Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Pippa and Emmett were going to drive Theo insane. He didn’t want to be ungrateful for their support, but he was starting to wonder if his mental stability was worth it. That being said, the pace of Theo’s life hadn’t slowed down, and it didn't look like it was going to anytime soon.
Pippa and Emmett were offering invaluable help in agreeing to go on this adventure to Minch. Still, their constant bickering and making up had Theo thinking about the consequences of attempting this journey on his own.
“I’m serious,” Pippa complained from the front seat of Emmett's Jeep. “I didn’t know I was mated to a psychopath.”
Emmett groaned, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. Theo started praying under his breath in the backseat.
“I’m hardly a psychopath.” Emmett snorted. “I like putting on one sock and one shoe, and then doing the other foot.”
“Everyone knows you put on both socks and then both shoes. This is insanity!” Pippa looked ready to pull her hair out, and Theo was trying to determine how serious the couple’s argument really was.
He reckoned it was not very serious.
“I like doing things to completion!” Emmett’s voice rose, but Pippa only smirked.
“Yeah, you do.” She placed her hand on Emmett's knee as he drove, and Theo started coughing.
“So, uh, how much longer?” Theo interrupted, grateful that only the first leg of their journey was in an enclosed car.
“Oh,” Emmett glanced down at his GPS, “only about fifteen minutes or so.”
Theo nodded and whispered another prayer of thanks under his breath.
They had departed from Edinburgh nearly three hours ago on their way to Loch Ness. From there, the plan was to travel alongside the network of rivers and streams that would eventually lead them to Minch.
Theo tried to drown out the sound of Pippa and Emmett mindlessly going back and forth from bickering to flirting.
He placed his head against the cool glass of the window and tried to calm his racing thoughts.
A little over a week ago, he hadn’t met Calum.
He hadn’t thought he had any way to break Cliodhna’s curse and had been afraid of her minions jumping out of showers and street puddles.
Now, he was still concerned about their plan to free him from Cliodhna’s grasp, but he had a family.
The word was still foreign to him, but the sensation wasn’t. The minute Calum pulled him into an embrace, he realized what he’d truly been looking for all this time wasn’t answers. It was simply his brother.
Well, except that I do need answers. Theo corrected himself. But you know, the more important part is the brother thing.
The nanny who spent her years raising Theo from infancy was a kind woman who was incredibly old-school in her ideas about child-rearing.
She wasn’t cruel, but oftentimes relied on the philosophy of a ‘stiff upper lip.’ When Theo saw how quick Calum was to cry, without any regard to who was around him, it excavated something even deeper in Theo’s heart that he didn’t know was there.
When they had departed that morning, Calum had been running around like a mother hen. It didn’t help that Fern was encouraging him and fussing after Theo like her own kin.
She is your kin now. Theo reminded himself. His chest swelled at the reminder.
Calum nearly changed his mind every five minutes about whether or not he would join them.
He didn’t want to let Theo out of his sight, which was another suite of emotions Theo wasn’t prepared to deal with.
It turned out that when you were isolated from your family for most of your life, your brother’s immediate acceptance of you really messed with your head.
Finally, Emmett had to remind Calum that the best thing he could do was rally support from his position in Edinburgh. Calum backed off and threw himself into what Fern called ‘prince mode,’ and started mumbling about to-dos and lists under his breath.
Calum hugged Theo tightly as Emmett and Pippa climbed into the Jeep, reminding him to update them often and to stay safe. He was crying again when he let go. Theo was surprised when Fern threw her arms around his neck, too, making him promise that he'd come back.
It was a lot to process for someone who had spent the first twenty years of their life in near solitude.
Theo was about to start overintellectualizing his feelings, as one of his therapists had called it, when Emmett got his attention.
“Oi, Theo, lad.” Emmett grinned in the rearview mirror. “Look out the other window.”
Theo looked at Emmett quizzically but did as he asked, his jaw nearly dropping open. They were driving alongside a cliff’s edge, and the Loch Ness was coming into view. It was easy to see why there were so many legends about one lake.
The water was shining and reflecting the sunlight, surrounded by low, green hills.
There were cliff edges and crags all around the border of the lake, giving way to some pebbled beaches and waterways.
