Mystified

by Renee Bernard

  “Of course, you do!” Maevis laughed. “How could you not? But I must be off. The afternoon light is already fading and the moon will rise fast tonight. There are preparations to be made and the coven is gathering. We’re to start at the cottage with refreshments and then roll up our sleeves for the Lady Claire.”

  “Will she come? Do you think she might be too frightened and stay away?”

  “No. That man’s the prize she’s after and you can see it in her eyes that she’s already lived with fear for too long to let it cripple her now. A woman like that…once she’s crested that hill and realized that she has the power to overcome that harridan’s curse—she will be unstoppable and gloriously happy with that boy.”

  “Gran, Lord Ashbrooke didn’t sound like a boy when she described him at the cottage.”

  Gran smiled as mischievous as an elf. “They are all boys when you look at them from a certain angle. I swear when I look at your father sometimes I can see a chubby pig-eyed bully no more than ten years of age!”

  “Gran!”

  “Oh, wait a while! And when you see it, I warn you to try not to get the giggles. That man has no sense of humor, Elethea.” Gran smoothed out her skirts and headed back out to the path in the yard that led out to the forest’s edge. “I’m off! Wish me luck and blessings!”

  “Blessed be,” Elethea said then shook her head with a sigh before heading back inside. She hadn’t told her grandmother about her father’s edicts because the last thing that Gran needed was conflict on the eve of their sacred day. There was spellwork ahead and no witch would ask for hindrances. Besides even that reason, she harbored her own need to fix her own problems without constantly relying on her beloved Gran for support.

  After all, it’s my path to walk. I’m the one who is defying her father and who will have to live with the consequences.

  Late afternoon shadows gave the house a gloomy cast, especially after coming in from the sunlit yard. Elethea looked in the study for her father only to hear him coming down the stairs. She glanced up to see him in his best coat and wig.

  “Father? Are you…going out on a call?”

  “I’m heading out to the vicarage for a small glass of sherry and some intelligent discourse to counteract the evils of the night.” He stopped near the doorway to collect his coat and hat. “I’ll pass along your regrets for missing the evening to Vicar Teague and will tell him you are home with a head cold.”

  “Lying is a sin, Father. Perhaps you could just tell him that I preferred to stay home and read.”

  “Yes, that’s better! I’ll say that.” He put on his coat with her assistance, his movements as choppy and brusque as his mood. “I may even ask for his prayers for stubborn and errant daughters who think they know better than their fathers.”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” she said quietly. “Don’t forget to pray for patience.”

  She bit her lip but the quip was already spoken and Gran’s jest that her father had no sense of humor came back to her—one second too late.

  “Elethea Fairfax! Do not press me! You may think your speech last night has altered my decision but I will tell you right now that your little show of independence has made me even more determined. I’ve been too lax and careless as a father and have given you far too much freedom to roam and do as you wish! But that ends now.”

  He slammed his hat on left in as black a fury as any she’d ever seen.

  Elethea blinked in shock. Her darling father, whom she loved without question, was set on marrying her off whether she wanted it or not. Gran wanted her to have an open heart but whatever hope Elethea had was fading quickly.

  She waited for tears but they didn’t come.

  Blade would be gone, heading to the castle for the reading of the will, if not tomorrow then when it was to happen the day after. He would leave and she probably wouldn’t see him again—until he was the Earl of Banfield and all hope was gone.

  All hope gone…

  The dream.

  And then a new thought came to her. About Blade and curses and what she was meant to do to…

  “It is All Hallow’s Eve and all things are possible.”

  Chapter 13

  She slipped from the house and raced through the village toward the Mermaid’s Kiss. The moon was already high, touching everything with its glow so that the night was nearly as bright as day. Most of the revels were in the town square so the narrow lanes of Bocka Morrow were deserted as she ran.

  Jolly Thackery was out in the yard sweeping out his entryway and setting out lit pumpkins and gourds to ward off evil spirits. “Miss Fairfax! Are you not at the festival? Or…at your Gran’s?”

  “I—came to check on Mr. Hambly. Father is with Vicar Teague and wanted me to quickly see if Mr. Hambly was well or needed…anything.”

  “Of course! Of course!” Jolly was all smiles. “But he set out to take a walk and I think get a peek at the fun. Shall I tell him you came by?”

  “No. No,” Elethea said softly, amazed at how little air was left when disappointment choked it from your lungs. “Merry Samhain to you, Mr. Thackery, and to your wife.”

  “She’ll be dancing tonight, thanks to you, Miss Fairfax.”

  “I’m glad. I can’t wait to hear all the stories she’ll catch up on tonight. She is…so clever.”

  “Clever’s one way to put it,” he said with a wry grin. “Gossip of the century is more like it!”

  “Yes, well…I should go. Good night, Mr. Thackery.”

  “Good night, Miss Fairfax. Blessed be!” He went back inside the inn and she was alone in the courtyard. She turned back, this time at a slow walk. There was no need to rush home to either an empty home or another dose of her father’s fury if he discovered her gone.

  “Goddess mind me,” she whispered. “I just wanted to tell him…”

  “To tell me what?” Blade’s voice cut through the night air and she reeled around in surprise to see him sitting on a bench near the inn’s stables out of sight of the inn’s doorway.

