“Thank ye, Kip. Send him to the graveyard.”
Arran turned before he could see the questioning look on Kip’s face as he solemnly marched toward his father’s grave.
They dug for hours, each shovel of dirt opening the poorly sealed wound of grief that crossed right through the center of Arran’s heart. When they finally hit the wooden box set low beneath the ground, Arran dropped his shovel and faced the man beside him.
“Ye are to get inside the box and get the ring on his right hand. Doona disturb anything else that ye find inside the coffin. Once ye have it, make sure that the box is closed before ye ask me to come help ye fill in the hole. I doona want to see anything inside it.”
“What makes ye think I do? I doona want to upset a man’s resting place.”
Arran grabbed the man roughly, shoving him against the side of the deep hole. “I doona care what ye want to be doing. Ye can either do as I’ve asked ye, or we can send ye back where ye came from.”
Arran didn’t wait for the man’s response as he crawled out of the hole and sat on the grassy patch next to his mother’s grave, covering his eyes to push away the memories each thrust of his shovel had dug up.
*
Even Laird Kinnaird wouldn’t have asked him to dig up a man once he’d been buried. It was mighty bad luck.
But as he pushed away the heavy lid on top of the box, he saw an opportunity that pushed all of his guilt away. For upon the decaying remnants of Alasdair Conall’s right hand were two rings.
The first was a thin band topped with a wide oval. Noting the feminine look to its setting, he determined that this was most assuredly the ring that Arran sought. The second was larger and held the seal of the Conall clan, a signet which Alasdair most likely used to seal and sign letters. It was this ring that caught the man’s interest. Such an item would be of great use to Laird Kinnaird, a way to swing the odds of the upcoming battle even further into his master’s favor.
Turning his head, he reached and removed the rings as quickly as possible, holding the first in the palm of his hand and silently slipping the second away, out of sight.
Chapter 29
Present Day
“I don’t know where else to look, but we have to find that damned ring. It’s only two more weeks until the anniversary, and I will not let her be left there.” Adelle sat down. Dirty, exhausted, and on the verge of panic, she placed her head in her hands to cry.
She was surprised to feel Blaire’s arm come around her shoulder to offer her comfort. “Doona worry, we will find it.”
“Yes, we will. I can’t allow myself to consider that we won’t. She’s my only child, Blaire. She’s all I have, all I’ve ever had. She’s the only person I’ve ever known that could put up with my flakiness and still love me. I was never the mother I should’ve been to her, and I won’t fail her now.”
“Oh, ye should no say such things. I doona believe that Bri thinks that ye were a terrible mother. Why, ye have treated me with more kindness and allowed me more freedom than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Adelle lifted her head and patted Blaire on the knee. “Thank you for that. I’m so glad that you’ve been here to help. And you’ve handled everything beautifully. You’re a wonderful girl. Now, we have to think about where else the ring could be. Everything else on site has already been excavated and is in the Edinburgh museum, and the collection of items does not include the ring.”
“We know that the spell book is powerful. Tis what brought me here and sent Bri back in my place. Do ye think tis possible that we could convey a message to yer daughter through it?”
Adelle stood, shaking her head. “I doubt it. I didn’t read a spell for anything like that.”
“I think ye should give it a go, anyhow. Why not write a note to her in the margins of the spell we are working on? Perhaps, she will see it, when she looks at it.”
It was too much to hope for, and Adelle didn’t want to get her hopes up over such a ridiculous possibility. Blaire was trying to help, and it wouldn’t hurt to humor the girl, pointless as the act would be.
“Alright, why not give it a try? I’ll just tell her that we are working on the spell, but we haven’t been able to find the ring.” Adelle opened the spell book and obligingly flipped to the appropriate page.
*
Blaire didn’t believe her own suggestion would work any more than Adelle did, but it bothered her to see her new friend so distressed. She couldn’t imagine the pain the woman must be feeling after having her daughter ripped away from her so inexplicably.