The Raven's Moon (46 page)

He left the crypt, glancing back at the silent tombs of the Lincraig Scotts. He would respect their memory by repairing the crypt carefully, without changing its design or disturbing their tombs.

Ascending the stairs, he crossed the chapel in shafts of sunlight and walked through the ruins and out into the yard. The spring breeze ruffled his hair and shirtsleeves and the sun warmed his brow.

Mairi waited for him, holding his son's hand in hers. She smiled, coming toward him. Jamie toddled past her, stopping to pick up a rock and put it down, then choosing another. Mairi glanced at him, then turned toward Rowan.

She glided forward easily, as graceful as clouds skimming the breeze. Her gown blew softly around her, and she placed a hand on the gentle swell of her abdomen, where their child was nurtured within.

Rowan held out his hand to her, loving the way the breeze and the sunlight turned her cheeks soft pink, loving the drape of the dark, silken braid over her shoulder, loving the way her eyes shone like silver, as if her very soul was illuminated there. She had offered him more in life than he ever dreamed possible.

And he would always feel a sense of wonder when he saw her. He would always be grateful for the privilege of such love, as long as he lived. Longer.

"Jamie and I were discussing the building plans while you were in the chapel," she said, laughing. "He is choosing the stones, as you can see."

Jamie held up a rock to show Rowan, who admired it, and then caught it deftly when it was flung toward him.

"Iain and Alec came by, and had a letter for me," she said, indicating two other horses tethered beside Valentine and Peg. "They've gone over there to look at the far corner tower, since you have all been talking about the design of the new tower."

"Ah. And your letter?" he asked. "Who is it from?"

"My parents are coming home from Denmark!" She smiled. "My father finally received my letter—along with the second one telling him that Iain is fine—and he and my mother will be arriving in Leith harbor early next month. I want to meet them in Edinburgh if we can. Iain and Jennet and Robin will come too."

He smiled, cupping her cheek. "Of course we must go," he said. "I need to go to Edinburgh soon, as well. The council will be expecting a further report."

"Since you turned down the warden's post they offered, will they ask you to serve somewhere else?" she asked.

"For now, I'm content to be Archie Pringle's deputy in the Middle March. I've been gone from Blackdrummond too long. I want to spend time there with my family while we rebuild Lincraig. Someday I'll be ready for a warden's post."

She nodded. He put his arm around her and felt her arm at his waist, and their steps fell into a gentle rhythm. Their bodies always fit together, he thought, whether they walked, rested, or made love, as if they had been formed in harmony.

Although he knew they were each too strong willed by nature to ever become docile and dull together, the conflict that had once existed between them had taught them a good deal about each other, and about themselves. Now they shared a deep bond of love and acceptance at the core of their marriage.

"Alec has decided to take a position in Liddesdale as deputy to one of your cousins," she said, stirring him out of his thoughts.

He nodded. "I know. He'll be leaving soon."

"Jamie will miss him," she said softly.

"Da, my da," Jamie said, and threw another stone.

"Alec wants Jamie to spend time with us so that he'll become less devoted to him, I think," she said.

"Jamie will never lose his devotion to Alec," he said.

"Nor should he." They moved through the yard while Jamie ran circles around them, searching for stones. Rowan glanced around, noticing that the Lincraig hill was green now, but the strip of the road he could see was still a dry brown ribbon.

"I first saw you from that hill," Mairi said, looking in the same direction. "Through that fierce storm—and I wondered then if you were the man my brother had seen in that vision."

He pulled her closer. "And I first saw you inside the black stone," he said.

"Stone," Jamie echoed, and picked one up from the ground.

"What will you do with the black mirror?" she asked.

"Keep it put away. We may never learn where it came from, or why it has the power that it has."

"Iain thinks the Spaniards got it in the New World," she said. "He's heard of a similar kind of vision stone from our brother Conor, who sails the Spanish Main. But the man who used it to smuggle the document to Simon—the Spaniard who bribed him and invited him to what he thought would be Paradise—may or may not have known its power. You and I certainly discovered that part of it."

"Wherever it came from, lass," Rowan said, "the stone led me to you. That is all I need to know about it."

She leaned closer and he kissed the sweet silk of her hair. Jamie ran over to them and held up an empty hand. "Roon!"

"Aye, lad?" Rowan took the tiny hand in his, and felt Jamie squeeze his fingers. He pulled Mairi close with his other hand, caressing the gentle thickening at her waist.

He looked toward the dazzling sunlight that filled the spring sky, and knew that he held in his hands all that had ever been missing in his life, and his heart was full.

The End

Want more from Susan King?

Page forward for a special Author's Note

followed by an excerpt from

THE HEATHER MOON

The Border Rogues Series

Book Three

Dear Reader,

Writing historical fiction about the Scottish Border reivers is a little like writing a western. The two societies had much in common, from cattle theft to nests of outlaws to posses and lynchings. The Scottish Borderers were often bold, notorious, brash, violent, noble, and even comical. I have tried to convey some of that, and thoroughly enjoyed my foray into their territory. For information on reiving, truce days, Leges Marchiarum, and so on, I am indebted to many fine research sources, none more so than George MacDonald Fraser's fascinating study of the Borderers,
The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers
.

As in
The Raven's Wish
, I used verses from old Scottish ballads to head the chapters and echo some aspect of the story. The most reliable source for this form of Scottish poetry is Francis James Child,
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads,
published in five volumes from 1882 to 1898, and can be found online or in reprint editions.

I hope you enjoyed
The Raven's Moon.
Please look for my other books in e-books and in print—I write historical romance as Susan King and as Sarah Gabriel, and mainstream historical fiction as Susan Fraser King.

To learn more about my books or to contact me, please visit
www.susanfraserking.com
or
www.susankingbooks.com
. I am also a founding member of the Word Wenches blog group, the longest running romance author blog on the web. You can find us at
www.wordwenches.com
.

Happy Reading!

Susan

Page forward for an excerpt from

THE HEATHER MOON

The Border Rogues Series

Book Three

Excerpt from

The Heather Moon

The Border Rogues Series

Book Three

by

Susan King

National Bestselling Author