Free The Faerie Queen (The Faerie Ring #4) by Kiki Hamilton Page B

the mortal world,” Larkin commented, “and especially cool up north here in Scotland. Best to glamour some layers while no one is about.”
    Tiki added a sweater and a long cloak, pulling the hood up around her head. She scanned the horizon. “Which way is Dunvegan?”
    Larkin pointed. “North.”
    “ Can’t you transport us there?” Dain asked.
    “ I can’t transport to where I haven’t been,” Larkin said. “For now, we walk.”
     
    AN HOUR INTO their trek a wagon came by, pulled by two small, shaggy plow horses.
    “ Where ye goin’ lads and lassies in all yer finery?” The driver called out.
    “ To Dunvegan,” Larkin replied. “Have you room?”
    The old man threw a thumb over his shoulder. “The whole wagon is open fer the takin’.”
     
    IT WAS FROM the back of the wagon that Tiki first laid eyes on Dunvegan Castle.  They came over a small rise and there in the distance, the castle stood on a cliff of rock above a reflective loch, the golden bricks of the fortress glowing in the watery afternoon sun.
    Tiki let out a sharp gasp and covered her mouth with her hand.
    Larkin and Dain both turned to look at her. “What is it?”
    “ I’ve seen that castle before.”
    Larkin frowned. “Where?”
    Tiki stared at the imposing structure, searching her memory. She’ d never been to Scotland but the sight before her was familiar—she knew she’d seen Dunvegan Castle before. Suddenly it came to her.
    “ The card.”
    “ What?” Larkin asked.
    “ The card the Jester gave me.” Tiki looked over at Dain. “Remember? I showed it to you just the other day. In the section of the Celtic cross that should have had the Fourth Treasure it was a picture of a castle— this castle.”
    Dain twisted around to gaze at the castle again. “By god, I think you’re right, Tiki.”
    Larkin moved closer, her gaze intent upon Tiki. “When did the Fool give you this card?”
    “ It was the night of Samhain—when we sacrificed the Seven Year King and turned the court back over to the UnSeelies.” Tiki shifted her gaze to Larkin. “You were there. He gave me the card and said ‘ When the clock strikes twelve, may the winds of change blow you in your true direction. ’”
    Larkin stared at the castle, her brow knitted in thought, long golden strands of hair teased by the wind. “He knew, then.”
    “ Knew what?” Dain asked. “Surely, you’re not saying the Court Jester, the Fool , knew where to find the Fourth Treasure?”
    Larkin’s fingers were clenched on the short wooden walls of the wagon so tightly her knuckles were white and the muscles in her jaw flexed as though she fought to keep the words from spilling out.
    “ What is it?” Tiki asked. “What do you know, Larkin? Speak the truth, because none of us are guaranteed to see tomorrow. If we aren’t honest now—when we’ve only got each other to survive this war—then we will never be honest with each other.”
    The tense moment stretched between them, filled by the creak of the wagon wheels and the steady clump of the horse’s hooves on the dirt road.
    “ Why yer a’travelin’ to Dunvegan?” The driver called over his shoulder.
    As quickly as her face had revealed her emotions, Larkin’s features shifted into a mask that hid her thoughts.
    “ We need to see the MacLeod’s about a personal matter,” she replied in an imperious tone.
    “ The MacLeod’s, you say?”
    “ Yes. The Lords of Dunvegan.”
    The driver let out a low chuckle. “They’d be happy to have you call them Lords, Miss, that’s fer sure, but you ain’t gonna do it at Dunvegan.”
    “ And why is that?”
    “ Because the Potato Famine took everything the ‘Lords’ of Dunvegan had. Old Man MacLeod moved his family to London back in ’51. No MacLeod’s been livin’ at Dunvegan for over twenty years.”
     
    THE DRIVER STOPPED at a fork in the road and swiveled around to look at them, his brown felt hat shading his wrinkled face.
    “ This is the turn to the