by Wendy Knight
“Governess Buttercroft and her two children.”
The duke steepled his fingertips and studied her. She fidgeted under his stare. Of course this was a surprise. Everyone knew she loved them like family. Which was why she had to be very convincing.
Ada followed the duke’s eyes as they strayed to the window, staring out over the village. “I wasn’t aware there was a problem with the Buttercrofts. In fact, I distinctly remember you telling me just last week that you wanted to take Charity with you when you leave.”
“My wedding to William is three weeks away. That’s plenty of time to find a new handmaid, Father.” She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, sneaking a glance to make sure he noticed.
Apparently seeing that Ada was not going to elaborate on her own, he cleared his throat. “Why am I dismissing them?”
Ada refused to meet his gaze, but glared ferociously at the painting of herself over his head. “It’s not important. What is important is that they are gone from here. Immediately.”
“I beg to differ, daughter. I cannot dismiss someone because you’re having a tantrum.”
Ada stomped her foot. “I am not having a tantrum! You just aren’t listening to me!” Sparks flickered around her fingertips again.
“Ada darling, you aren’t giving me anything to listen to.”
Ada huffed, and looking everywhere in the room but at him, she dropped her hands to her hips. “Fine. Christian… er, Mr. Buttercroft asked me to run away with him.” Her gaze lit on him momentarily, and seeing that he was less than impressed she rushed to continue, her eyes flicking away again. “And he… he tried to force his intentions on me.” She swallowed hard. That last part, it came at a cost. But she had to make sure her father sent them away. Far, far away where he couldn’t hurt them anymore, and where Christian couldn’t hurt her father. It was the only way to save them all — the Buttercrofts and her family. Christian was too far gone to be safe anymore if he were anywhere near them. Her father would come for Charity if she was only two days’ ride away. This was the only way to save them all.
The duke’s breath left him in a rush, and he leaned forward, placing his palms on his mahogany desk in front of him. “This is a serious allegation against him, daughter.”
“Well, then you see why they have to go. He’s far too bold for his own good.” Ada sniffed. He studied her for several minutes, weighing his decision. He knew she was lying; she could tell. Ada had always been a horrible liar. He didn’t have time to push and prod and question her for hours, but she knew he understood her well enough to know she wouldn’t budge until she got her way.
He frowned, tapping his chin. She could practically see the calculations running through his mind. “I suppose servants can be replaced with far less trouble than arguing with you.” His frown deepened. “Although finding good magical help is much harder than just hiring a regular human from the village nearby, you know.”
She grinned. She’d won, but to be honest she knew she had won before she’d even thrown herself into the room. Her father was too exhausted and too distracted to fight back. Whatever he’d been working on all these weeks might just be the death of him. Better that than Christian.
“All right, Ada. I’ll dismiss them first thing in the morning.”
Her smile faltered. “No! It has to be now. And have them escorted from the premises by Harrison and Davis.” With that final order, she spun on her heel, silk skirts swishing around her, and stalked from the room.
“Wait! Ada, Harrison and Davis are two of my most powerful Edren sorcerers. Why are they needed?” She heard him call, but she pretended not to. She couldn’t answer without getting herself in trouble, and she’d prefer not to do that.
****
She watched from her balcony as Scarlett, Christian, and Charity were escorted from the property. Charity paused in the courtyard, looking up in bewilderment and hurt. Ada would have given anything to explain, but there wasn’t time. She couldn’t go down there, not with Christian so close, not with her father watching. And Scarlett, who had been more of a mother to her than Vivian ever had. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Ada sobbed, over and over as she watched them go.
Christian was not her Christian. She could see the dark anger in his eyes as he glared, furious, up at her window, a mocking smile on his face. She drew back, the pain driving her into the shadows. The boy she loved was gone, driven away by madness and power.
****
Charity stared out the window of the small, barren room of the cottage they had found their way to, several days ride from Adlington. “I just don’t understand what happened, Christian. Why did she send us away?” Her voice was small and sad. From where Christian was trapped inside his own head, he could hear the sadness, but there was nothing he could do about it. He knew Charity had thought he and Ada would get married one day. Even when that dream had died, she’d still believed Ada had loved her, even if she didn’t love him. Apparently, Ada didn’t love any of them.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, where he stood in the doorway throwing sparks. Their mother had gone looking for work, leaving Charity and Christian to try to turn this small space into a home. Christian had no desire to make this place anything. He had an army to build.
“What are you doing?” she asked, leaving the window and shuffling across the wooden planks that served as a floor, pausing at his side, her gaze traveling past him, beyond the doorway.
“Christian!” she shrieked, diving out the door and scooping up the small gray cat, batting at the flames Christian was throwing at it. “Have you lost your mind?” She glared up at him, and from where he was imprisoned he saw the dawning horror in her eyes as she realized he had indeed lost whatever sanity he still possessed when Ada had thrown them out.
“Don’t worry, little Charity. She will pay for what she has done to us. They all will,” he said with a malicious smile, then turned on his heel and stalked away. Behind him, he heard Charity breathe a grateful sigh of relief that he was leaving.
