the fated mate bond.”
“That’s so reassuring.”
“Sarcasm is a verra ugly trait on ye, lass.” Morganna tipped a nod at Evie’s chest. “Yer heart hurts because it longs for the bond, the reunion with the other half of yer soul. Do ye truly mean to reject him? Isn’t love worth any sacrifice?”
“I just met him.” But Evie knew that argument was weak.
Love didn’t run on a specific timeline. It took however long it took.
Some fell in love as soon as their eyes met.
Granddaddy and Grandmama had been that way.
Others grew into love over days, weeks, or months.
But with Drummond, something had been there immediately, and instinct told her that the longer she toyed with this idea and stayed around him, the harder it would be to make the solid, commonsense decision she knew she should make.
“Do you know where they keep the horses?”
Morganna slammed her hand down on the table. Hard. “Ye gave him yer word. Said ye’d not leave. Are ye truly that big of a lying coward?”
“That is not fair.” It was accurate, but not fair. Evie dropped her head into her hands. “The longer I stay, the more difficult it will be to leave.”
“Good.” Morganna rose, went to the massive wardrobe on the other side of the room, and threw the doors wide open.
“I took the liberty of spelling in a few things. ’Twill make ye look as if ye arrived with trunks and trunks of clothing.
” Her top half disappeared in the clutter of velvets, wools, silks, and linens as she rummaged in the large cabinet’s depths.
“I’ve the perfect cotehardie and mantle in mind. ”
Evie stared down at the wool dress she’d worn since changing clothes. “I just put this on. What’s wrong with it?”
Morganna emerged from the wardrobe, her arms loaded down with layers.
“Nothing is wrong with it, but afore ye go down to meet Drummond’s guests, ye must finish dressing.
” She nodded at Evie’s chest. “Ye’ve donned yer chemise and wool kirtle.
That’s all well and good for a workday around the keep, but with another clan visiting, ye must add the finer layers of a ranking noblewoman.
An outer gown and a mantle with a nice brooch or two.
” Without emptying her arms, she angled around so she could point a finger at Evie’s head.
“How would ye feel about a veil? We’ve a nice silk one. ”
“I am not a nun. Nor am I a noblewoman. As soon as I open my mouth, they’re going to know that.” No fancy gown or veil could hide her Southern drawl. This was not going to go well. She felt it in her gut.
“Then speak as little as possible. Be a woman of mystery.” Morganna held up a burgundy velvet creation with fuller skirts and tight sleeves that didn’t look very comfortable.
“On with it now, and I’ll get ye buttoned up.
There’s no time to waste. I promise ye, Lady Merelys will be fully garbed in every bell, bauble, and ribbon Clan Heberdy can afford. ”
Drowning in the weightiness of the velvet yardage, Evie fought to pull the fitted bodice and tight sleeves in place over the dress she already wore. “This is ridiculous. Are you sure we’re not supposed to take off the first one and wear this one in its place?”