“Hey!” he complained, looking straight at her. Kate had no idea why.
He stood up. “Mary, stop!”
“GOOD, MARY!” UNCLE Kit said, coming down the path toward them. “Now, instead of just killing the flower, can you turn it back into a bud? It takes much more finesse. A lighter touch, if you will.” He crouched down next to the plant Mary stood in front of. Half the flowers her brother had just coaxed into blooming were now withered and black.
Mary gave her father a shy, little smile then reached out to touch a flower. As they all watched her concentrate, ever so slowly, the flower began to fold itself back up into a tight little bud.
“Well done!” Kate exclaimed. She clapped her hands in true joy as finally her young charge managed to do some real magic.
“Yay!” Susan exclaimed, clapping as well.
Uncle Kit folded his daughter into his arms. “Very well done!” He pulled back from her, smiling broadly. “Now we know where your magic lies. You are like me—better at un–doing magic than doing it!” He stroked his daughter’s head affectionately.
“But you can do magic too, Papa,” Mary said, perking up a little.
“Yes. But that’s all right. We all have our strengths. Yours lies in stopping magic rather than doing it. And that’s just fine,” he said, smiling at her as he stood back up.
“And that explains so much,” Kate said with a nod and a smile at the girl. “Why you’ve had trouble creating things. Your magic works in the opposite direction. Thank you, Uncle, for discovering this. I wouldn’t have thought of it.”
“It’s a tricky thing to see. It took me a long time to realize how my power worked. I was a lot older than you,” he told his daughter, giving her nose an affectionate tap with his finger.
She beamed at her father.
“Well then, from now on we’ll definitely work on Mary undoing magic. And then she’ll grow strong like her brother,” Kate offered.
“Yes, but that’s for another day,” Uncle Kit said, losing the smile on his face. “For now, Kate, why don’t you take a little break before going to the nursery.”
Kate’s stomach clenched and a lump formed in her throat. “Are… are Jamie and Ewan all right?”
Her uncles’ eyes dulled, filled with worry. “They’re not doing well, I’m afraid.”
DAGONET VENTURED OUT for a walk with a very confused dog/footman along with him. He had called for Lady Vallentyn’s maid to help his exhausted hostess to bed. She needed to rest for a while before she attempted to change the footman back.
Naturally, it had taken a great deal out of her to try such powerful magic for the first time. Dagonet fully expected her to recover and change the fellow back into a man before too long, but for now he didn’t want to leave the poor footman alone.
As soon as they were out of earshot, he said, “So sorry about that, old boy. Honestly didn’t think she would go through with it—changing you into an animal. Didn’t know if she was even powerful enough, don’t you know?”
The dog looked up at him.
“Tried to think of something to stop her but I couldn’t! She wouldn’t listen.”
The dog hung his head as they continued down the garden path. He clearly wasn’t actually a dog; he didn’t stop to sniff at anything. He was a confused, dejected man in the body of a dog, and Dagonet couldn’t possibly feel worse about it.
“Should have asked your consent. She should have at least told you what she was about. What she planned on doing,” Dagonet continued.
The dog whined his agreement.
“Not right to just change a man like that.”
Dagonet paused as they rounded the bend toward the bridge. When he saw that it was empty, he realized how much he had hoped to see Miss Cherington there.
“Ah well, another time, I suppose,” he said to himself.
Dagonet caught the dog’s curious look out of the corner of his eye.
“Thought Miss Cherington would be there, don’t you know,” he explained to the animal, er, footman.
The dog turned and looked back at the bridge, cocking his head a little.
“Met her there yesterday. We had a lovely chat.”
The dog paused, looking up at him. Was that suspicion in his eyes? Disapproval? Dagonet couldn’t tell, but he didn’t think the dog was at all happy with this bit of information.
“No worries, old fellow. Just talking. Being friendly. I’m just passing through, you know. I’ll move on soon enough. Got a new expedition I’m trying to join. Sent off the letter today. I won’t upset any apple carts here.”
