Beyond the Highland Mist

Page 72

“I don’t know.” Adrienne shrugged helplessly. “Truly, I have no idea.”
“The Hawk thought it was the black queen. The Lady Comyn said it was bewitched.”
“I thought it was too.”
“So it never was the black queen … hmmm. Adrienne, we must be absolutely clear on this. Exactly what were you doing at the moment when it happened?”
“The first time, when I wound up at the Comyn keep? Or this time?”
“This time,” Lydia said. “Although we should investigate the first time as well, and look for similarities.”
“Well … I was walking in the gardens and I was thinking about the twentieth century. I was thinking about how much—”
“You wanted to leave,” Lydia finished for her, with a trace of bitterness.
Adrienne was equally surprised and touched. “No. Actually I was thinking about how nice it is here. In the 1990s, my God, Lydia, people were just out of control! Children killing parents. Parents killing children. Children killing children. They’ve all got cell phones stuck to their ears and yet I’ve never seen such distance between people trying so hard to be close. And just the day before I left you should have seen the headlines in the papers. A boy strangled a little girl when she wouldn’t get off the phone and let him use it. Oh, I was thinking bitter thoughts of that time and comparing it to home and home was definitely winning.”
“Say that again?” Lydia uttered softly.
“What?” Adrienne asked blankly. “Oh, headlines, papers, they’re—” she started to explain, but Lydia cut her off.
“Home.” Lydia’s face lit with a beautiful smile. “You called this home.”
Adrienne blinked. “I did?”
The two women looked at each other a long moment.
“Well, by the Sanhain, Lydia, give her the coffee, I’ll say.” Tavis’s gruff voice came from the door. “Popping in and out like that, surely she’s got a thirst on.”
“Coffee?” Adrienne perked.
“Ah.” Lydia smiled, pleased with herself and doubly delighted with her daughter-in-law who had called Dalkeith-Upon-the-Sea home without even realizing it. She quickly filled a porcelain mug with the steaming brew and placed it proudly on the table in front of her.
Adrienne’s nose twitched as her taste buds kicked up a sprightly jig and she reached greedily for the mug. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and drank.
And choked.
Tavis pounded her on the back and looked accusingly at Lydia. “I told you!” he said.
When Adrienne could breathe again, she wiped the tears from her eyes and peered suspiciously in her cup. “Oh, Lydia! You don’t leave the coffee grounds—no, not grounds quite … more like a paste, I think. What did you do? Mush the beans and mix them with water? Ugh!”
“Didn’t I tell you to run it through a sieve?” Tavis reminded. “Would you want to drink it like that?”
“Well, with all the hubbub I forgot!” Lydia snatched the mug. “Since you’re so certain you know how to do it, you do it!” She thrust the mug at Tavis, sloshing thick brown stuff on the floor.
“Fine. See if I don’t, I’ll say!” With a supercilious look he made off for the buttery.
Lydia sighed. “Adrienne, I know it hasn’t been a very good morning so far. I so wanted to have coffee for you, but in lieu of coffee, how about a cup of tea and a chat?”
“Uh-oh,” Adrienne said. “I know that look, Lydia. What’s wrong? Besides my being tossed through time portals?”
“Tea?” Lydia evaded.
“Talk,” Adrienne said warily.
How best to start this? Lydia was determined to hide nothing from her. Lies and half-truths had a nasty way of reproducing and breeding distrust. If Adrienne could see the Hawk clearly, the truth would hopefully not do damage; but lies, somewhere down the line, assuredly would. “Esmerelda is dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” Adrienne offered instantly. “But who’s Esmerelda?”
“The Hawk’s … er … well, ex-mistress probably explains it the best—”
“You mean in addition to Olivia? And where was he keeping her, by the way? In the dungeon? The tower? The room next to mine?”
Lydia winced. “It’s not like that, Adrienne. He’d ended it with her months before you came. She lived with the Rom who camp on our fields in the warm seasons. According to what her people told Tavis this morning, she’s the one who had been trying to kill you. The good news is, you’re safe now.”