by Ava Stone
The old woman’s settled her eyes on Mina. “You’re a Trevelyan, no?”
No. She was a Throssell, but… “Mama was a Trevelyan.”
“You’re descended from the sole survivor of Lyonesse. Before the ocean waters swallowed the town, Trevelyan escaped on his white horse, taking with him the only bit of magic and power the town had left. That power resides within you, Wilhelmina. It’s how you found me.”
Mama had relayed the ancient legend of Lyonesse to Mina when she was very young. And though her father laughed off the tale as nothing but nonsense and mythical lore, Mina couldn’t help but be enthralled over the story. She’d even visited Land’s End with her mother, and she’d been certain she could hear Lyonesse’s church bells ringing far beneath the waves, as other Trevelyans had done for centuries before. Was this her future? Something to do with the forgotten, washed away Cornish town? “Am I to find proof of Lyonesse?” Her father would not support that plan. She couldn’t even imagine how angry he’d be if she presented him with that idea.
A smile cracked Madam Derbardi’s weathered face. “You’re to harness that Trevelyan power, to listen to my words, and make a very important decision.” She glanced back at the three cards, overturned on the table. “Your mother was warm and cheerful, though she led a chaotic life.”
Chaotic life. Flighty, Papa would say.
“The two of you traveled many places together, rarely staying still.”
Mina nodded at the truth of that. She’d seen so many places with her mother. First in following Papa’s regiment around the continent, and when Mama had tired of camp life, they’d seen even more of the world before returning to Cornwall. But even being on English soil hadn’t stopped the two of them from traveling throughout the British Isles, as though Mama was searching for something she couldn’t quite find.
Madam Derbardi pushed the upside down Ten of Pentacles slightly toward Mina. “And since her passing you’ve been filled with loss and loneliness.”
To put it very mildly.
The fortuneteller turned over three more cards. “Your present,” she began. “The Four of Wands in reverse, Death, and The Hermit.”
Death? Mina sucked in a breath when her eyes landed on the card depicting a man swathed in black with only a skull for a head and the words Death emblazoned beneath him.
“It sounds worse than it is.” Madam Derbardi chuckled lightly. “You’ve gone through a difficult transition, and currently, you are not communicating with someone important. Your father?”
Mina snorted. Heavens, it was as though the woman could see straight into her soul. “Papa and I don’t see eye to eye on much.” They hadn’t ever since he’d returned from the continent.
The fortuneteller’s dark eyes softened just a bit. “The Death card signifies that a major change is about to happen, Mina. Don’t let the card frighten you. Change can be a good thing.”
A major change?
The old woman tapped the edge of The Hermit card. “When the time comes, you’ll know what must be done, if you simply listen to your heart.”
Mina always listened to her heart. It had been Mama’s most ardent teachings.
Madam Derbardi turned over three more cards. This was it. Mina’s future. It must be. “Ah,” the fortuneteller said. “Very interesting.”
“What is it?” Mina leaned forward, staring intently at the cards before her, though they didn’t make any sense at all to her untrained eyes.
“Your true love.” The old woman smiled, pushing the first card closer to Mina. “The Lovers,” she explained. “If you haven’t already met the fellow, you will very soon.”
True love? Mina nearly snorted. There was no true love for her. She wasn’t like other girls. Men didn’t seek her out. They didn’t court her. They looked at her as though she had two heads and a forked tail. This couldn’t be what her mother wanted her to know. Her true love?! Utterly ridiculous. Mama didn’t even believe in true love. If she’d ever loved Papa, those days had been so long ago that Mina couldn’t remember them.
“The King of Swords,” the fortuneteller continued. “A most dashing figure. He’s responsible, has the aura of a commander about him.”
Mina could barely concentrate. “A responsible commander?” she asked, vaguely noting that the description might be one used to describe her father in some circles.
“Perhaps.” Madam Derbardi nodded. “You’ll recognize him easily, however. Your King of Swords.”
“I will?”
“He’ll have but one eye.” She tapped the card and Mina looked at the depiction of the King whose head was turned to the left—only one eye was visible. Did that truly mean something? “But he’ll see you clearly and plainly and love you for it.”