There were ruins of a castle tower on an inlet, giving the entire lake an atmospheric quality that Theo had only seen in movies.
“Oh, love, look at the look on his face.” Pippa smiled. “You forget the poor lad was raised in France.”
Emmett made a disgusted face. “Tragic, that. Take it all in, Theo. That's just a taste of the magic that is Scotland.”
Theo could feel it in his veins. His magic had been growing incrementally stronger every day he’d spent with Calum and continued to develop the more time he spent on Scottish soil.
He was an heir to Scotland's magical throne, after all.
It filled him with energy, and the aches and pains from being cramped in the backseat for three hours started to evaporate.
“Why are we starting here?” Theo asked, unable to turn away from the lake’s view. “Any particular reason?”
“Oh, Nessie is a friend.” Emmett turned down a dirt road leading to the shoreline. “She might have information for us.”
Theo short-circuited. “Nessie? As in the Loch Ness monster?”
“Yeah.” Pippa crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Emmett. “I’d love to know how you two became so close.”
Emmett sighed dramatically and put the car into park. He grabbed Pippa’s hand and kissed it. Theo fought the urge to roll his eyes as Pippa’s expression melted instantly.
Gods above, please remind me never to pick an adventure party consisting of two newly mated people.
“Nessie is an old friend,” Emmett insisted. “She’s the water sprite who, basically, is the personification of Loch Ness. She’s as elemental as they come and has been a friend to my clan since before I was born.”
Theo made a mental note. Wulver were deeply connected to Scotland, almost more than the fae, and it made sense that the nature spirits adored the creatures of the Highlands.
Pippa seemed satisfied with this answer and jumped out of the car. “All right, then, let’s go find her.” She took off towards the water’s edge, leaving Emmett chuckling and watching her walk.
“For fuck's sake,” Theo laughed, climbing out of the back seat, “can you two tone it down at all? If you don’t want a third on this trip, then keep the leering to a minimum.”
Emmett’s laugh was loud, and it echoed off the trees as he locked the car.
“All right, understood.” They began to follow Pippa. “But I can only promise to do my best.”
“Fair,” Theo acquiesced with a shrug. “So, Nessie? If I ask about the ‘monster,’ am I going to be saying something inappropriate?”
Emmett shook his head. “Oh, no. She loves it. When Scotland’s magic fell after the Battle of Culloden, the mortal world thought Scotland didn’t have magic for centuries.”
Theo rolled his eyes. “I never understood how they could think that about the land.” He looked around, nearly awestruck again with the scenic views surrounding them.
They’d come to a part of the lake that didn’t have any obvious tourist vantage points, so they had the small area of beach to themselves.
“Humans will do or say a lot of things to avoid pain,” Emmett said.
“It was easier to pretend there was no magic here instead of admitting it was gone. Nessie was trapped in the lake during the curse, so there wasn’t much she could do to entertain herself.
She started the Loch Ness monster sightings as a way to play jokes on mortal humans.
” Emmett snickered to himself. “She still does it. Even with the return of magic, humans still act shocked and surprised to see her in the water.”
Theo let out a low whistle, impressed yet entirely unsure what to expect from the water sprite. He realized he was unseasonably nervous. Any opportunity to get more help or information about his curse made his skin crawl.
He was harboring deep-seated insecurities about not being good enough to be a part of the royal family.
Although Calum had done a lot in a short amount of time to rectify them, Theo was concerned the rest of the magical community might shun him.
Calum told him that it was irrational, but anxiety never plays by the rules.
Theo and Emmett joined Pippa at the water’s edge, where she was skipping stones into the water.
“How do we summon her?” Pippa asked.
Emmett nodded towards the pebbles in Pippa’s hands.
“That should do the trick. Humans don’t think to come down to this particular stretch of shoreline, so Nessie will know it's someone magical.”
Pippa grinned excitedly and expertly skipped several more stones out over the water. Theo kept his eyes pinned on the lake as they waited in silence for a few minutes. Finally, small ripples began to appear in the water.
“Take a few steps back.” Emmett smirked.
Theo obliged, not wanting to get wet when he packed light.
The ripples turned into small waves, which grew larger and larger until they were as tall as Emmett. They crashed against the surface like thunder, dousing them all in cool spray.