Niclas introduced all those in the room and then gave a brief explanation of what had transpired since they’d left Steffan’s camp, of their hurried passage through the hills and of Kian’s journey to the spirit world to find and bring Julia back, of his immediate return and Steffan’s eventual return, and of the days of waiting for her to wake.
“And my aunt?” she asked. “You’ve contacted her?”
Niclas nodded. “She was here yesterday to visit you. Did you not hear her voice? She spoke to you for some length of time.”
“No, I only heard you,” she said, blushing slightly at the murmur of knowing approval from Ffinian and his sons. Niclas scowled at his relatives.
“Will she be coming again soon?” Julia asked. “I don’t want her to worry. And Jane? Is she safe?”
“Jane is with your aunt, completely recovered,” Niclas said soothingly, lightly rubbing the hand he yet held. “She and Abercraf are there together, and he’s taking very good care of her. They both came yesterday with your aunt, and I promised that I would send word the moment you woke.”
“I’ll send a rider to my darling Alice at once,” Ffinian said. “If I know my dear girl, she’ll be here tomorrow, ready to scuttle you back to Glen Aur where you’ll be protected from our wicked ways at Tylluan.”
Niclas and Kian exchanged looks, and Kian said, with care, “I’m not certain that Miss Linley should leave Tylluan just yet, tad. She’ll be safer here than at Glen Aur.”
“Oh?” Ffinian remarked, glancing from his son to Niclas to Julia. “Of course, we should like nothing better, Miss Linley, if you would consent. Our dearest Loris would enjoy the company of another female, I vow.”
“But—” Julia began.
“And Lady Alice may come and visit you as often as she desires,” Niclas added quickly. Until he knew that Cadmaran had accepted the loss of Ceridwen, Julia would be staying where Kian’s powers could keep her safe. The only problem was that the suggestion pleased his uncle far too well.
Ffinian straightened and looked at Julia in a fatherly manner. “You’ll be staying at Tylluan until ’tis safe for you to leave, and that’s that. I’ll go now and send word to my beloved Alice, and you’ll see her come the morrow. Come, my lads, and darling Loris. We’ll leave these two lovers alone for a space, for ’tis clear Niclas is longing to kiss his lady fair—”
“Uncle!” Niclas uttered in disbelief, while his cousins laughed, Loris smiled, and Julia blushed hotly.
His uncle merely winked at him. “And is loath to do so before an audience. Welcome to Castle Tylluan, Miss Linley. When you’ve rested up fully from your ordeal we’ll have a grand feast to celebrate your coming.”
“Welcome to you, Miss Linley,” Dyfed said in his usual charming manner, smiling and nodding as he left the chamber, and Kian followed suit, stopping a moment to lift one of Julia’s hands and kiss it. Loris, gathering up her bowl and cloth, said, “I’ll return in half an hour to help you bathe and dress, miss. Water is heating for a proper bath and your clothes have been cleaned. I’ll bring some bread and wine and a thick broth when I come, for I’m sure you must be hungry.”
“They’re wonderful,” Julia murmured when they’d gone. “And you led me to believe they were wild.”
“They’re a pain,” Niclas replied, smiling down at her. “But my uncle was right in one thing. I am longing to kiss you.”
“Are you, Niclas?” She stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers. “Why haven’t you, then?”
“I’ve been too busy being relieved at your waking. You’ve been asleep a long time, Miss Linley.”
She grinned. “Then you’d best make me glad I came to, for I do hate to leave such lovely dreams behind.”
Niclas lowered his mouth toward her own. “I’ll do my very best,” he murmured, “to make you forget them altogether.”
Fourteen
Are you certain you’re feeling well enough to walk, my dear? We can sit here on this bench beneath the tree, if you like. It’s rather shady for such a cool day, but the view is lovely.”
“Oh, no, Aunt,” Julia assured Lady Alice, who was strolling slowly beside her, her arm linked with Julia’s. “It feels good to be out of doors and walking. It was such a strange, long sleep. I feel as if I’ve just returned from a lengthy journey.” She glanced at her aunt. “Do you wish to sit, Aunt Alice? I should be glad to do so if you’d like to stop.”