One eye? Disbelief swamped Mina. She’d come here to learn what message her mother wanted her to know, only to hear that her true love was a one-eyed, responsible commander? That didn’t sound like a message Mama would send. Not at all. In fact, it sounded completely ridiculous.
The soft scent of lilacs filled her nose and Mina pushed the scent away. Her mother couldn’t mean this, she just couldn’t.
“And The Fool…” Madam Derbardi fingered the worn edges of the final card, not commenting at all upon Mina’s sudden distress. “The Fool can bring you all of life’s happiness. He can manifest himself as an unexpected opportunity, an unknown path, a new adventure. You’ll have a choice to make very soon. And you’ll need to pay close attention to your heart.”
What a complete waste of time this had turned out to be! Nathaniel should have never listened to Griff in the first place. Rush to Hyde Park, indeed! Why bother? Neither of them knew what Wilhelmina Throssell looked like. She could be right next to him, and he’d never know the difference. He’d spent the last half hour, standing with Griff by a bench, looking over each lady that passed by. Blondes, brunettes, an occasional red-head, hoping to see a girl with some resemblance to Colonel Throssell – another one of Griff’s genius ideas.
“I suppose she could look like her mother,” the Scot finally decided aloud.
“So we can stop trying to envision what the colonel would look like in a daydress?” Nathaniel asked dryly.
But Griff didn’t reply. Instead, the Scot’s face suddenly drained of all its color, his eyes focused somewhere in the distance. Damn it all. Had he spotted Miss Throssell amongst the crowd, after all?
Nathaniel glanced in the direction Griff was staring, and his eyes landed on a pair of girls, both blondes of varying shades, their heads pushed together in conversation. Neither girl resembled Colonel Throssell in a daydress or otherwise. “Do you think she’s one of those girls?”
Griff snorted. “Nay. That’s Lady Elspeth MacLaren.”
Lady Elspeth MacLaren? Griff’s intended? Nathaniel focused on the pair of girls once more. Both were attractive. Quite attractive, actually. There was no reason for the color to have drained from Griff’s face as though he’d seen a ghost.
One of the girls, the one with flaxen curls, glanced in their direction. Her light eyes lit up with surprise, and she raced across Rotten Row towards them, paying no attention to the other pedestrians she rushed past.
“Griffin Reid!” she cried, then threw her arms around Griff’s neck. His intended, most assuredly.
“Elspeth,” the other girl said, stopping behind the pair, “you’re making a scene.”
“Oh!” Lady Elspeth slid from Griff’s embrace and smiled up at him, a charming blush on her face. “I just couldn’t believe it was ye! Ian will be so glad to hear ye’re in Town. How long are ye staying? Ye must come to MacLaren House this afternoon!”
“Afternoon, Ellie,” Griff grumbled faintly.
“Oh, good heavens!” she gushed. “Ye hardly look like yourself.”
“I could say the same about ye,” the Scot returned softly as his eyes appraised her from the top of her head to the tips of her slippers.
“Who is this, Elspeth?” the other blonde asked after a moment.
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“Sophie, this –” the lady beamed “—is Captain Griffin Reid. He’s a neighbor and an old friend of the family.”
Griff stiffened beside Nathaniel, not that anyone else noticed.
“And,” Lady Elspeth continued. “Well, I don’t know ye, sir.” She looked directly at Nathaniel.
“Lady Elspeth MacLaren, Lord Healeyfield.” Griff gestured between the two of them with a sweep of his hand, though something was definitely off in the Scot’s demeanor all of a sudden.
“She hardly looks like a bairn to me.” Nathaniel lifted his brow in amusement at his friend. Wasn’t that exactly how Griff had described the girl in his study just an hour ago? A child, a bairn really? The blonde before them might be a young, pretty little thing, but she was not a child. A lady with a pleasant shape and sparkling eyes. Griff could do much worse.
“No one asked ye,” Griff muttered.
“Oh, and this is my friend, Miss Sophia Hampton,” Lady Elspeth said, ignoring Griff’s comment as she linked her arm with the other girl’s. “Sophie, Captain Reid and Lord Healeyfield.”
