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“And I you.” That much was true; Jamie left alone the question of whether he would have come, knowing it was Qui
It wasn’t that he disliked the man; quite the opposite. But to see this bit of the past rise up before him like a ghost from blood-soaked ground roused feelings he’d gone to great trouble to bury—and memories were stirring that he didn’t want back. Beyond that … instinct had given over muttering in his ear and was talking plain and clear. Qui
“Ah, sure that Betty’s a fine girl, and her with those snapping black eyes,” Qui
Jamie repressed the urge to cross himself at the thought.
“Ye’ve a clear field there,” he assured Qui
Qui
Whether Qui
“Well, I might, too—save that Betty’s me late wife’s sister. I’m sure there’s a thing or two in the Bible about not doing the deed with your late wife’s sister.”
Jamie had read the Bible cover to cover several times—from necessity, it being his only book at the time—and recalled no such proscription, but he merely said, “I’m sorry to hear about your wife, man. Was it lang since that she died?”
Qui
“Well, when I say ‘late,’ I don’t mean necessarily that the woman’s deceased, if ye take my meaning.”
Jamie raised one brow, and Qui
“When it all went to smash after Culloden, and I had to scarper to France, she took a hard look at my future prospects, so to speak, and decided her fortunes lay elsewhere. My Tess always did have a sound head on her shoulders,” he said, shaking his own head in admiration. “She was in Leeds, the last I heard. Inherited a tavern from her last husband. Well, by ‘last,’ mind, I mean the latest one, because I don’t for a moment think she means to stop.”
“Oh, aye?”
“But that’s what I wanted to speak with ye about, conveniently enough,” Qui
“About Leeds? Or taverns?” Jamie prayed that the man didn’t mean wives. He’d not mentioned Claire to anyone in several years and would rather have his toenails pulled out with horse-nail pliers than be forced to talk about her.
“Culloden,” Qui
Jamie got off the rock, feeling obscurely that he’d rather be on his feet just now, though not knowing whether it was needing to feel ready to meet whatever was coming or an incipient urge to flee. Either way, he felt better standing.
“Or rather,” Qui
“I should think the two are much the same,” Jamie said, not trying to keep the edge out of his voice. “Dead.”
“Ah, well, now there ye’re wrong,” Qui
“I have, aye.”
Qui
“The Cause may have suffered some reverses in Scotland—”
“Reverses!” Jamie exclaimed. “Ye call what happened at Drumossie reverses?”
“—but it’s alive and thrivin’ in Ireland.”
Jamie stared at him for a moment of blank incomprehension, then realized what he was saying.
“Jesus!”
“Ah, thought that would gladden yer heart, lad,” said Qui
“There’s a group of us, see. Did Betty not pass on what I said about the green branch?”
“She did, aye, but I didna ken what she meant by it.”
Qui
“Well, it took some time to pull things together after Culloden, but it’s all moving a treat now. I’ll not give the details just yet, if ye don’t mind—”
“I di
“—but I willsay that there’s an invasion pla
“Oh, God.”
Qui
“And this is where youcome into it.”
“Me?!” Jamie had begun to sink back onto his rock, but this brought him up all standing at once. “Are ye mad?”
He hadn’t meant it as a rhetorical question, but neither did he expect an affirmative answer, and it was just as well, because he didn’t get one.
“Have ye ever heard”—and here Qui
“I have not. A cup …?”
“The cup o’ the Druid king, the very thing!”
Jamie rubbed a hand over his face, feeling very tired. “Qui
“Oh, indeed ye have, lad!” Qui
He didn’t wait for permission.
“It’s the ancient possession o’ the kings of Ireland, the Cupбnis. Given to the king of kings by the chief Druid himself, so far back folk have forgotten the time of it.”
“Oh, aye?”
“But the people know it still; it’s spoken of in the legends, and ’tis a powerful symbol of kingship.” The hand on Jamie’s forearm tightened. “Think, now. How would it be, Prince Tearlachriding into Dublin, standin’ in the courtyard o’ Dublin Castle, between the Gates of Fortitude and Justice, with the Cupбnraised high as he claims all of Ireland for his father?”
“Well, since ye ask …”
“Why, man, the people would rise from the bailesand the bogs in their thousands! We should take England with scarce a shot fired, there’d be so many!”
“Ye have seenthe English army …” Jamie began, but he might as well have tried to stop the tide coming into the River Ness.
“And that’s where youcome in!” Qui
Jamie recoiled slightly. “Me?”
“See, the thing is, we’ve found the Cupбn—lost for two hundred years it’s been, and legends saying the faeries took it, the Druids reclaimed it, all ma
“But—”
“Now, the monks are keepin’ the precious thing close and quiet, to be sure. But the thing is, the abbot at Inchcleraun is one Michael FitzGibbons.” He stood back a bit, looking expectant.
Jamie raised the brow again. Qui
“Mi-chael Fitz-Gib-bons,” he repeated, prodding Jamie’s chest anew with each syllable. Jamie moved back out of reach.
“FitzGibbons,” Qui