Crown of Thorns (Legends and Lovers)

Not finding Cin on the lower level, I headed for one of the many tower staircases. I stopped when I heard wailing. I doubled my efforts, holding up my skirts as I ran for the top. At the uppermost landing, I tried the door, but it was locked. The crying got louder, and I was afraid that Cin might have accidentally locked himself inside.

“Hold on,” I cried out and went for the knob one more time before I used my feet to kick the door in.

This time, the knob turned. I hustled inside to see a crouched figure with their back to me holding their arms around their legs, rocking back and forth and letting out piercing cries as they did so.

“Cin?” I asked tentatively, while glancing around.

The person appeared to be a little larger than the boy, but I wasn’t sure based on their positioning. Plus, with all the fabric on the tables surrounding the figure, it was hard to see.

“No. It’s Margaret,” the person said in a small voice. “Is Jamie here?”

Before I could get an answer, she stood and spoke to someone behind me. “Jamie, it’s you.”

Slowly, I glanced behind me, but no one was there.

“Yes, I will leave with ye this very night.” Her hands came out as if accepting something. Then she moved toward a window and held something while staring starry eyed at an empty space.

Seeing Margaret play out the past didn’t startle me, as I’d seen ghosts all my life. It was second nature, and I gave it little thought until now. Unlike the Jamie of her dreams, Margaret was stuck in a vicious loop of her past because she didn’t want to let go. I’d called this type of ghost a remnant and they didn’t interact with me like Fiona did in the future. Besides, from the shows I’d watched on TV, most humans accepted that ghosts were real and not out of the ordinary.

I reached out a hand when she climbed up onto something I couldn’t see with help from the unseen person and climbed out the window. Knowing that she would not survive, I didn’t go look out the window. I had no desire for those images to be burned in my memory.

“Father, no. I won’t come. I love Jamie. I can’t live without him,” Margaret cried before the inevitable scream.

I turned and left the room before this entire scene played out again. Because that was what a remnant did. Lived out the horrible thing that had them stuck between their old life and moving on.

The castle was enormous, and I started to believe that maybe playing this game was a bad idea until I found Cin in the next room I looked. Duncan’s bedroom.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I said, noticing a squirming child unable to hold in his giggles under the covers on the bed. I raced forward and yanked the covers away. “I found you,” I called out and proceeded to tickle him.

“My lady.” I turned to see a stern-faced woman standing in the door. “It’s time for the wee lord’s lesson.”

“Do I have to?” Cin pouted.

“We’ll play again later,” I promised.

Cin took his time getting to the door. When he reached her, she didn’t leave. Her brow shot up, and I took that to mean she didn’t think it appropriate, me being in my lord’s chambers. I followed them out, as she seemed like a woman who would make trouble for me if I didn’t do her bidding.

I made my way to the great hall and found fresh food waiting for consumption. I nibbled a little when I heard men coming into the room. Following a gut instinct, I ran for the other door and stepped just outside the room as they walked in the other entrance.

“If he doesn’t want to be king, then he can’t be allowed to hold the crown,” a bald and rotund man said as he grabbed meat from a plate of fish with bare fingers. I recognized him as the man who’d sat to the right of me. He’d made some comment about Duncan being the king then.

“He must be kin to Wallace. He’s no Bruce like my ancestors,” said a portly man with thinning hair that dusted his neckline.

“How do we get rid of him?” the bald man asked.

The other man glanced around before saying, “We’ll pay one of the maids he ruts to keep him busy. Then, just as he finds release, our knife will find his heart.”

They laughed and disappeared out of the room. I stepped back inside so I would be out of view in the hallway.

Having lost my appetite, I needed to find a way to pass the time, as I was desperate to tell Duncan he was a target for these nasty little men. Though Duncan was alive in the future, I couldn’t know for sure if that was due to me revealing to him the awful plot. Until then, what to do? I went back to the library to find a book, because sitting in my room and staring at the wall was unappealing.