Magic In The Storm

by Meredith Bond

“How will you know if they are the right person?”

  “My friend, Mr. Nestor told me of a stout gentleman with a rolling voice who led a coven meeting he attended not too long ago. Nestor was certain that the man was both a member of the aristocracy and a powerful Vallen. He thought the gentleman was very knowledgeable and would, most probably, be able to help me.”

  Adriana looked up at him with a gleam of hope in her eyes. “But that is wonderful. What is his name?”

  “He didn’t know.”

  “Oh.” Her face fell and she knitted her brows in thought. “Stout with a rolling voice. My goodness, that could be anyone of—oh, of a hundred men.”

  “Yes. Well, at least it is something to start with,” Morgan said, trying to look on the bright side of things, even as he looked around the room once again. He had noticed on his first glance around that there were, indeed, quite a few stout gentlemen who could fit the description Nestor had given him.

  Adriana took a deep breath. “Well, I suppose you will just have to meet every gentlemen of that description.”

  “Me?” Morgan said, his voice suddenly a bit hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. “You mean us, don’t you?”

  Adriana shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I mean you. I cannot simply walk up to a strange gentleman and introduce myself. It’s not done. However, you can because you are a man.”

  Morgan thought about this for a moment. “Society’s rules are very restricting for women.”

  “Yes, they are. And I would be more than happy to be able to turn my back on it all and disappear into some village to spend the rest of my life painting. Unfortunately, I can’t do that,” she said with a heavy sigh.

  “Why not?”

  Adriana smiled up at him a little sadly. “Well, first of all, I am not a woman of independent means—I don’t have the money.”

  Morgan did not get a chance to respond, for a handsome blond gentleman strolled up to them just at that moment.

  “Good evening, Miss Hayden,” he said, bowing to Adriana.

  “Oh, good evening, my lord. How nice to see you this evening. May I present Mr. Morgan Vallentyn? Mr. Vallentyn, this is Lord Freeston who has worked with Lord Devaux in Parliament for many years.”

  Morgan bowed. This must be one of the men Adriana had told him about when they had been together in the forest. Morgan worked hard to keep his smile small and innocent—was this one of the pompous men who thought the country would fall to ruin without them, or one of those who belittled her with his comments, he wondered.

  Lord Freeston then said, “I am surprised to see you here, Miss Hayden. It is so rare we are graced with your presence at a ton party. Is Lord Devaux here this evening?”

  Adriana gave a little laugh. “You mean you never see me at ton parties. No, Lord Devaux could not make it this evening. You know how little he likes these sorts of things.”

  “I have heard the same of you, and yet here you are,” Lord Freeston said, with a small smile playing on his lips.

  “Indeed.” She gave a little shrug of her shoulders as if to say she couldn’t help but be there.

  The gentleman laughed, but before he could say anything more Adriana asked, “Perhaps you can help us, my lord?”

  “Of course, Miss Hayden. For you, I would do nearly anything,” he said, giving her a warm smile.

  Morgan bristled, but held his tongue firmly between his teeth.

  “Mr. Vallentyn was particularly desirous of meeting a gentleman who made a very favorable impression on him the other day when he was out riding. I promised I would help him find the gentleman in question, but now I find I may not be able to live up to my word.”

  “Oh?” Lord Freeston turned to look at Morgan.

  “Er, yes. I was out riding the other day and a rather stout gentleman with a wonderful rolling voice, er,” Morgan thought quickly—something admirable... “The gentleman saved my dog from getting hit in the street.” Morgan ignored the tickle of sweat that was making its way down his back. He just wasn’t good at lying, and yet, he’d needed to do so disturbingly often since he’d come to London. “I wanted to thank him, but he drove off before I could do so. Adr... er, Miss Hayden suggested I might find the gentleman here, this evening.”

  Adriana nodded approvingly, and then turned to Lord Freeston and gave him a most beguiling smile. “Do you think you might be able to introduce Mr. Vallentyn to a few gentlemen who fit that description? He so desperately wants to thank the kind gentleman.”

  Lord Freeston gave Adriana a look that made Morgan’s blood boil. He bit down harder on his tongue. Taking her hand, Lord Freeston placed a kiss on the back of it, and then continued to hold it in a most intimate way while he said, “Miss Hayden, for you, I would be happy to be of service to Mr. Vallentyn.”

  And then Adriana did something that made Morgan feel he was about to explode with fury—she giggled! And not only that, she batted her eyelashes at the damned popinjay!

  “That is so good of you, my lord. Thank you.”

  Morgan tasted blood in his mouth.

  Reluctantly letting go of Adriana’s hand, the fool then turned to Morgan and asked, “What does the gentleman look like?”

  Morgan unclenched his jaw and said in clipped tones, “I’m not entirely certain, since I only got a glimpse of him. But I know that he is quite stout and has dark hair.”

