Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AGNES
It felt like a party. It shouldn’t have, but there was no way to get everyone together—familiars included—and not have utter chaos.
Lachlan had put Loren Brae on lockdown, much to Graham’s chagrin.
I couldn’t help but agree with his decision.
Businesses were closed, classes at school were let out early, and everyone was cautioned to shelter-in-place.
We didn’t know what was coming our way, but at the same time, it seemed like we could no longer ignore it.
Or at the very least, go about life as usual.
Not when a simple keg delivery could result in near death.
And the Beithir hadn’t even made an appearance.
Who was to say what terror would be unleashed if he did?
We were gathered at Grasshopper, Lia and Hilda falling into default mode of feeding everyone, while the familiars held court in the corner of the room.
They looked like a maniacal menagerie planning mischievous things, and I couldn’t help wondering what they were up to when I saw Gnorman, Shona’s gnome, raise his fist into the air and offer a battle cry.
The cheers, and barks, and squawks that joined him should have been comforting.
Instead, unable to sit, I stood.
Graham caught my hand before I could resume my pacing. “Agnes. Come here.”
“I can’t sit down. If I sit down, I’ll fall apart.”
“Then fall apart. I’ll catch you.”
“You nearly drowned an hour ago. You’re in no condition to catch anyone.”
“I’m in perfect condition. Faelan just said my lungs are clear.”
“She said you might be coughing for days.”
“Minor detail.” He tugged at my hand, and I let him pull me down onto the bench beside him. “There. See? Sitting. Not so bad.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I really, really do.”
“You love me.”
“That’s the problem.” My voice cracked again, and this time the tears spilled over. “That’s the whole bloody problem, Graham. I love you, and it’s going to get you killed, and I can’t—”
He kissed me. And, goddess help me, I kissed him back because I didn’t know what else to do. Because he was here, alive, breathing, and I needed to know he was real.
When we broke apart, his forehead rested against mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said softly.
“You keep saying that. And yet.” The image of Ramsay carrying Graham from the loch was burned behind my eyeballs.
A throat cleared loudly from somewhere behind us.
“Not to interrupt the moment,” Lachlan said, “but Sophie’s about to go full war general and I thought you might want to be present for that.”
I pulled back from Graham, wiping my eyes. “War general?”
“You’ll see.”
Sophie stood in the center of the great hall, hands on her hips, surveying the chaos around her with the expression of a woman who was about to impose order whether anyone liked it or not.
The rest of the Order had arrived while I’d been focused on Graham.
Shona and Owen from her garden center, Orla and Finlay from the building site, and Kaia and Thane from the forge.
Munroe hovered near the kitchen, helping Lia with food, while Luch paced the great hall, his movements almost predatory and his face set in steely lines.
Clyde, seeming to understand these were serious times, had appeared almost gently and without his usual fanfare.
Currently he was attempting to play with Sir Buster, which was going poorly.
The tiny chihuahua had stationed himself on a cushion in the corner and was growling with the intensity of a dog ten times his size.
Clyde, undeterred, kept trying to nuzzle him, which only made Sir Buster angrier.
“Clyde,” Sophie said without looking. “Leave Sir Buster alone.”
Clyde let out a mournful bellow, which shook the entire hall. Sir Buster increased his growling, his body shaking with unadulterated rage.
“I don’t care if you’re being friendly. He doesn’t like it. Find someone else to bother.”
The ghost coo huffed and trotted over to investigate Gnorman and Gnora, who were now perched on either side of Shona like tiny, tattooed sentinels. Gnorman brandished what appeared to be a miniature battle-ax at the approaching coo. Clyde bellowed again and retreated.
“Gnorman.” Gnora leaned over and admonished him. “You leave that poor beastie alone.”
“He’s bothering Shona,” Gnorman protested.
“He’s just a big fluffball.”
“He’s annoying,” Gnorman said, his face stern.
“Is he? I think he’s kind of cute.” Gnora fluffed her hair, and catching the look on Gnorman’s face, she giggled.
“Cute? You think he’s cute?” Gnorman hissed and Gnora giggled, before racing off into the other room after Clyde.
“Bloody hell. That woman will be the death of me!” Gnorman growled and took off after Gnora, her giggles floating through the castle.
“Is it always like this?” Graham asked, watching the chaos unfold, his eyes wide.
“Usually worse,” Lachlan said. “This is actually quite tame. Nobody’s set anything on fire yet.”
“Yet being the operative word,” Sophie muttered. She raised her voice. “Right. Everyone. Listen up.”