  “Mr. Thackery said you’d gone into the village.”

  “I changed my mind and didn’t want to face him if I returned too quickly. I didn’t want him to think I’d disapproved of the festival or…didn’t enjoy it. And I didn’t want to explain why I didn’t wish to go.”

  “Why didn’t you want to go?” she asked impulsively.

  He smiled. “I was afraid I would see you there and make a fool of myself.”

  “Oh!” Elethea pressed her palm against her heart. “I see.”

  “You came to see me?”

  “I did and I will be as quick as I can to tell you—everything I need to tell you before you…return to…what it is you were doing.” Elethea wished he were less handsome in the moonlight and less distracting. She recalled her mission and took a deep breath. “I have something very important to tell you.”

  “Will you sit next to me here? Please.”

  “Yes, if only to spare myself the embarrassment if Mr. Thackery looks out and sees me conversing with his livery’s walls.”

  “Good thinking,” he said and then gestured to the space on the bench next to him where she took her seat.

  “Give me a moment. I think once I start, it will all happen in a terrible rush, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to be patient with me, Mr. Hambly.”

  “I am a very patient man.”

  “Good.” Elethea looked up at the moon and not directly at him to make it easier. Goddess give me strength. “Very well.”

  “I have one question first.”

  “What is it?”

  “Would you tell me about the dream your grandmother had?”

  “How did you know about that?” Ella turned to him in astonishment, the moon forgotten.

  “Magic,” he said without any edge of sarcasm.

  Her heart’s rhythm didn’t slow but Elethea felt calm. “Gran’s dreams always come to pass. She told me her dream and even I didn’t really want to credit it…but it’s why I came to f
ind you tonight. You see, she dreamt that ravens had left the castle’s skies which means that the curses and hard times were going to pass. She said there’d be weddings—more than one and that love would reign over the castle.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want to believe that?”

  “Because she seemed to think that I would play a part. That I would…secure the future of your family.” Elethea reached out to touch his hand. “She saw tears for me, so I think it’s through my heartbreak that the scales balance out.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “It does. Curses are real but whatever hold it had, after tonight, it’s gone. The curse is broken and you can love without fear. And I know now it won’t be me. That is to say, I always knew it wouldn’t be me because you do deserve a lady with velvet trim on her winter coats, and lace on her dresses, and slippers not caked with mud and bonnets with feathers that bounce and dance in every light breeze.”

  “She sounds lovely, this fictitious person you’re describing,” he said sardonically.

  “A witch cursed some of the women in your family, a horrible woman drove them mad or to their deaths and then the curse consumed the witch who cast it—so there was no going back. Do you understand?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “A witch hurt your family, but not the coven! Not the local coven that had only wanted to help and heal, you see? They were blamed—we were blamed. But things have to balance out for everyone to move forward.”

  “A coven? How do you know about any of this?”

  “My mother was in that coven. Father never knew she was practicing magic the way her mother had taught her. When I began, Gran made me swear never to tell him because she was certain he wouldn’t allow it—and that things would go tragically wrong for her and the others if he made a fuss publicly.”

  “Wait. One thing at a time. The curse is…broken?”

  “Yes. Because I—I fell in love with you. If I selflessly wish only for your happiness, if I sacrifice my future for yours, then everything is righted again. A witch will have secured your family’s future to balance out the ill will of another witch who wanted to rob you of it. Doesn’t that make sense to you?”

  “Not even a little bit.”

  She smiled. “I don’t think it has to but so long as you believe that the weight has been lifted from your shoulders and from the current earl’s shoulders—then that’s all that matters.”

  “Miss Fairfax, did you say that you loved me?”

  “I did. I do. I mean—I love you with every corner of my soul, Mr. Hambly. I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond it.” The tears were starting but she ignored them. “It is not a small consolation prize for me and I’m grateful that I was able to tell you. And now you can love without fear. You can find your match and—”

  “Wait.”

  Blade Hambly took both of her hands into his, to anchor himself in the storm of his thoughts but also to keep her from fleeing. It was a great confession to take in in a single sitting. Elethea Fairfax loved him but dreams and curses and… Dear God, I think she’s saying that she is willing to sacrifice herself for my happiness and for our family?

  I don’t care if logic and reason don’t work on matters ethereal. This cannot stand.

  He had to take it all in. How perfectly imperfect a choice she was for him. How there really wasn’t another choice. Who else would be so fearless? So aware of every dark shadow and choking rumor in his family tree? He still wasn’t sure he gave much credit to any notion of ravens and tears having anything to do with celestial bargaining…

  But the electric warmth of her touch in the forest…. The way she was there in his fever dreams… It wasn’t as illogical a leap after all.

  “Let me get this straight, Miss Fairfax. You are urging me to love to break the curse and heal the family, and in doing so, you are also disqualifying yourself as a candidate. You are professing your love for me and then admitting to being… I’m struggling to say it.”

  “A witch.”

  “As you say.”

  “You saved my life, didn’t you?”

  “M-my father…is…a very good physician.”

  “But he wasn’t there. You were.”