The dog seemed satisfied with this answer and huffed or sneezed his assent. He gave a little whine, but Dagonet couldn’t tell what he was trying to convey.
They paused in the center of the bridge to look out over the water.
“Lovely here,” Dagonet said. “But really not quite my thing, don’t you know? I’m too much of a wanderer. Can’t really keep still for any length of time. Besides, I've got my own problems to take care of—searching for my own grail, if you will.”
The dog settled down next to him as he leaned on the rail and watched the water flow under the bridge.
“Wish I could. Wouldn’t mind settling down, living a life and then being done with it. I tried that once, you know, in another lifetime. Bought an estate. Became a farmer and a gentleman, but then my wife died and I didn’t. Couldn’t.”
The dog looked up at him as if to question his words.
“Not like I didn’t try. I assure you, I did. Kept growing older and older. Never got sick, though, or infirm enough to just slip away as the old do. Nope, nothing. No matter how I longed to join my wife in the afterward, I couldn’t.” He sighed. “It’s hard. Painful, don’t you know? Don’t want to do that again. Don’t want to become attached.”
The dog just cocked his head, clearly not understanding what Dagonet had said. Dagonet was about to explain about his multiple lifetimes when a voice called out.
“Good afternoon, Sir Arthur.”
He turned and tried to temper the bright smile that took over his face. It wouldn’t do for Miss Cherington to see just how happy it made him to see her. She might get the wrong idea. At least, he desperately hoped it was the wrong idea. He had just said he didn’t want to become attached again, hadn’t he?
“Good afternoon. Out for a little fresh air or to sneak a peek at that book you’re reading?” he asked as she climbed up the bridge to join him and the dog.
“Just a moment’s fresh air, I’m afraid. I’m due in the nursery in a little bit, but my uncle insisted I get out for a little exercise before taking over nursing duties.”
“Ah. Well, I’m glad to hear he’s looking out for your health.”
“Oh, yes. He’s truly wonderful. Very thoughtful.” She smiled up at him for a moment before crouching down to the dog next to him. “And who are you? I don’t believe you are one of the pack which lives in the stables, are you? You’re of the same breed, but…”
The dog gave a little yip.
“No, no, he’s, er...”
“What unusual eyes he has. Most Labs have brown eyes, don’t they?” she asked, looking up at Dagonet. She held the dog’s face in her hands. “You’ve got green eyes.”
The dog's forehead wrinkled with consternation before he turned to look at Dagonet.
“Yes. He’s not actually a dog, you see,” Dagonet tried to explain again. “You know the footman who stands in the main hall?”
“Jimmy, yes.”
The dog barked.
“That’s him.”
“What about him?” Miss Cherington asked, standing up.
“That’s the footman,” Dagonet said again, pointing to the dog.
She looked down at the dog, back up at Dagonet, and then back down at the dog again. “What do you mean, Sir Arthur?”
“Well, I told Lady Vallentyn about a bit of magic that Lady Nimuë did years ago—turning men into animals. And, well, she tried it. On Jimmy.”
Miss Cherington’s brow furrowed. “Do you mean to say that this dog is Jimmy, the footman?”
“Yes.”
The dog barked.
Chapter Eleven
MISS CHERINGTON CROUCHED down in front of the animal once again, examining him closely. “Jimmy?” she asked, tentatively.
At the dog’s bark, she fell back onto her bottom.
“Oh, let me help you up!” Sir Arthur reached out and grabbed her arm, helping her to her feet.
“But how… why… how could she?” she sputtered.
“Wanted to try out this new magic,” Dagonet explained. “Thought it might cure the children if she changed them into animals and then changed them back again.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Yes, well. It’s something she’s thinking, or hoping, anyway.”
“So she’s going to change her children into dogs?” she asked, her voice getting louder as she took in this idea.
