“Only three days after I met you.” Olivia’s hands clenched around her skirts. “I…already knew, you see. But I thought…”
“Mm.” He nodded briskly, still pacing, as if that were only one more piece of interesting information being added to a challenging puzzle he’d already begun to solve. “Of course you did. Your father left, your mother died, your aunt loudly loathed being forced to take you and your sister in…” He shrugged, his voice sounding bizarrely calm as he took another sharp turn by the far sofa. “Why should you ever assume that anyone else would ever want you, without a bit of magical assistance to push them in the right direction?”
Olivia didn’t answer that question. She couldn’t.
Was it any consolation to discover, after all, that he’d truly known her, too?
George reached up to tug hard at the long lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “Tell me…” He came to a halt in front of her, his head tilted. “When, exactly, did you break this spell?”
Of course he must know it had been broken by now. It was only logical, after all: if he were still spellcast, he would be forced to love her no matter what terrible truths he discovered about her. Whereas, the way he must be feeling now…
Olivia set her jaw hard. “Last night,” she whispered.
She had known exactly what she had to do then, when her magical mentor—her almost-father—had looked into her face for the final time and said, “Olivia, what have you done to him?”
And the realization that had come crashing over her…
The pain of it rippled through her all over again.
She’d wanted so badly to be loved.
But what she’d done to achieve it…
“I see,” said George in calm confirmation. “So you broke the spell, you were found out for your witchcraft by Lydia Haverford—even before you broke that spell, possibly?”
She nodded, mute with shame.
“And now you’re utterly ruined. Well, in that case…” George finally came to a halt in front of her, tipping his head to look down at her with an expression of cool analysis. “There’s only one difficulty with your theory, Olivia.”
“Oh?” She blinked the stupid, useless tears back from her eyes and forced herself to meet his gaze full-on. “What theory?”
“Your theory,” he said, “that you’ve done me a terrible disservice and must now release me for my own good.” Astonishingly, one end of his wide, clever mouth curled upward into a half-smile of…could that actually be tenderness?
She held her breath. Of course he would be gentle about their parting. George was always gentle. And yet…
“You cast the spell three days after you met me,” he told her, “but unfortunately, you were rather too late.” The other end of his lips curled upwards as he reached out to brush the tips of his fingers, feather-light, against her cheek. “You see, Olivia Amberson, I fell in love with you the very first night that we met. So I’m afraid that your terribly shocking love spell had no effect on me at all.”
Olivia stared at him. Her skin tingled where his fingers had brushed against it.
“But…” she began in a bare whisper of sound.
George shrugged, lacing his hands together behind his back. “Of course I’d be extremely interested in hearing the theory behind your spell, if you’d ever care to explain it, but I’m afraid I can’t recollect a single change in my feelings that occurred after that third day. What I can quite clearly recollect, and what my supervisor at St. John’s will corroborate if you need any further evidence…”
He leaned closer, until the words whispered into her ear like a spell. “…Is that the very first morning after I met you, I wrote him a letter, alerting him to the fact that I would need to give up my fellowship at the college as soon as possible…because I’d met the woman I desperately desired to marry. And the only question in my mind, by then, was whether or not you’d ever be foolish enough to accept me.”
“Wha—? No!” Olivia shook her head, her gaze clinging to his as her chest squeezed tight. “That’s not possible,” she said through her teeth. “It can’t be!”
“No?” He smiled down at her, shockingly confident. “I’ll ask him to send you the letter, if you like.”
“That’s not what I meant at all!” She pulled away from him, taking two rapid steps into the room as she fought for distance, to clear her head. “If that truly is what happened…” She squeezed her eyes shut, battling the burning pain that wanted to overwhelm her.
If she’d only had faith, all those months ago…if only she hadn’t taken that one reckless step and ruined everything…
“You can’t marry me now,” she said with finality, spinning around to face him. “You know you cannot, no matter how you might feel! Lydia Haverford is about to publicly expose me as a witch. What sort of a career in the Church do you think that revelation about your wife would win you?”
He shrugged. “It would be rather unusual, certainly, but as I’ve already secured a post…”
“That was only a starting position and you know it.” She waved one hand in desperation at him. “Just look at you! You’re brilliant, you’re handsome, and you have everything ahead of you. You know you were meant to advance further in life! You should be a bishop by the time you’re forty. You can’t shackle yourself to a known magic-worker like me!”
“Can’t I?” He was still smiling at her. How could he be smiling? “What if I married my heart’s delight, then?” he asked mildly. “Instead of shackling myself to anybody?”
