There was no en suite bathroom that I could see, which meant I’d have to do the walk of morning breath shame.
Idiot.
It shouldn’t matter, of course. If anything, I should take this opportunity to drive Lachlan farther away. Despite the curse, he still looked at me with heat in his eyes. Heat that it was impossible for me not to feel right back.
“Lachlan?” I called out.
There was no response. Despite my vow to not care, gratitude surged through me. Privacy.
I hurried out into the living room but found it empty. Thank fates. I beelined for the bathroom, where I cleaned up. Ralph appeared while I was sitting on the toilet, and I hissed, “Have you no shame?”
He shrugged. No.
I scowled. “Did you bring me fresh underwear this time?”
Of course. What do you think I am, a monster?
“You’re the best. Truly. Now go get them.”
He trundled off, returning a few minutes later with the biggest, ugliest pair of underwear that I owned. Just like last time. Little bastard had an eye for the laundry-day pairs.
“Seriously, Ralph?” I held them up. “These?”
They suit you.
“You’re a dick.”
He grinned toothily, then wandered back out, most likely in search of more pastries.
Once I was clean and dressed, I went out into the main room. Lachlan had appeared at one point, and I prayed it hadn’t been while Ralph was walking across the living room with my granny panties in his little hands. I shot him a look but didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary, thank fates.
“How do you feel?” he asked, concern in his gaze.
“Fine. A lot better. You?”
He nodded. “The same. Kenneth has translated some of the writing on the castle walls.”
“Really?” Hope flared. “Has he told you?”
“Not yet. Just got the message. We can go speak to him.”
“Great.” I darted into the bedroom and snagged one of the pastries off the nearly empty tray. Ralph lay on the floor in front of it, looking like he’d been on a bender. I grinned at him. “That’s what you get for eating too much.”
Worth it.
I left him to it and returned to Lachlan. We made our way quickly through the castle, heading toward the rear. I searched my memory for what was back there. “Are we going to the library?”
Lachlan nodded. “He’s been there all night, I think.”
Of course he had. Lachlan’s people were loyal to him, willing to go to the end of the earth if he needed it. Staying up late to translate something would have been a no-brainier for Kenneth.
We found his second leaned over a table, studying some printouts as he drank from a steaming mug. As we entered, he looked up, his eyes shadowed. “Good timing. I’ve just finished.”
“Anything useful?” Lachlan asked.
“Yes. I know you should go to Shetland.”
“Thank fates.” If Kenneth hadn’t been able to translate some of the inscriptions, we would have had no idea where to go next. “But why Shetland?”
“These people came from there, it looks like. Much of the writing is in a dialect I don’t recognize, but it’s clear that they were in Shetland before Orkney.”
“And Norway before that?” I asked.
“Most definitely. They left with the Viking expansion in the eighth century AD, some of the first to go. Maybe the first, but they kept themselves out of the monks’ history books by not pillaging churches like the human Vikings.”
I nodded, wishing I knew more about the period. “Did it say where in Shetland?”
“I’d start with Lerwick. Main city, all supernatural, and most likely to have answers.”
“Anything in particular we should be looking for?” Lachlan asked.
“History,” Kenneth said. “Whatever you’re looking for is ancient.” He pushed a printout toward us. “They brought the Moon Stone with them from Shetland and buried it in the floor of the castle for safekeeping.”
I leaned over the paper and studied it, unable to understand what the markings meant. At least we had Kenneth.
Lachlan nodded at his second. “Thank you. Good work.”
“Anytime.”
The Alpha looked at me. “Ready to go to Shetland?”
“After I check in with my friends, yes.” I felt guilty for not calling them immediately upon arriving home. In my defense, though, I’d been unconscious.
“All right. I’ll meet you out front in ten minutes.”
“Great.”
We left Kenneth, but I stayed behind near the library to call my friends on my comms charm. The conversation with Carrow was swift and disappointing—they hadn’t found anything yet, though not for lack of trying.
They wouldn’t give up, but it just meant that success in Shetland was more important than ever.
8
Eve
* * *
Lachlan and I arrived in Lerwick at midmorning, appearing on a street corner in the quiet town. Like Brinian, it was constructed primarily of somber gray stone. Unlike Brinian, the sky was also gray, giving the place a romantic, dreary feel. None of the buildings were from this century or even the last, and it felt like stepping back in time.
Until a tiny red Porsche screamed down the street, a young woman at the wheel. She was gone in seconds, but I was left with the impression of someone important.
In the distance, I heard the faint sound of police sirens. I turned to Lachlan. “Something’s going on.”
He nodded, spinning in a circle to inspect the street. Glass-fronted shops filled the bottom levels of the three-story buildings, though the tops floors were quiet. Flats, no doubt.
There weren’t many people on the street, and those who were out and about were all headed in the same direction—following the red Porsche.
I looked at Lachlan and shrugged. “Follow them?”
He nodded. “It’s as good as anything.”
Lerwick wasn’t huge, and fifteen minutes later, we’d reached the back edge of town. Though I could smell the sea, we had walked away from it, toward the interior of the island. When we reached the end of the street, I got an expansive view across the rolling hills of Shetland. A circle of standing stones stood about a mile away, directly on top of a hill. Dozens of people crowded around—probably hundreds, in fact.
A young boy appeared at my side, clutching a football, his face slack as he stared at the stone circle.
“Is this normal?” I asked. “People gathering around the stones?”
“Not today, no. Today is for the ship.”
“The ship?”
“It’s Up Helly Aa.” He looked at me like I was a moron, and apparently I was, because I hadn’t the slightest idea what he was talking about.
A split second later, he was off, racing up the hill toward the stone circle.
Lachlan stared at his phone. “Apparently, Up Helly Aa is the Viking boat burning festival. Happens once a year. They spend the year building a Viking boat, then they burn it at a massive nighttime bonfire.”
“Then that’s tonight, I suppose,” I replied, “but the commotion at the circle has nothing to do with that. Far too early, isn’t it?”