Before Dagonet could answer, she nearly yelled, “Can she change them back? Can she change Jimmy back?”
The dog whined and looked up at him as well.
Dagonet looked down at the dog before answering them both. “I don’t know. I imagine she can. If she changed him into a dog, she should be able to change him back.”
“Should be.” Miss Cherington put her hands on her hips and glared at Dagonet as if this were entirely his fault—and he worried that it very well might be.
He hated seeing her so upset. “I…” He squared his shoulders. He was a knight, dammit. “I apologize. I should never have told her about that bit of magic. Didn’t realize she would get such a crazy idea in her head to try it. It is my fault.”
Miss Cherington just looked at him for a moment before turning on her heel and striding away. Was it possible she thought to confront her aunt, or perhaps see her uncle? But she turned around and came back again a little calmer. “I just can’t believe she’s done this. It is not your fault, sir. You didn’t realize what she would do with the information you gave her.”
“I just tried to give her some magic. I was feeling bad that I haven’t been able to to help, but I never thought… ”
“No. Of course you didn’t,” she said in a calmer voice.
“I didn’t think she’d actually be able to do it. Or if she could, that she would.”
The dog barked.
“Quite right,” Dagonet said. “She didn’t even tell the footman what she was about. That’s not right, I say.”
“She didn’t tell him first?” Miss Cherington’s anger rose once again.
“No.”
She dropped down to the dog, stroking his head. “Oh, you poor thing! That is wrong! It is… oh, my goodness, but that is wrong!”
“Tried to stop her, but…” Dagonet said, helplessly.
Miss Cherington stood up again. “No. It’s impossible. Once she’s got an idea in her head, she will go through with it. There was nothing you could have done, sir.” She started back toward the house. “She will undo it!”
“Can’t just now,” Dagonet said quickly before she strode off.
She spun back around toward him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it took a lot out of her, don’t you know? She needs to recuperate her strength before she can turn him back.”
“Oh.”
“She will, though,” Dagonet said, as much to her as to the dog who was looking up at him with a very worried expression on his face. “Don’t worry, she will.”
At least, he hoped she could.
SHE COULDN'T WAIT. It was a lure too enticing. The thought that she might have a cure for her sons drew Tatiana from her bed long before it was probably wise for her to be up that morning.
Kate was in the nursery when she went in to check on the boys.
“How are they doing?” she asked, joining her at Jamie’s bedside where her niece wiped his mouth and chin with a damp cloth.
Kate looked up. The tears in her eyes told Tatiana what she already knew.
“Mummy,” her baby said, his voice hoarse from all the coughing. His big, dark eyes—so like her own— were sunken within his pale face and surrounded by black smudges. He looked as if he'd been playing in the soot from the fireplace.
Tatiana sat down on the edge of the bed and took his little hand. His skin felt loose on his bones. “How are you feeling, my sweet, brave boy,” she asked trying to smile at the child.
He could only shake his head as another raking cough shook his whole body. Kate jumped in with a handkerchief. Tatiana could see that it came away bloody, even though the girl tried to hide the evidence.
She brushed his sweaty hair from his burning forehead. “It's all right, my love. Mummy is going to make everything all right.”
Kate turned her head away, but not before Tatiana caught a glimpse of a tear making its way down the girl’s cheek.
“Kate, why don't you go and check on Jonathan and Mary? I hear Mary is making quite a nuisance of herself now that's she discovered she can undo magic.”
Kate gave a sniff and a nod as she rose from her chair. She paused just inside the door to put the dirty handkerchief in a basket to be washed and then washed her hands in the basin before leaving.
When the door clicked closed, Tatiana brushed her son’s forehead once again before leaning down to give him a kiss.
“What are you going to do, Mummy?” her little one asked.
She couldn’t help but smile. Even at his young age, he had the intuition to know that something was about to happen. Perhaps he could feel the magic she'd already gathered within her.