  She nodded.

  “Then I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

  “You owe me nothing. I did what my heart dictated. I am…at its mercy.”

  “I think you owe it to me to ensure my continued safety and those of my offspring.”

  “Pardon?”

  “I think you owe me a chance to debate the nature of magic and the unseen in this world.”

  “You don’t believe in magic, Mr. Hambly.”

  “I am a man of science. What I cannot believe is that you would deprive me of the chance to investigate these things for myself. I am entitled to a good debate, Miss Fairfax, and I can’t think of anyone I would rather explore the subject matter with than you.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m asking you to marry me in the most awkward way imaginable and making a wretched mess of things. I’m also apparently asking you while we are sitting outside a livery stable and not in a beautiful garden or a well-appointed room or even on a path overlooking the ocean. I’m asking you to marry me in spite of all of that, Miss Fairfax.”

  “You’re not…thinking properly. I am not your equal or the daughter of a peer. And you cannot just acquire me as a charm to ward off—that is not what I meant. You deserve to be truly happy! Please,” her voice faded as tears threatened. “Don’t make me argue against my own heart’s desires. Mercy, sir.”

  “I love you, Elethea Fairfax. There’s no logic to that either, is there? But here we are.”

  “I…want so much to say yes…but…”

  “Tell me.”

  “Gran’s dream. She said that I would help secure the future for your family but that there would be tears for me!”

  “Are you certain that’s what she said?”

  “Well, it was tears or…”

  “Or what?”

  “Singing, but I don’t sing and that makes no sense at all because—”

  “You do sing. You did sing. I remember you singing to me, Ella. I was in bed ill and you sang to me!”

  “Oh!” She blushed. “Was it horrible?”

  He smiled. “It was wretched and I liked it.”

  “You did?”

  “I want to spend a lifetime listening to you sing, Elethea.”

  She blinked at him and he waited for her answer.

  “You’re certain? That is—you understand I can’t give up my faith. I can’t change who I am. I…really am a terrible singer, Mr. Hambly.”

  “I am certain, Miss Fairfax. And if you won’t ask me to abandon science, then we can live in a deliriously happy state of disagreement and I will only ask you to sing when we are alone or when our babes need comforting. Now, please say yes and kiss me.”

  She didn’t remember saying yes, but her heart roared with agreement and then she was in his arms and Blade Hambly was kissing her and the world was righted once and for all.

  And somewhere in the forest under the light of a Witch’s Moon, Maevis Grayson paused in her wild dancing with all her friends about to weep with joy and call out to the stars, “Do you see her, my daughter? Ella is happy at last and I kept my promise to take care of her for you! I miss you, darling girl, and I love you!”

  About Renee Bernard

  One Woman Think Tank, USA Today Bestselling Author and Host of The Romance Bookmark on Tuesday nights at Readers Entertainment via BlogTalkRadio. Oh!...and Queen of Crazy!

  What in the world is a retired Navy chaplain's daughter doing writing scorching hot historical romances and contemporary romantic comedies? Renee Bernard is applying a great education from traveling all over the world to story telling and doing her best to keep her father proud. Truthfully, her father is her number one fan, even though he hasn't worked up the courage to crack one of those red hot romances open yet--but
nothing stops him from telling everyone else they need to pick up her latest! Love can make even a minister do strange things!

  Her debut novel, "A Lady's Pleasure" won the RT Reviewer's Choice award for Best Debut Historical in 2006 and she's never looked back. It's been one Double-Dog-Dare moment after another but she's kept her sense of humor (if not her sanity!) Renee currently lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. (Note an interesting proximity to great wineries!)

  Her alter ego, A.R. Crimson, is a wicked writer of erotic modern penny dreadfuls and makes no apologies for it. As Renee Bernard, she continues to write historical romances and more recently paranormal romantic comedies. She has also written a comic book, "Azrael's Girl", and continues to explore new genres because so far no one has told her not to...

  You can listen to Renee’s live Internet radio show "The Romance Bookmark" at 8:30pm EST on Tuesday evenings at www.readersentertainment.com.

  Connect With Renee

  @ReneeBernard

  ReneeBernardAuthor

  www.reneebernardauthor.com

  renee.bernard.fans@gmail.com

  The Earl of Banfield’s Last Will & Testament

  In the Name of God, Amen, I, Jonathan Hambly, Earl of Banfield, of Bocka Morrow in the County of Cornwall, resident of Castle Keyvnor, on this 11th day of August, 1811, being of weak body but of sound mind hereby declare this to be my last Will and Testament.

  Gentlemen, first I will that all my just debts and funeral expenses shall be paid by my Trustees and Executors hereinafter named.

  I charge my second cousin Allan Hambly, with the care of my wife, Evelyn DeLisle Hambly, shall she survive me. Allan Hambly shall see to her care and comfort within Castle Keyvnor for the remainder of her days. Allan Hambly shall continue to employ the servants who currently serve and see to her care and comfort.

  I give and bequeath to my second cousin Allan Hambly the sum of twenty thousand pounds of Lawful money of Great Britain, the same sum my wife brought to the marriage, for her care, comfort and for wages of the servants tasked with her care.