“A pleasure to meet you both.” Nathaniel nodded in greeting. And it was. A pleasure, that is. After all, with the help of Lady Elspeth and Miss Hampton, searching out Miss Throssell would be much easier. The pair most likely knew his quarry.
Beside him, Griff grunted something that sounded marginally like a hello, but just barely. What the devil was wrong with him? Lady Elspeth and Miss Hampton were a Godsend after the last uneventful half hour of searching.
“Perhaps you can be of assistance,” Nathaniel began, hoping the two girls would ignore Griff’s brusqueness and focus on the job at hand. “We are looking for someone.”
“Someone?” Lady Elspeth echoed, her eyes darting back to Griff. “Who?”
The Scot heaved a sigh and said, “We’re trying to find Miss Throssell, Ellie. If ye see her, do point her out please.”
Miss Hampton frowned.
Lady Elspeth blinked up at her fiancé. “Wilhelmina Throssell?”
“Indeed.” The captain nodded.
“Why are ye looking for her?” she asked suspiciously.
“Have ye seen her or not, Ellie?”
“I don’t see her right this moment. Why are ye looking for her, Captain Reid?”
Griff shrugged. “We served under her father. We heard she was in the park today and just wanted to say hello is all.”
“Hmm.” Lady Elspeth’s blue eyes speared Griff as though she was making some sort of assessment of her own. “Ye wanted to say hello to her, but ye don’t know what she looks like. Am I understanding ye perfectly?”
“Just point out the girl’s direction, Ellie,” Griff growled.
Lady Elspeth shrugged coyly, completely unaffected by her fellow Scot’s temperament. “I’ll be happy to help ye, Griffin.”
“How very kind of ye,” he returned before she could say more.
She said more anyway. “But I need a little help myself.”
“Of course ye do. What do ye want, Ellie?” He folded his arms across his chest.
She shrugged slightly. “Well, I was hoping someone could find out which event a certain earl planned on attending this evening. I would ask Ian to help me, but he’s being rather difficult of late.”
Griff’s mouth dropped slightly open. “A certain earl?” he echoed incredulously.
“The Earl of Peasemore to be exact. If you could learn his plans, I would be quite happy to help ye locate Miss Throssell.”
What was that about? Why was Griff’s intended trying to gather information about the Earl of Peasemore? Odd.
Griff’s jaw tightened. “Ye haven’t changed one bit.”
She cast him a rather charming smile. “Does that mean we have a deal?”
Griff snorted. “Making deals with MacLarens never turns out well for anyone.”
“What an uncharitable thing to say.” She tipped her nose slightly higher in the air. “I am happy to help ye, Captain Reid. It’s only fair I should get a little help in return, don’t ye agree?”
“Never mind. We’ll find her on our own,” Griff replied as his gaze turned once more to the pedestrians walking along the row.
“Please, Griff,” she said, stepping closer to him. “Ye could easily find out for me. All ye’d have to go is go to one of the clubs he frequents and ask the question. That’s all.”
“What do ye want with this Peasemore?”
“Well, that’s none of your concern,” she retuned quickly. “But if you help me, I’ll help ye.”
Griff glanced over his shoulder and frowned at Nathaniel. “I do hope ye realize what I good friend I am.”
Nathaniel had always known Griff was a true friend. It was the very strange interaction between the man in his intended right now that didn’t make one bit of sense. Before he could say as much, however, Griff turned his attention back to Lady Elspeth.
“I’ll find out about Peasemore. Now tell him—” he gestured to Nathaniel with a cock of his head “—where we can find Miss Throssell.”
Lady Elspeth smiled brightly and said, “She keeps very much to herself, my lord. I don’t believe I have ever seen her walk along Rotten Row. In fact, I’m not certain if I have ever seen her outside of a ballroom, but even then she stays to the far edges as though she’s afraid someone will speak to her.”
Nathaniel stared at the blonde. “She was supposed to be here. In the park today. She must be here.”
“I haven’t seen her.”
“Neither have I,” Miss Hampton added. “But perhaps she isn’t walking the row. Perhaps she’s enjoying a picnic or talking to the squirrels or something like that.”
