Sir Alexander wanted her away from this chamber, and she was not about to object. As she started to walk through the entry, Emma glanced at where the mate to Patrik’s halved gem lay. She stumbled. It was glowing!
As if the hounds of hell chased her, she hurried through the door. Sir Alexander need not escort her out of this room. Never had she been so afraid in all of her life.
His mind still racing from finding Cristina in his grandmother’s chamber, Alexander strode along the wall walk, too upset to go to his bed. As he passed a crenellation he paused, staring past the granite that framed the moonlit view beyond.
The image of the second halved stone within the bowl scraped through his mind as well as Cristina’s claim to have seen an elderly woman. The lass knew not who had lived there, but he did—his grandmother. By God’s eyes, it could not be.
“Alexander?”
At his wife’s concerned voice, he turned. Nichola walked toward him, their son cradled in her arms, his eyes wide and wondrous. A sense of completeness infused him. He walked over, laid his hand upon his son.
Soft, tiny fingers clasped his thumb. A smile wobbled upon chubby cheeks along with a bright-eyed smile.
“A fine son you have given me.”
Love caressed her face. “A son who now has cousins to play with.”
Alexander shrugged. “With twin daughters, ’tis a good thing Duncan was always won over by the lasses.”
She chuckled. “And they have stolen your heart as well.”
Alexander shrugged. “Mayhap.”
The smile in Nichola’s eyes faded. “What is wrong, my husband?”
He withdrew his hand from his son’s hold, turned to stare across the moonlit loch. Alexander was struck by the memory of he and his brothers lying upon the distant shores after Duncan and Patrik had stolen his garb. The chase, Duncan’s cries as he’d fetched Alexander’s clothes from the brush, and then the wine they’d drunk as they lay upon the bank.
“Alexander?”
“There is another halved stone in my grandmother’s bowl.”
“What? Why would you go up to your grandmother’s chamber?”
He turned. “As I was heading to bed, I saw a light in the turret.”
“No one has been in the chamber?”
The nerves in her voice left him further on edge. “Aye, after Linet’s foray into the room a few months ago, the chamber was left with the door shut and barred.”
“But you said you entered the tower chamber?”
He blew out a deep breath. “Aye, the door was open. When I entered, I found Mistress Cristina standing before an empty chair, talking.”
“Talking? To whom?”
Alexander gave a gruff laugh. “No one.”
“My husband, you are making little sense.”
“A fact I well realize. When I asked the lass who she was speaking with, she said to an elderly woman.”
Nichola stilled. “Your grandmother appeared?”
“I did not see her.”
“Do you believe Mistress Cristina did?”
“I believe the lass was outside her chamber, heard me coming and when confronted, crafted a tale.”