“You know what is only a few days away, don’t you, little sister?” Christian heard his own voice as if from a distance, cruel and dripping with venom, and talking to Charity even though she was no longer even remotely in hearing distance. “Ada’s wedding day. It would be rude of us to not pay her a visit.”
****
“Father, we leave for Charnock today. For the wedding. Won’t you come out?” Ada asked, peering into the study. Her heart was broken, but her friends were safe. Her father was safe. That was all that mattered. She hadn’t smiled in three weeks, but they were safe.
“I’ve done it, Ada. I’ve done it!” Her father’s voice, hoarse from disuse, croaked from the darkness, startling her more than she cared to admit.
“What have you done, Father?” She lit a spark from one fingertip, raising it like a candle. Why was he sitting in the darkness?
“You are the only one I’ll tell, Ada darling. The only one I love enough. The only one I want with me for eternity.”
He looked like a monster. All skin and bones and bulging eyes and ragged cloth. She stifled a scream against her fist.
“I’ve found a way, Ada, to live forever.”
She froze in her horror. “To—what?”
“To live forever. To live off the magic of others. Every time there is a spell thrown in battle, we live longer. I’ve done it.” He stood up, rushing around the desk toward her with more speed than she thought possible in his condition. Grabbing her wrist, he started tracing a spell, burning slowly into her skin. She screamed, trying to wrench her arm away, but he was too strong. The pain seeped in, dragging through her blood, warring with every single fiber of her being. She didn’t think she would ever stop screaming.
She woke to her mother fanning her face frantically, swearing at her father with every unladylike word Vivian should not know. “We were supposed to leave hours ago. She has to have adequate time to rest before the wedding. Do you want her to look wilted and ugly
in front of all those people?”
“I thought the wedding was to take place here in the gardens?” Her father’s voice, floating from somewhere to her left. Ada’s wrist stung something awful. Her entire body ached with a horrible sickness. She wanted to vomit but she was positive her mother would not appreciate that.
“It was supposed to be, until you locked yourself in here with your books and magic. I couldn’t invite all of London to our home when you are up here throwing around your blasted spells and nearly burning the house down time and again.”
“That was Ada, I believe, who nearly burned the house down.” Richard sounded entirely too sure of himself.
Ada moaned and struggled to sit up. “What did you do to me?”
Richard’s eyes sparkled. He was not the man he’d been when she’d entered his room before. Now he wore a clean, fresh suit and looked as if he’d gone back in time ten or fifteen years. It was astonishing, really. She could only blink at him. “I’ve given you a little wedding gift, is all.”
Everyone around her had lost their mind. Or this was some horrible nightmare that refused to end. “Come dear. We must hurry. I believe I’ve gathered all your belongings. They’ve gone on ahead of you, but we must rush now.” Between the two of them, her parents hoisted her to her feet and pulled her down the stairs. Her father kept giving her secret grins, elated glances, and as soon as her mother climbed into the carriage, he pulled her aside. “I’ve found a way to keep us young forever, Ada. As long as there is war, we will live!”
Ada gaped at him, her mouth refusing to even formulate a response. “Ada, do hurry up!” Vivian snapped. Richard shooed her into the carriage. Truly, this was the most bizarre day of her entire life.
“Wait! Maiden! I can’t leave her here!” Ada threw herself from the carriage before anyone could object and raced, albeit it somewhat sideways and falling over, to the pasture. Maiden, as always, waited in the shadows, but when Ada appeared she loped forward, making a mockery of the gate as she leaped over it. “You’ll follow us, won’t you? Stay with me, Maiden. I cannot do this without you.”
Ada had taken the loss of Charity, the loss of Christian, and even Governess Buttercroft, rolled it all up and placed it on the shoulders of this horse. She realized it was crazy. But right now, this horse was the only thing in the world she trusted.
Chapter Thirteen
Ada watched the storm clouds rolling through the night sky, obliterating the moon. By morning, the rain poured down in torrential sheets like she’d never seen before, and lightning split the sky so often it was as bright as if the sun had somehow broken through the clouds. She’d never seen such a storm.
“The guests cannot get here from the village. The wedding is ruined!” Vivian wailed. Ada did not turn from the window to acknowledge her mother’s tantrum. The wedding was the least of her worries with a storm like this. It would wash the village away completely.
“Many of the guests are here at the manor, my lady,” Ada’s new maid said with a quick curtsy. Ada watched her reflection in the window as lightning lit the sky again and again.
“Yes but the decorations are outside and completely ruined.” Vivian threw herself on Ada’s bed, her hand over her forehead.
Finally leaving her post, Ada whirled away and hurried out the door. “Where are you going?” Vivian cried.
“To find William. The villagers might need our help.”
“He can’t see you on the day of the wedding! It’s bad luck!” Vivian screeched, her voice nearly splitting Ada’s ear drums even from the relative safety of the hall.
Ada winced. “Bad luck made its home above my head months ago, Mother.”
She found him with Lord Charnock and several other men in the parlor. “William. What can we do? The villagers are going to get washed away.”
