My fingers, without planning it, went from the locket to his cheek. “Max?”
“Aye, Alexandria, dost ye ken me?”
I returned my hand over the locket, near my heart, tears streaming down my face. I nodded. “I do, somehow…How?You seem familiar.”
He nodded. “I am yer brother. I swear, Alexandria, I will return ye tae our kingdom. I will win m’throne, I will protect ye for all the rest of my days.”
I was sobbing. “Where are our… parents — what happened to them?”
He looked up at me. “I fear they are gone. The kingdom has fallen tae a usurper. Tis upon us tae regain it. Tis our duty as the last remaining bloodline of the Campbells of Riaghalbane.”
I nodded, less in understanding, more because it was a lot to think about. I would need to think about this all later. Right now I was dealing with a grown man who was my brother,here, finally, and everything I knew about the world had come crashing down. The crash had started with Torin, but now the wreckage was all around me.
My eyes glanced over at Torin, who was standing to the side, his head bowed. I wanted to rush to him, embrace him, but he seemed distant, as if he were just the delivery guy. He had delivered Max, as promised, and now he had stepped aside.
Max asked, “Torin, will ye unbind my wrists?”
Torin wordlessly grabbed his dirk from a pile at the edge of the porch and slashed it through the zip-tie on Max’s wrists.
Max lumbered up in front of me, taller than I thought. And now he was looking down on me, a small smile pulling at the edge of his mouth. “Och, ye are a sight that fills my heart, Alexandria. I haena seen ye since ye were verra wee.”
His face grew solemn. “Ye daena remember our parents?”
“No, I didn’t remember any of this, I had no idea until Torin told me about it.”
I looked over at Torin.
Max’s eyes followed mine, then he watched the side of my face.
He said, “Torin has been a verra good man, he has always put m’own needs afore his own.”
I said, “True, he has always done that for me, too.”
Torin raised his eyes to mine.
I said, “He made an oath to me and fulfilled it.”
Max said, “Aye, tae me as well.”
Then he asked, “Might we go inside?”
38
LEXI
2004 - LAUREL RIDGE
It was like coming out of a trance to realize that the air was cool, the porch was poorly lit, and the dampness of my shoes and pants was giving me a chill. A warm house would be good, we needed to sit down and talk. They picked up their swords and dirks and sheathed them, and then I led Max into the house.
Torin bowed quietly as we passed, and followed silently behind us.
I directed them to the kitchen, and stepped into the laundry room to grab some towels so we could all dry off. “I’ll be back in a moment, I’m going to change into dry clothes, want a dry shirt or something?”
Torin shook his head, rubbing the towel on his hair. “I will dry in this warm room soon enough.”
Max winced. “Nae, I am nearly dry. But would ye turn off this light? Tis glarin’ in m’eyes.”
I clicked on a countertop lamp and turned off the overhead kitchen light and then raced up the stairs and dug through my drawers for dry jeans. I quickly changed and checked my face. I had a pink nose from crying and rivulets of mascara downmy cheeks — just great. As if this hadn’t been one of the most important conversations of my life.