The room gradually quieted. Even Sir Buster stopped growling, though he surveyed the room with his eyes half-slit, suspicious of everyone.
“Here’s where we stand,” Archie said, standing in front of the group. “The curse is escalating. It’s no longer waiting for Graham to wander near the water—it’s actively hunting him. We don’t think this is by chance.”
“So what are you saying?” Kaia asked. “Is this like, written in the stars?”
“I mean, kind of.” Liora leaned forward, her eyes huge in her face. “It’s all woven into the threads that connect everyone in Loren Brae, past, present, and future.”
“I’m saying we don’t know the limits of what it can do, which means we have to assume the worst. As we’ve seen today.” Sophie’s gaze swept the room. “From now on, Graham doesn’t leave this castle. And none of us leave him alone. Not for a minute.”
“I’m sitting right here,” Graham said. His expression was so adorably grumpy, that I reached out to take his hand. “You could address me directly.”
“I could. But you have a history of not listening, so I’m hoping peer pressure will work better.”
“That’s fair,” Lachlan said. “Peer pressure is very effective with Graham. It’s how we got him to do karaoke at Lia’s birthday party.”
“We agreed never to speak of that again.” Graham closed his eyes, and my lips quirked. As much as I loved him, the man was a horrific singer.
“Did we? I don’t recall agreeing to that.”
“Lachlan—”
“What song was it?” Kaia asked, her eyes lighting up with interest. “Please tell me there’s video.”
“There’s definitely video,” Ramsay said. “I have it saved.”
“I will end you,” Graham said pleasantly, baring his teeth at Ramsay.
“Try it, mate.” Ramsay crossed his tree-trunk arms over his chest, and I sighed.
“God, but the masculinity being thrown around here.” Matthew fanned his face. “I mean, I know we are, like, in end game times here, but I do fully support all these macho displays of strength. Carry on, carry on.”
“Lads. Focus,” Sophie commanded, but I caught the twitch at the corner of her mouth. “We need to talk about what comes next.”
“I think our time has run out.” Hilda stood, and everyone stilled at her words.
She’d been such a constant in my life, and everyone else’s here.
As castle caretaker, she’d made a home for us, never turned away someone in need, and always had a pot of tea and a listening ear at the ready.
But the fear in her eyes now, mixed with a deep-rooted sadness, made my heart drop.
“Is it … don’t I get a chance? To finish my challenges? To complete the Order?” I asked.
“We don’t know.” Hilda looked to Archie, who reached out to squeeze her hand.
“We truly don’t know. We’d always thought, as caretakers and protectors of the Order, that our job was to complete the Order, protect the Clach na Fìrinn, and put the Kelpies to rest. We didn’t know about the Beithir or the curse plaguing Agnes’s bloodline. Or about The Three Queens.”
“That’s more troubling than everything, if I’m to be honest.” Archie shook his head, making a small, disgruntled noise in his throat.
“Och, is it? The existence of other artifacts is more troubling than me almost dying? That’s just grand,” Graham said, disgruntled.
“Excuse me, mate. You’re not the only one who’s taken a hit from the loch.” Luch turned and gave Graham a look.
“Aye, lad. We’ve all had a run-in or two, haven’t we then?” Shona gave Graham a brisk nod. “Toughens you up a bit, doesn’t it?”
I pressed my lips together to hide my smile. Scottish pragmatism at its finest. Sure, you almost died, but you didn’t, did ye? Brush off your scraped knees and crack on with it.
And, frankly, it was all we could really do.
“I think we can all agree that we’ve taken some hits here, and that, as a team, we need to figure out the best way forward,” Sophie said.
“Does it even matter if I’ve passed another challenge?” I asked, holding up my pen. Lachlan had brought me my purse from when he’d gone to close up the pub, and on a suspicion, I’d dug out the pen to see another tiny gold key emblem etched in its side.
“Did ye, then?” Archie gave me a brisk nod of approval, and a wash of pride enveloped me.
“I passed the first one, I believe, after I told Graham the truth about the curse,” I said. “We even saw the pen glow.”
“Bad ass,” Kaia murmured.
“And the second? Was it the loch?” Willow asked.
“Truth in oath, perhaps? You refused to let go of Graham. You promised to protect him—to fight for him—and you held that oath when you went into the water after him,” Quilliam supplied, flying over to sit on my knee. I repeated what he said for the room.
Orla leaned forward, her expression thoughtful as she toyed with a fish badge on her coveralls. “So your challenges are about truth in different forms, perhaps?”
“Truth to power. Face danger and speak the truth … even if your life depends on it.” Quilliam gave me a look that was drenched in sadness. I stilled.