True Highland Spirit Read Online Free PDF

not sure if she appreciated the effort or resented her for making improvements some might say Morrigan should have considered years ago.
    “’Tis from Andrew,” said Morrigan. She could tell by the small, tight writing of her university-educated brother.
    Alys followed Morrigan into the tower house and up to the family solar. “What does it say? Does he know where Archie is?”
    Morrigan broke the seal and tried to read Andrew’s proficient, tiny script. Perhaps sending him to university was not such a grand idea after all. She sat down on the stone seat cut into the wall by the window and focused on the smooth lettering. Alys hovered over her shoulder until Morrigan’s glare got her to step back, but no farther than the end of the stone seat.
    “Nay, it canna be!” exclaimed Morrigan.
    “What is it?”
    “Andrew has married Cait Campbell, Laird Campbell’s own sister!”
    “Nay!” Alys forgot herself and snatched the parchment from Morrigan’s hand to read it herself.
    “If ye dinna mind, Alys,” snarled Morrigan and grabbed it back. “I wonder how on earth he managed it.”
    “I canna believe Cait be wed. I served her since she was a wee thing,” mused Alys.
    Morrigan grunted in return. She knew Alys had served as Cait’s lady-in-waiting. What she did not understand was how Cait came to be married to her younger brother.
    “’Tis a good match, Andrew is a fine lad and I’ve no doubt Cait will be verra pleased wi’ him.”
    “I wonder why Campbell would allow such a son-in-law. I well know Andrew’s finer qualities, but material wealth isna among them.”
    “There is more to life than money, Morrigan.”
    “Ha! The man who said that ne’er went to sleep wi’ an empty stomach or watched his children beg for food.”
    Alys was silent, and Morrigan continued to read Andrew’s missive, straining to make out the words, sounding out the more difficult ones. Andrew’s prose was almost as expensive as his education. Morrigan preferred plain and simple.
    “Andrew will continue to stay wi’ the Campbells,” said Morrigan. “He talks a bit about his love for Cait Campbell, what a waste of good parchment.”
    “But Archie…”
    “I’m getting to it.” Morrigan concentrated hard. “It says Andrew has not seen Archie and then it says something about the bishop o’ Glasgow.” A cold weight of apprehension formed in the pit of her stomach. What had Archie done with the bishop? She concentrated hard on the writing but the two sentences that discussed Archie had been hopelessly smudged.
    “The bishop o’ Glasgow?” asked Alys. “What is he to Archie?”
    “I dinna ken,” replied Morrigan. Except that perhaps Archie had been sent to kill him, but Morrigan was not inclined to share all her secrets with Alys. “Here, maybe ye can make it out.” Morrigan handed over the smeared parchment to Alys’s willing hand.
    Alys focused intently on the parchment, her brows scrunched together in concentration. After a minute, she held it up to the light, frowned, and squinted at the words. “I canna read it,” she finally admitted defeat. “What would Archie be doing wi’ the bishop o’ Glasgow?”
    Morrigan did not answer, her mind examining the pieces of the deadly puzzle. In his letter, Andrew devoted many lines to describing his love for Cait, and his plans to seek the knighthood. If Archie had been arrested for killing the bishop, wouldn’t Andrew’s missive have taken a different tone?
    “I know naught what Archie is doing,” Morrigan replied.
    “Do ye think he needs our help?”
    Morrigan snorted in affirmation. “He is always in need o’ help. Foolish bastard that he is.”
    Alys frowned.
    “Ye of all people canna deny Archie is in desperate need o’ sense. His daft plans are always ending poorly.”
    Alys lifted her chin and folded her arms across her chest. “I woud’na say so.”
    Morrigan sighed. Alys had been part of one of those daft plans and had no doubt taken offense. “Ye