  Lord Freeston frowned. “Well, that is not very helpful. There are quite a number of large dark–haired gentlemen present here this evening.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Well, perhaps you could introduce Mr. Vallentyn to a few of them, my lord? And maybe one would remember the incident.”

  Lord Freeston shrugged. “Yes, all right, very well.” He moved off toward the closest stout gentleman present.

  Adriana hung back a bit with Morgan and whispered, “How are you going to tell?”

  “I don’t know. The only other Vallen I know recognized me by my name, so perhaps this person will too.” Morgan wished he could call Adriana to task for giggling and batting her eyelashes at Freeston, but before he could say anything she stepped ahead of him and walked up to a large man with whom Freeston was speaking.

  Five gentlemen later, they were no closer to finding the Vallen. None of the men reacted in any way to the Vallentyn name, and short of asking them straight out, Morgan really had no idea how to tell if someone was a Vallen or not. His positive attitude was fading fast. If they didn’t meet someone soon, he was nearly ready to give up this idea and try something else.

  And he was becoming extremely self–conscious. Every time he looked around, someone—or at times, quite a few people at once—were staring at him. He wondered if he had inadvertently untied his neck cloth or was committing some sort of faux pas.

  They were speaking with a Lord Merseywell, a portly gentleman with a very high squeaky voice—definitely not rolling at all—when Morgan had a horrible creeping sensation slowly walk up his spine.

  Twenty Three

  Morgan knew that sensation too well. He spun around and found his oldest sister, Mary, staring at him malevolently from across the room. She was standing next to two more of his sisters, Elizabeth and Caroline, although Caroline was turned and looking in another direction. They blended in so well with the other party–goers, he almost hadn’t seen them. This was definitely their element, he thought with a little inward laugh.

  “I am terribly sorry, I see someone I must speak with,” Morgan said, cutting the man off from telling a long and involved tale of how he once saved a goat from being run over by a curricle in the middle of Hyde Park. “Please excuse me.”

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his sisters—it had to be two years at least. Yes, it must have been that. It was two years ago that Caroline, the youngest of his five sisters was married. He had watched the wedding through the chapel window since his mother hadn’t allowed him to attend. At least she’d allowed him out of the forest for the day. It was the last time
he’d been out of the Vallentyn forest—until only a week ago.

  “What are you doing here?” Mary hissed, after he had bowed formally to the three of them.

  “Does Mama know you are in London?” Elizabeth asked with enough venom in her voice to kill a horse.

  “Oh, Morgan, what a surprise!” Caroline said, vacantly. Morgan stifled a laugh—his sisters never changed!

  “Morgan?” Adriana had joined them, and was now looking curiously at him. He gave her an apologetic smile.

  “Miss Adriana Hayden, may I present three of my sisters, Mary, Lady Broughtworth; Elizabeth, Lady Fenton; and Caroline, the Duchess of Stirling.”

  Adriana curtsied, her eyes wide with curiosity. “How do you do?”

  His sisters each nodded to her in turn, and then turned back to him for some explanation. Morgan took a deep breath. “Yes, our mother is aware I’m here in London,” he said to Elizabeth. “But I do not believe I need to account to you for my whereabouts,” he directed to Mary. It was a shame that Mary tried to be an exact replica of their mother—especially when she didn’t have the power to back up the arrogance.

  “But I thought you couldn’t leave Vallentyn,” Caroline said airily.

  He gave her a little smile, Caro had always been his favorite sister. “I managed to break through Mother’s curse.”

  Mary and Elizabeth gave Adriana a look, but she looked more concerned than shocked at the mention of the curse.

  “Really?” Caroline replied, not noticing what her sisters were doing right away, and giving him a little smile of encouragement.

  Mary shrugged, and turned her scowl back to Morgan. Elizabeth too, clearly decided to ignore Adriana, and narrowed her eyes as she turned back toward him. Noticing her sister’s expressions, Caroline quickly adopted an angry, disbelieving stance as well. Morgan had to stifle another laugh.

  “I don’t believe you. You are not strong enough!” Elizabeth said, with a lift of her chin.

  “Believe what you will,” Morgan shrugged.

  “It was Kat wasn’t it? That little traitor...” Mary hissed.

  Morgan turned on her. “Kat had nothing to do with it.”

  “She is always taking your side, and sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong,” Mary said through clenched teeth. “She had no right to live with us at all. I cannot see why Mother took her in the way she did.”

  Morgan gave a little laugh. “You know very well why she did so. If any of you had shown the least inclination you might be harboring magical powers... but none of you did.” Morgan knew that Kat’s special place in the family’s birth order had to do with it as well, but he just wanted to goad his sisters. After a lifetime of dealing with their teasing of him, it was nice to have an opportunity to do a little teasing of his own.

  “I have powers!” Mary said, indignantly.

  “As do I,” Elizabeth added. “I’m more powerful than...”