“I’m going to try something to make you better.”
“Try something?” he asked, as another fit of coughing overtook him.
“Yes. Now you just just lay there like a good boy, all right?”
The child nodded.
Tatiana closed her eyes and put the protective barrier back around the baby within her. Then, as before, she pulled all her magic together into her core. She needed more. She could feel that this wasn’t enough. Not so soon after she had changed the footman. Taking her son’s hands in her own she drew on the fire burning within his little body; the fever that heated his blood.
In a blast of determination and magic, she pushed it into her son willing him to become a dog as the footman had done. Immediately, she sagged under the sudden release of all her energy. Taking a deep breath, she pried her eyes open and saw to her delight that she was no longer holding onto the hands of a little boy, but the front paws of a brown puppy.
The dog wiggled from under the covers and turned over so that he lay on his stomach, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He gave a little whimper and scooted his wet nose under hand. With a smile and as much of a laugh as she could manage, she scratched the puppy between his ears.
“Tatiana…” Kit paused just inside the door to the room, his hand still on the handle. He just stood there looking at the puppy on the bed next to her.
Before she could say anything, he strode toward her. “What the hell have you done? Do not tell me that that is Jamie!” he nearly bellowed.
“Kit! Ewan!” she said, in a loud whisper.
Their younger son stirred in his bed on the other side of the room, his eyelids fluttering open.
Kit stopped and went to him, soothing his eyes closed again. “Shhhhh. Sleep.”
The boy obediently closed his eyes once again and fell back to sleep.
More quietly this time, Kit came over to the bed where Tatiana sat with the dog. “Tatiana.” The tone of his voice told her he was not happy with what he saw. “What did you do?” he asked, clearly working hard to keep a check on his temper.
“I thought maybe this would cure them,” she explained.
“Why?”
She shrugged. It had seemed to make sense to her before. Turn the child into an animal; when she turned him back he would be better.
Kit gave her a glaring look. “I’m certain it won’t work a
nd I don’t like it. You may not change our children into animals! Change him back.”
“I… I need to rest…” she began, feeling her eyes begin to prick with tears.
Her husband’s scowl deepened, but he reached forward and put his hand on the puppy’s head. Closing his eyes for a moment, he concentrated. Jamie’s little head once more lay on her hand. Immediately, a coughing fit overtook the boy, making him spew blood and mucus.
Kit jumped for a handkerchief from the pile on the bedside table. Tatiana took it and covered her son’s mouth and nose with it and then used it to clean his face and her hand.
She couldn’t help the sobs that began to burn her throat. It hadn’t worked. He was just as sick as before. All that magic. All that hope. For nothing.
Kit drew her up and into his arms, gently swaying her as if she were a child. “Shhh. It’s all right, my love. We’ll… we’ll find something.”
“What, Kit? What? We’ve tried nearly everything,” she hiccoughed between sobs.
“I don’t know, my love. But we’ll find something.” He held her until she began to calm. “Take deep breaths,” he advised.
She did so, feeling a bit better.
“You need to rest. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll take you out for a little fresh air.”
Yes, fresh air. That sounded wonderful. She’d been cooped up inside for too long. She had done nothing but go from bed to nursery to table and back to nursery. She was so tired. Tired of worrying. Tired of hoping. Just tired.
“You must do something else for a little while to help you think more clearly. You need something distracting, a change of scene,” her husband suggested, as he helped her back to her own room.”
“Oh, yes. But for now, I just need to rest.”
“Of course you do. That was strong magic turning Jamie into a puppy.”
She looked up at him and gave him a little smile, “And you were able to turn him back. I didn't think you were that strong.”
He gave a little laugh. “We are well matched, my love.”
The light kiss he placed on her lips sent heat burning through her as he tucked her into her own bed. Even after so many years of marriage and nearly seven children, he could still make her want him.
Bridging the Storm Page 8