“For a few moments, perhaps,” Lady Alice said, and Julia thought she detected a hint of relief in her tone. “If you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all.”
Castle Tylluan was set on a hill, and the gardens, which were beautiful, if somewhat wild and overgrown, provided a view of the valley below, where Glen Aur lay.
“It is lovely,” Lady Alice said at last, sighing. “I have lived here for the better part of my life, yet I never grow weary of it. I’m glad you’re able to enjoy this particular view, Julia, for you’ve never seen it before now, often as you’ve come to visit me.”
“It is beautiful,” Julia agreed. “Castle Tylluan was once very grand, was it not?”
Lady Alice nodded. “A long time ago, my dear. Hundreds of years ago it was counted among the finest castles in Wales, but it’s fallen far from that glory, I fear. Ffinian wants to renew its splendor, but, unfortunately,” she said with a chuckle, “he wants to use my money to do it, and I fear I can’t allow that.”
Julia gazed at her with surprise. “You don’t intend to wed him, then?”
Lady Alice looked at her with surprise. “Who, Ffinian? Of course I don’t. What put such an idea into your head, my dear?”
“Well, you did, for one,” Julia replied, much shocked. “Or, rather, your last letter to Aunt Eunice did. I didn’t read it myself, but she told me that you had described Baron Tylluan’s increasingly determined attempts to press you into marriage. You said that you were beginning to grow weary of saying no to the man, so, naturally, Aunt Eunice thought—”
“That I was near to giving in to him simply for the sake of peace?” Lady Alice asked. “Does she truly believe me such a simpleton as that? But I suppose she does, for we’ve seldom agreed upon any matter. I was merely expressing my frustration with Ffinian in that missive. Nothing more. Surely she wasn’t so foolish as to send you all the way to Wales because of a mere letter?”
“Not just because of that,” said Julia. “There was the baron’s behavior, as well. Everyone in London, all of our friends and acquaintances, are gossiping and spreading tales that he’s going to force you to the altar. The rumors are so widespread that we’ve all begun to worry that they were true.”
“Even you?” Lady Alice asked, surprised.
Julia nodded.
“Why, Julia,” Lady Alice scolded, “I know what the family, and especially Eunice, thinks of me, but I never expected that you would believe such nonsense. You have far more sense than that. Why on earth should I marry Ffinian Seymour when my relationship with him suits me very well? I keep him as a lover, and—”
“Aunt!”
“Yes, as my lover,” Lady Alice repeated without a hint of embarrassment, “for I’m not so old as all that, no matter what you or my sister may think, but I certainly don’t wish to take another husband. Not Ffinian or any man. That may change in time, but not now. And as for being forced, I should like to see any man who could get the better of me.”
Embarrassment flushed over Julia from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, a hot, tingling sensation that was distinctly uncomfortable. She felt so foolish. Of course, she knew that Ffinian Seymour and her aunt were lovers; she had known it for months, and had long since gotten over her shock. She could scarcely claim to be surprised that her aunt didn’t need rescuing. It was something that should have been obvious all the way back in London.
Lady Alice was, after all, a Linley. She was strong and bold and stubborn. No one could make her do what she didn’t wish, not Baron Tylluan, and certainly not her family. In fact, s
he had never done what the family told her to do. Ever.
But even for a Linley she was unusual. For instance, she was incredibly beautiful. Not that other Linleys weren’t, for many were. But Lady Alice was beautiful in the same way that silk was sensual. Age had whitened her dark hair, but though she was seventy, little else about her had changed. Her skin was as smooth as a young girl’s and her bright blue eyes were yet undimmed. She . . . was luxuriant, Julia thought, unable to think of a more apt description, and so striking that it still made men stare as she passed by. With wit, charm, and wealth added to the mix, it was no wonder Ffinian Seymour sought Lady Alice as a wife.
“He seems terribly determined to make you change your mind,” Julia said.
