Yes, Your Highness.
“List the name of the owners of the consortium.”
The computer said:
Yes, Your Highness, the Riaghalbane Royal Company Consortium is made up of Magnus Campbell, Fraoch MacDonald, James Cook, Zach Greene, and Quentin Peters. They met with Liam Campbell and signed the contracts at the Och Nae Pub in North Carolina. Liam Campbell and his wife, Blakely, moved to Balloch, now called Taymouth Castle, a few months later.
I exhaled long. “Tis odd, I daena remember any of this. Why was it kept from me?” This was yet another decision that my son, the king, hadna informed me about. How was I tae handle everything for him — if I dinna hae all the details?
I looked at the image of Liam Campbell again. Fionn would be proud of his descendant.
I asked the computer tae call the number.
CHAPTER 54 - LIAM
LIAM AND BLAKELY CAMPBELL, CARETAKERS OF TAYMOUTH (BALLOCH) CASTLE - PRESENT DAY
Blakely’s laptop began tae ring, she answered the video call. “Hello?”
An older woman, who looked very wealthy, her hair up, jewels at her neck, a sophisticated air, appeared and said, “My name is Lady Mairead, I am the Queen Mother tae Magnus the First, the King of Riaghalbane. I am tae be addressed as ‘Your Highness’ — I wish tae speak tae Liam Campbell, caretaker of Taymouth Castle.”
Blakely said, “Yes, um... Your Highness, here’s Liam.” She pushed a button tae turn off the microphone, put her hand over the camera, and whispered, “It’s Lady Mairead, she wants to speak to you.”
I joked, “Och nae, what do I say tae a Lady, ‘hullo, I am Liam, I live in a castle’?”
“It’s a place to start.” She turned the laptop toward me.
I said, “Aye, Liam here.”
“Liam Campbell, please explain tae meexactlywhat ye found.”
“Aye, ma’am, I mean Yer Highness.” He held up the book. “Blakely found this book as we were wanderin’ through the?—”
“What do ye mean, ye ‘were wandering’?”
“We arrived here yesterday?—”
“This is yer first night at Balloch?”
“Taymouth castle, aye.”
“And ye were looking through the library, go on.”
“Blakely found the Harry Potter book, she thought it looked too old for its age.”
“Can ye look upon the inside cover and tell me if there is a book plate that says ‘Tae my daughter, Love, Lady Mairead’?”
Blakely flipped tae the front of the book, and turned it around tae shew Lady Mairead.
She bit her lip and took a deep breath and nodded. “It once belonged tae Lizbeth.”
Blakely said, “Lizbeth is also the name of the sister of Sean Campbell — we’ve been looking up Liam’s ancestors on Ancestry Dot Com.”
Lady Mairead was quiet, then said, “Aye, that is a book from her library.”
Blakely said, “Wait... that doesn’t make sense, how did Lizbeth get a Harry Potter book?”
Lady Mairead was quiet and dinna answer.