“Talking to the squirrels?” Nathaniel couldn’t help but echo. What a very strange thing to say.
“That is possible,” Lady Elspeth agreed. “She did tell me once that one only had to pay attention to what birds were saying. I thought it was some sort of metaphor, but after giving it more thought, I do believe she meant actual birds and not something else.”
Talking to squirrels? Listening to birds? The girl didn’t sound remotely like Colonel Throssell. Not in the least. “We are talking about the same lady? Wilhelmina Throssell.”
Lady Elspeth nodded. “I don’t imagine there are two of them.”
Damn it all. Was Nathaniel to spend the rest of the afternoon searching all the copses in Hyde Park, looking for a girl who was talking to squirrels and listening to birds? “Can you at least tell me what she looks like?”
“She has dark hair,” Miss Hampton said. “She usually wears it in a chignon.”
“Light eyes. Grey, silver, light blue. Something like that. I’m not entirely sure,” Lady Elspeth added. “She’s slender, about my height. A nice smile, though she doesn’t smile all that much.”
“She’d be pretty if…” Miss Hampton shrugged. “Well, if she wasn’t so odd.”
Odd. Bloody wonderful. Colonel Throssell had duped him into a betrothal with an odd woman. What if Miss Throssell didn’t want to cry off? What if he ended up with an odd wife and a crumbling estate? A bit of dread settled in Nathaniel’s belly.
“I suppose we should see if we can find her,” Griff said.
Nathaniel supposed his friend was right, but supposing they did find her, what the devil was he going to say to her?
“And if that should fail, we do know she’ll be at the Ridgemont’s this evening,” his friend reminded him.
Agh! A damned ball. Nathaniel nearly groaned.
“Griff,” Lady Elspeth began, her voice a bit more breathy than it had been thus far. “When ye learn where Lord Peasemore plans to be this evening, do come to MacLaren House to tell me. I’m certain Ian would love to see ye.”
A bit of panic settled in Mina’s chest. Her gaze darted around Lady Ridgemont’s ballroom and anxiety swamped her. She hated these sorts of affairs. The crush of people, the sound of music deafening her ears, the suffocating air of a thousand lit candles stuck in her throat, and t
he overwhelming feeling of invisibility. No one ever saw her. No one ever noticed her. No one ever talked to her. Not if they could avoid it.
But she didn’t have a choice about it. Not tonight. Truly, not ever anymore. Papa always got his way, and he was bound and determined to see Mina flit about a ballroom on some gentleman’s arm if it was the last thing he did. He simply refused to admit she wasn’t like all the other girls and she never had been. Not for the first time during their tumultuous relationship, she wished her father could just accept her the way she was. But wishing for that was just as silly as wishing to find her true love.
One eye. Drat it all! That thought had flitted about her mind all day. A one eyed, responsible commander. Of all the ridiculous things for Madam Derbardi to suggest. Still, it hadn’t kept Mina from scanning the room ever since she’d arrived, looking for a fellow wearing an eye patch. Of course, every fellow in attendance had two eyes, just like every other ball her father had forced her to attend this Season.
“Miss Throssell!” Lady Elspeth MacLaren’s exuberant voice from just a few feet away nearly made Mina jump from her skin.
It wasn’t that Lady Eslpeth was frightening, just that…Well, no one ever really sought Mina out at these sorts of affairs and no one ever seemed exuberant to see her. She feigned a smile for the pretty Scottish girl who was Mina’s exact opposite in every way, up to and including their coloring. “Lady Elspeth. How nice to see you.”
“I was thinking that very thing.” Lady Elspeth closed the small distance between them and grinned widely, her clear blue eyes sparking with something. “Care to take a turn about the room with me?”
Something was most definitely going on. It was the what Mina couldn’t quite put together. Every fiber of her being screamed for her to run to the closest retiring room and stay there all night until she could return home, but…Well, hiding in retiring rooms always set Papa off. And, her father might be appeased if he heard that Mina had been a bit more social than normal. And if Papa was appeased, life at home might not be quite so stringent. “Of course,” she muttered softly. What did she have to lose? Lady Elspeth had given her an opportunity she might not get again.