“He does,” Lady Alice agreed, patting Julia’s hand, “but, unlike my sister, I’ve had a great deal of experience in handling men, and I do not require the aid of the family in order to do so. Not that I’m sorry you’ve come, dear, for it’s wonderful to see you again, but I do wish you’d not been sent on so foolish and useless an errand.”
Julia stared at her gorgeous aunt in silence, thinking back over the past several days and all that she and Niclas had gone through.
“Niclas is going to hate me,” she said. “And his entire family, too. Especially Lord Graymar.” She groaned and lowered her face into her hands.
“Nonsense,” Lady Alice said reassuringly. “Lord Graymar is a lovely young man, and I quite approve of Niclas Seymour. He’ll make a fine husband, for he clearly adores you, though goodness knows you’ll have a terrible time with the family about it. Linleys are so superior that it’s a wonder they ever find any suitable mates.”
“Aunt—”
“You must follow your heart, my dear, even if it means angering the family. I can tell you from experience that if you love Niclas Seymour, you’ll never regret choosing him over the life your relatives would keep you in. I never for a moment regretted making that same choice when I wed Hueil Morgan. He more than made up for what I lost.” She took Julia’s chin in her hand and looked directly into her eyes. “Eunice and your parents would never understand or agree with that, but you are not like them, my dear. And you never will be.”
“I think you must be right,” Julia said, “for I’ve always been a terrible disappointment. I’ve tried to be what they want, to do what they want, but it seems impossible. I must not be stubborn enough.”
“How foolish,” Aunt Alice said. “All Linleys are stubborn, love. It’s in our blood, regardless of any other peculiarities. Now, I tell you what we’ll do. You’ll stay with me at Glen Aur for the remainder of the season, if you like, for I should enjoy it above all things. Your young man may stay here at Tylluan and you can see each other as often as you wish without any family interference—you must know that once you’re beneath my sister’s eye she’ll never allow the two of you a private moment alone, even when you’re properly betrothed.”
“Niclas isn’t my young man, Aunt. He’s—”
“And then,” Lady Alice went on happily, “perhaps at the end of the summer—for it’s always so dreadfully hot in town, and we’d be far more comfortable spending those months at Glen Aur—we’ll go to London together. I’ll assure your mother and father and Eunice that you and Mister Seymour saved me from Ffinian’s wicked designs, and that if it hadn’t been for your coming to Wales I might have been forced into an unwanted marriage.”
“That would please them no end,” Julia confessed. “Aunt Eunice should love the opportunity to scold you for being so foolish as to have ever come to Wales in the first place.”
Aunt Alice laughed. “Wouldn’t she, though? I can hear her now, and see her expression. She’s always been frightfully angry with me for following my heart. But perhaps she’ll be so pleased with you that she’ll allow you to follow yours with little difficulty. If Eunice will give Niclas Seymour her blessing, your parents will surely follow.”
“You’re so kind to offer to do such a thing for me, Aunt,” Julia said, “but I fear it would do no good. Niclas Seymour is not going to wed me.”
“Of course he is,” her aunt insisted. “I saw it the very moment when I first arrived at Tylluan to visit you while you yet slept. The boy was in such a state, and all his thoughts were of you. He hadn’t taken a moment’s rest while you were insensible, but stayed by your side constantly. It was immediately clear not only to me, but to everyone who saw him, what his feelings for you are. And what yours are for him, for that matter. Every time you hear his name you blush in the most delightfully youthful manner—you’re doing it this very moment. It would be foolish to pretend that you don’t love the boy.”
Tears began to sting at the back of Julia’s eyes, and she drew in a slow breath.
“I’ve loved Niclas Seymour for the past eight years, from the moment I set sight on him in London. It was at a ball, and he was dancing, and I—Well, it doesn’t matter.”
“But it does!” Lady Alice insisted. “Darling, what on earth could possibly keep the two of you apart? You don’t truly care for what the family thinks and he’s not already bound to another.” She paused thoughtfully, then understanding filled her sparkling blue eyes, and she said, in a deep, almost angry tone, “Never tell me it’s because of the magic?”
Julia blinked. “Do you know about that, too, Aunt? It makes sense, of course, for you’ve known Baron Tylluan these many years and haven’t yet asked me why I was in the castle, sleeping for so many days. Anyone unused to such things would have been terribly distraught, I imagine.”
