We walked together across the courtyard tae the stables with Haggis happily following along behind. “Aye, in my mind I amnot a king, I am just a Scottish man who wants tae shew his wife a verra fine trail tae take in the glorious view of the landscape. Alas, I am the king of all of it, so it inna quite as romantic as it ought tae be.”
“I don’t know, seems to me like plenty of women would swoon at the idea of a king showing them a view of his kingdom. This sounds very romantic.”
He laughed. “It could be, but in this scenario ye are thinking of yerself as a ‘woman’ instead of a queen.”
I joked, “Och nae, that is not how I want to be seen. I wish I was a lot more unencumbered too.”
“Exactly.”
We came to our horses, stable men bowed, and Magnus held the reins so I could pull myself up, making it, after all these years, almost effortlessly.
He passed me the reins with a look of appreciation in his eyes.
I asked, “Did you like that?”
“Och aye, I liked it verra much, it has been a while since I hae seen ye on a horse.”
He climbed on the back of his horse, and pulled alongside mine. Haggis, ever the sentry, walked alongside. The four guards drew their horses behind us, and we left through the gate to the grounds.
As we passed along the grassy hill sweeping away alongside the path, I said, “It’s odd how this is all familiar. We were here in the thirteenth century, but time was shifting, we were in two different places, it was all so confusing. And then we were also here with Mary of Guise, in 1551. It looked very different then.”
“Aye, in a little over two hundred and fifty years we will be here. There will be games held right over there. They will cut down a great many trees.” He pointed.
“That’s where I kicked all the ladies’ arses at archery.”
He chuckled. “Twas another fine sight.”
He drew his horse around behind mine.
I said, “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be in the lead?”
“Am I? We are only goin’ there.” He pointed toward the place where the path cut into the woods at the edge of the King’s Park. “And I do greatly prefer the view from back here.”
I said, “You, Master Magnus, are incorrigible.”
He said, “Did ye say something, Madame Campbell? Tis hard tae hear ye over the sight of yer…” He pulled his horse alongside mine, leaned in, and I kissed him on the lips.
I glanced at the guards, they were pretending to look elsewhere.
We came to the woods and entered his park.
He pulled in front of me, looking around at the trees surrounding and arching above us.
I said, “I only see ‘trees’, what trees are these?” Because I knew it was one of his favorite things to talk about.
“Dost ye see there, Kaitlyn, tis an ancient oak, think on it, ancient,already.”
I looked up at it. “Wow, that’s amazing, imagine what that tree has seen.”
“Much of what it has seen has been lost tae history, men who are nameless.” He pointed, “And there is a birch, and a grouping of pines.”
The ground was carpeted with mosses and ferns, I pointed, “Look! Bluebells!”
“Aye, the fae planted them. They hae been at work all around here.” He breathed in. “Och, I love the scent of a Scottish forest.”
I inhaled. It was the aroma of pine carried on a breeze mixed with the odor of musty, loamy soil. It was hard to describe except it smelled thick and old and deep. Heavy.
We drew to the field, where we had jumped, then rode across it and our path began to climb.