The entire room turned to stare at her in shock, whether because it was her wedding day and she should have been ensconced in the mysteries of wedding preparations, or because she had just walked into a room full of men and dared speak, she had obviously done something wrong.
She had long since ceased caring.
William made his way through the crowd to her side. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do.” He took her elbow and led her out, into the hallway where it was less crowded. “Even your magic cannot do anything against this storm. Sandbags won’t help. I’m afraid we will all just have to wait it out.”
She caught her lip between her teeth, gnawing it while she watched the rain and the lightning, felt the thunder shake the house. “Our wedding is ruined,” she mumbled.
He smiled. “I’m here. You are here. The minister is here. That is all we need.”
Her mother was devastated that there was no fairytale wedding for all of London to talk about. The storm kept everyone away except the Langley’s closest guests. Instead of riding to the church in an open white carriage pulled by six white horses, she was escorted down the stairs by her father, her elaborate dress with its twelve-foot-long train trailing behind her.
Richard teared up a bit as he handed her off to William. “You will always be my daughter, Ada,” he whispered.
She gave him an odd look before kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you.” I guess?
William looked very handsome, but not striking. Not as Christian would have. A pain shot through her chest — she’d been keeping thoughts of him at bay since she’d had them sent away, but today she could fight them no longer. Ever since she was a little girl, she had imagined this day with him. With him raising her veil, with him looking at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. With him vowing to honor her above all else. With him kissing her and declaring her his wife. But it was not him.
It was William.
After the ceremony, instead of a grand reception, they had a very long lunch, with many toasts and much wine consumed. Ada clutched her hands in her lap and watched the candles shake every time the thunder shook the house as the rain lashed at the roof. Her eyes again strayed to the window, to the village beyond.
She stood abruptly. “They need our help.”
William looked at her in surprise. He hadn’t consumed nearly as much alcohol as anyone else in the room, save Ada, and was perhaps the only one seeing her clearly. Nodding once, he wiped his mouth with his napkin and also rose.
“Ada, you can’t be serious. You’ll ruin your dress!” Vivian cried, attempting to stand. She tipped sideways. Smirking, Richard caught her and settled her back into her seat.
“I will change first, Mother,” Ada snapped, sweeping past the rest of the guests. “Anyone else who wishes to help, I will meet you out front.”
William alone waited for her on the steps. Meeting her eyes apologetically, he said, “I think the rest of them are too inebriated to be of any use. Shall we?”
She nodded, warring with the warmth in her chest. How could he have hurt her so much and be such a good, kind man? He did not hurt you as much as Christian, and you forgave him. But that was different. Her Christian was held captive in his own mind by a monster. William had no such excuse.
Pulling the hood of her cloak over her head, she dashed out into the rain. The water pooled at her ankles, in some places coming clear up to her knees. William grabbed her arm to steady her, as it threatened to knock her over, and she inwardly cursed her small size. A lot of help she would be if she couldn’t even make it to the road.
As Ada had feared, the village was nearly washed away. Villagers had started a bucket brigade, trying to clear the water out of the church — the highest point in the town and the place they had all taken refuge. Ada inwardly cringed at the waste of wedding decorations now trampled under their feet. Poor flowers. “What can we do?” she asked the woman giving orders.
The woman blinked at them in surprise. “My lord. Is it not your wedding day?”
William gave her a grim smile. “Meet my bride, Mrs. Smith. We’re here to help in whatever way we can.”
They worked tirelessly al
ongside the villagers throughout the rest of the day and into the night. Ada was able to work harder and longer because of her magic, and it wasn’t until William looked to be on the verge of collapse that she suggested they rest.
The storm, finally, seemed to be rolling out. It was still fierce, but seemed to be a little less angry than it had an hour before. “We will be fine now, my lord. Thanks to you and your new bride. We welcome you to Charnock, my lady.” Mrs. Smith said, curtsying low in front of Ada.
Ada’s hand shot out. “Don’t. Don’t do that. You might fall over.” It was true, the woman looked like the effort had cost her dearly. “And thank you. I am very happy to be here.”
This time, Ada held William up as they slogged back to the manor. She was not sure he would make it without passing out from sheer exhaustion, and she would have squealed with relief when the big house came into view, had it not been so unladylike.
Lady Charnock met them at the door, wrapping them both with blankets and sending for tea and biscuits. Ada refrained from pointing out that she could not feel the cold. “Ada dear, your parents left already. Your mother said the storm was more than she could bear any longer,” Lady Charnock said. Ada supposed she should start calling her Mother. Or at least her given name. But it didn’t feel right. Not yet.
“They left? In this?” She raised an eyebrow. Surely, no carriage could get through these roads. Her father was arrogant and overconfident in his abilities, but even he could not think he could defeat a force of nature such as this.
“Yes. Your father has a unique form of transportation,” Lord Charnock said gruffly around the pipe in his mouth, coming from the parlor with a handful of cards. Good to see you were worried in our absence.
Ada buried herself in the blanket, thinking she probably should have removed her cloak first, before peeking out at her gruff father-in-law. “I have no clue what you mean.”