“I knew of the magical families and their ways long before Ffinian and I began our relationship,” her aunt replied. “My own dear Hueil was a sympathetic to such families, as many Welsh are. But how foolish of that boy to let anything so unimportant keep him from marriage. Surely he realizes, after all you’ve been through, that you’d never reveal the Seymours’ secrets.”
“It isn’t that,” she said. “There’s something else. Something inside of him. I can’t explain it to you, for I don’t entirely know myself.”
“Then you must ask him, my dear.”
“I will,” Julia promised. “But please, promise me that you’ll say nothing to Niclas of not needing rescue from Baron Tylluan. He’s come all this way, and for some reason it was very important to him. So important that he went to great trouble to convince Aunt Eunice to accept him as my escort in place of Lord Graymar. And the journey hasn’t been the least simple or easy.”
Lady Alice smiled warmly. “I shall do my best to play the lady in distress. But if it was as important to him as you say, he’s going to realize the truth rather shortly.”
Julia nodded. “I’ll tell him the truth. Tonight. The baron has insisted upon a grand feast with all his men in attendance to welcome me to the castle properly, and as soon as it’s over, I’ll tell him.”
“And afterward?”
“Afterward,” Julia said, “he’ll return to London, and if your kind offer to stay with you during the summer is still open, I’ll come to Glen Aur.”
“Look at them,” Niclas said, standing at the window of his bedchamber, gazing down into the garden where Lady Alice and Julia were slowly strolling, arm in arm. “They have their heads together like two young girls chattering about the latest fashions. I wonder what they’re talking about?”
“It’s been several years since Miss Linley last saw her ladyship,” Abercraf remarked from across the room, where he was deftly folding Niclas’s freshly laundered clothes. “I imagine they have a great deal to discuss.”
“Yes,” Niclas murmured. “Just the events of the last few days will take some time to tell, I imagine. Fortunately, Lady Alice’s late husband, Sir Hueil, was one of our sympathetics, so I doubt she’ll be surprised by what she hears.”
“If not because of that,” said Abercraf, “then certainly from being in company with Baron Tylluan.”
“Very true,” Niclas murmured.
“Miss Linley seems to have come through very well, ju
st as Jane did. I’m afraid, however, that Jane’s quite angry about not being able to remain with Miss Linley. I don’t know how to explain it to her.”
“We went to a great deal of trouble to erase the knowledge of Seymour magic from her memories,” Niclas said. “If Jane were to stay at Tylluan she’d discover it all over again in a very short time. I’m nervous about her being here even for a few hours, although I suppose there’s little chance that she’ll run into my uncle or cousins.”
“No, no, she’s quite busy repairing Miss Linley’s garments and setting her bedchamber to order. It should keep her occupied until Lady Alice is ready to depart.”
Niclas hoped that was the case. Neither Ffinian nor his sons made an effort to hide their talents, with the result that objects flew to their destinations, rather than being retrieved, doors opened without being touched, fires were lit without the help of a match, and, in Dyfed’s case, a voice was heard in one’s head without the use of speech.
Julia had held up remarkably well while being in company with the Tylluan Seymours for the past day and a half. Indeed, she’d not seemed to mind their odd ways at all, and had been readily and warmly received by them in kind. She and Loris appeared to get along especially well, which Niclas knew was a boon for the younger girl; Loris had very little female company at Castle Tylluan.
He only prayed that things would go well tonight, during the feast that Ffinian had been so merrily preparing. Niclas had attended several such feasts, and they had all started well and ended riotously.
“Do you require another draft of potion, sir?” Abercraf asked, offering to refill the empty glass in Niclas’s hand.
“No, thank you,” he replied, and set the glass aside. “It seems to work better than the last few Lord Graymar’s made. And it doesn’t taste quite so bad, either.”
“You do look much improved from yesterday, sir,” said Abercraf, picking up a neckcloth and approaching Niclas. “The rest you took, as well as the potion, appear to have done you a great deal of good.”
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