AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I blinked at Sophie as I took in her words. Honestly, I would have laughed out loud except for the fact that the room had gone dead silent, and the air had turned thick with tension. I waited for Clyde to jump out of a bookshelf to break the moment, to add some hilarity, but not a sound could be heard aside from Sir Buster’s disgruntled grumbles as he arranged himself on a bed by the fireplace.
“You can’t be serious. What is this? A cult?” I arched an eyebrow at Sophie.
“I thought the exact same thing when I first learned about it.” Sophie gave me an understanding smile. “I made it well known that the only cult I was joining was one that worshipped cheese.”
Archie gave a disapproving snort.
“So you brought me here to join some magickal group. It’s not really about me starting a restaurant, is it?” Hurt filled me. I couldn’t help it. I’d lost so much this year from Suzette to my place in her restaurant, that I had pinned my hopes on Scotland being the answer to my future. See? This is what I got for letting myself dream, even a little. I should have kept my head down and stayed working at Suzette’s until I’d found a more suitable job offer. Now I was stuck in Scotland, having turned my life completely upside down, all under false pretenses.
“No, the restaurantispart of it, lass,” Hilda said, with an apologetic look. “The truth of it is thatwhatwe have to tell you can’t be done over the phone or with someone we don’t know or trust either. We need your help, desperately, but you have a say in the matter. And believe me, it’s not in our nature to ask for help. But sometimes circumstances are outside our control. This is one such circumstance. I’ll apologize on behalf of all of us for withholding pertinent information from you, but trust me when I say to you, we very much still want you to open our restaurant here. This isn’t about your merits as a chef.”
“Of course it’s not,” Archie snapped. “The lass is at the top of her game. One of the best chefs in Boston, a city far more cosmopolitan than Loren Brae. We’re lucky to have her here.”
The unexpected compliment soothed some of my ruffled feathers, and I glanced around the table as everyone waited for my reaction. It was Munroe, though, who sealed the deal for me.
“Lia,” Munroe said. He turned in his chair and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, drawing my attention to him. As soon as he touched me, my anxiety seemed to quiet, as though I could rely on this man to take care of things for me. Even though I preferred to do everything on my own, in this moment I needed someone to be my true north. “I know you haven’t known us all that long, but I can vouch for these people. While Lachlan is annoying, and absolute rubbish at video games—”
“Like bloody hell I am—”
“The rest of this group are stand-up people. Archie?” Munroe nodded to the man who regarded me with an assessing look. “He’s all bark, but very little bite. If he considers you one of his own, he’ll stand for you. And Hilda? She’ll be a mother to you whether you like it or not. And, while I was having a wee joke about Lachlan, I’ll tell you the truth of it. He’s one of my best mates, like a brother to me, and this is why I’ll betray his confidence.”
“Betray…” My eyes darted to Lachlan to see a pained expression cross his handsome face.
“The Kelpies killed his mother when he was just a wee lad,” Munroe said.
I gasped, seeing the very real and visceral pain flash across Lachlan’s face. Sophie leaned into him, whispering something into his ear, and he pulled her into a hug.
“Oh, no. I’msosorry, Lachlan,” I whispered. My fingers dug into my palms and Munroe traced a soothing circle on my back.
“I hope you’ll forgive us for not being entirely forward with you, lass. And that, at the very least, you’ll be open to listening to what we have to say,” Archie said.
I blew out a breath and surveyed everyone at the table, before glancing to the ceiling where cherubs danced among the clouds. The scream of the Kelpies resonated in my mind, as did the curious eyes of the broonie under the table in the banquet hall. But it was the softest of moos in the background, encouraging almost, that had me fortifying my resolve. If magick was real, maybe it wasn’t all bad, if Clyde was any indication of the good side of it.
“So, the Order of Caledonia? What is that? It sounds like…a medieval thing or something like that. Is this the Knights Templar stuff? I’m great with a knife, but I don’t know anything about swords or riding a horse.” Munroe patted my back as the tension broke in the room, relieved looks passing across the table.
“There’s a good lass,” Archie said, and it felt like I’d won a prize.
Maybe I had. But I’d withhold judgment until I learned more.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Lia
“Hi, Pumpkin!” My dad’s smiling face filled the screen, and instantly my worries lessened. At times, my father was like my own personal Xanax, and I relaxed back into the couch cushion in the sitting area in my apartment. “Where are you? It looks really nice.”
“I’m in the apartment that came with the job.” I glanced around the room, the stone walls, woven rugs, and wooden beams in the ceiling reminding me that I was, indeed, living in a real-life castle. There was something about the luster of the woodwork that screamed luxury to me. This was no fake IKEA hack. The wooden beams were handcrafted centuries ago and, as I stared up at them, I suddenly realized that I could be as integral a part of the castle’s future as these beams were. I just had to decide if I accepted my fate.
No big deal, right?
After an hour in the library, where whisky and tea had been offered to me several times as I tried to calm myself down, I’d learned a few hard truths about my invitation to work at MacAlpine Castle.
The first?
Loren Brae was in trouble. Like, big trouble.
Apparently, there reallywasthe holy grail of magickal truth stones sequestered out on a tiny island in the middle of Loch Mirren, and the Kelpies were currently protecting it because the first line of defense, the Order of Caledonia, had disbanded. Or the last of the members had died. Basically, though, Hilda and Archie were trying to restore the Order to make sure this Stone of Truth didn’t fall into nefarious hands and wreak havoc on the world, while the Kelpies, unable to distinguish between friend or foe, did their best to drive everyone from town in order to protect this aforementioned miracle stone.
And the second interesting tidbit of information?