“George!” The word rose to a near-shriek; she clapped a hand to her mouth, with a guilty look up at the too-thin ceiling. Then she hissed: “George! You’re supposed to be clever, remember? You don’t have to do this to yourself!”
“I know I don’t.” He spoke with the same calm certainty that he might have used in discussing the time of day. “But you know, I am rather clever, as you’ve mentioned. And that’s why I know one thing for certain: I’m going to love you for the rest of my life, Olivia Amberson. And that is a magic I’ve no interest in losing.”
He’d always been so careful with her. So respectful.
But as she stood gaping at him now, he took one quick stride and yanked her against his tall, lanky frame in a way that felt remarkably shocking.
And then…
Well!
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who had spun a certain sort of fantasy, these past few months.
When she finally emerged for breath, some minutes later, her whole body felt as melted as custard, nestled into him. And she had been right about one thing after all: they truly did fit perfectly together.
“Oh, George,” Olivia sighed against the shoulder of his unfashionable brown morning coat. She didn’t even try to hold her tears back anymore. They slid down her face, free at last after everything she’d gone through. “You really are a fool to marry me, you know.”
His smile sounded in his voice as he rested his cheek against her powdered hair. “I’d be more of a fool to let you go,” he told her. “Can you only imagine what remarkable children we’ll have together?”
She let out a burst of tear-choked laughter at that thought.
Two impractical, passionate parents, no prospects whatsoever on either side, and a generous heaping of inherited magical skills…
Any children they ever had together would be terrifying.
…Or perfect.
…Or, quite possibly, both.
“I can’t wait to find out,” she told him sincerely.
Olivia Amberson had lost so much within the past twenty-four hours that the after-effects would ripple through the rest of her life.
But at this particular moment, as she thought about her future, it was impossible not to smile.
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
For fans of the Kat, Incorrigible series: The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart is the beginning of a sparkling new MG fantasy series!
The Bookseller calls it an �
�irresistible fantasy adventure”; School Library Journal calls it “a delicious fantasy treat that will satisfy readers who hunger for feel-good tales that pack a girl-power punch, like Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted or the movie Moana”; and Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, calling it “A gloriously fresh story to be read with a steaming cup of chocolate at hand.”
When fierce young dragon Aventurine is tricked into drinking enchanted hot chocolate, she’s horrified to find herself transformed into a puny, blunt-toothed, wingless human girl. But she’s still a dragon on the inside, and her instincts – combined with her new-found passion for chocolate – take her to the Chocolate Heart, a quirky chocolate house in need of help (and customers). Still, it will take all her courage, lots of chocolate and perhaps a little magic to learn to be her true self…
Published by Bloomsbury UK on February 9, 2017, by Bloomsbury Australia on March 1, 2017, and by Bloomsbury US in North America on May 30, 2017.
Read the first chapter or order it online now.
Courting Magic
*
In Kat Stephenson’s Regency England, magic is even more shocking than a stolen kiss. But now that she’s eighteen, it’s time for wild and magical Kat to be introduced to high society by her older sisters, whether she likes it or not…and to finally have a romance of her own!
Of course, her true love is hopelessly ineligible. But when has Kat ever let Society’s opinion stop her from making up her own mind? Once she realizes she’s found her perfect match, she’s not going to let anything or anyone stand in their way - even if she does have to solve a magical mystery, matchmake for an old friend, and break a few rules along the way!
Courting Magic is a sparkling 34,000-word Regency novella set in the world of Kat, Incorrigible.
“It is a blast of fresh air, pure romantic joy.” - Gail Carriger, author of the Parasol Protectorate series and the Finishing School series
Available as an ebook on most platforms.
About the Author
*
Stephanie Burgis has lived in Michigan, Vienna, and Yorkshire, and now lives in Wales, surrounded by castles and coffee shops, with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their two children, their very vocal tabby cat, and thousands of books. She writes fun, funny MG fantasy novels and wildly romantic novels for adults, as well as a wide range of short fiction.
Her first MG fantasy trilogy began with Kat, Incorrigible, which won the Waverton Good Reads Award for Best Début Children’s Novel by a British Author. Her latest book is The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (published by Bloomsbury in February 2017 in the UK, March 2017 in Australia, and May 30, 2017 in the U.S. and Canada).
You can read more about her and her books and short stories on her website, or sign up to her newsletter to get notifications of new books and stories.
Copyright © 2017 by Stephanie Burgis Samphire
All rights reserved.
www.stephanieburgis.com
Cover design by Another World Designs
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Forbidden Magic (A Prequel to the Kat, Incorrigible Series) Page 2