  “Not more powerful than Kat,” Morgan reminded her.

  There was nothing she could say to that, for they all knew it was the truth.

  “So it was she who let you out of the forest. Does Mother know?” Mary asked, crossing her arms and giving Morgan a mean little smile.

  He looked at her in silent contempt for a moment. “No. I told you. I broke through Mother’s curse on my own.”

  “But you are the least powerful of any of us. You couldn’t have,” Elizabeth sneered.

  “Morgan’s powers are growing,” Adriana said with open honesty. Morgan was warmed by her tone, which, of course, held not a drop of anger or bitterness with which his two oldest sisters imbued everything they said.

  The three women turned to look at her. Elizabeth pursed her lips together before turning them up into a sneer. “And what would you know of it?”

  Adriana gave a little shrug. “Not much, only that he was able to protect both himself and me from his mother the other night.” She gave a little shudder.

  “You didn’t!” Mary hissed, her pale blue eyes going wide with shock and disbelief.

  Morgan had not wanted to tell his sisters so much, but now that it was out, there was nothing he could do but to confirm what Adriana said. He nodded.

  “Where did you get the power, Morgan?” Caroline asked, innocently.

  He gave her a little smile. Her vacantly pretty face looked up at him so innocently that he couldn’t help but tell her the truth. “I don’t know. I’ve just suddenly been able to do things I couldn’t do before. I am trying to find out how and why this is happening, but so far I haven’t had any luck.”

  “Just like that, your powers have increased,” Mary asked, folding her arms across her narrow chest.

  “Yes.”

  Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. He could tell that she was fighting the urge to copy Mary’s stance. Her arms twitched, but she held them firmly at her sides. “I don’t believe you. That can’t happen.”

  “You must have done something,” Mary added.

  “No. I assure you...”

  “Tell me what you did, Morgan, or I’ll...”

  “What? What are you going to do, Mary? Tell Mother? She already knows. And you aren’t powerful enough to do anything to me, I assure you.”

  Mary flushed bright red. “Just you wait, Morgan Vallentyn, I will have my revenge on both you and that usurper, Kat! I’ll find out how you increased your powers and when I do, you will both be very sorry. I will become the most powerful...”

  “Keep your voice down!” Elizabeth whispered fiercely to her sister, who clearly had completely forgotten that they were standing in the middle of a public party.

  “Mary, you will do nothing of the sort, and you know it,” Morgan said softly, willing his sister to calm herself.

  Mary silently raged at him, but slowly she did calm down.

  Morgan gave a nod of approval. “I do hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.” He then turned and, taking Adriana’s elbow, led her away.

  He needed a break. He felt like a cat with its fur ruffled the wrong way. He just wanted to shake the image of his three sisters out of his mind.

  But Adriana wasn’t going to let him. “So those are three of your sisters” she said, thoughtfully as they walked away.

  “I actually have five.”

  “Yes, Kat told me that once. Well, she told me Lord Vallentyn had five sisters, but as you are his brother, I assumed the same of you. Do you have more brothers?”

  Morgan sighed. “No, there are just the seven of us. I am the youngest,” he said, anticipating her next question.

  “I’m surprised you weren’t doted upon.”

  Morgan had to laugh at that. “Quite the opposite.”

  “Yes, I could see that,” she said quietly.

  They found the dining room where refreshments were laid out for guests to help themselves.

  “Having been an only child, I always envied children who came from large families,” she said, helping herself to some sort of savory cakes. “But now that I’ve seen you with your sisters, I almost wonder if I didn’t have an easier time without any siblings.”

  Morgan laughed, and helped himself to some food as well. “I did my best to avoid my brother and sisters when I was growing up, so in a way I was an only child as well.”

  “How could you not meet them? Did you grow up living in your little cottage in the woods?”

  “No, but I had my own room which was apart from the rest of the family’s rooms. I didn’t move out of the abbey until I was sixteen.”

  “Why did you move out?” Adriana asked, picking up a glass of lemonade, and moving toward a table in order to sit down.

  “My mother insisted upon it,” Morgan said, following her. “It was more comfortable for everyone once I was living in the woods.” He deliberately did not mention the unpleasant incident with his mother and second youngest sister, Susan, which led to his being banished from the abbey.

  A rather stout gentleman with a booming voice sat down at the table next to where
they were seated. Immediately, Morgan’s attention was caught. Could this be his Vallen? He certainly had what could be classified as a rolling voice.

  Morgan looked at Adriana, who was also looking at the gentleman—in fact, he was so loud that he had caught the attention of many of the other guests in the room.

  “Excuse me for a moment,” Morgan said. Adriana nodded and gave him a hopeful smile.

  Morgan’s excitement level rose as he approached this gentleman. For the first time all evening, he thought he might actually have a hope of finding out where his powers came from, and where his destiny might lie. Surely, this must be the man he’d been looking for. He was a large man, with an equally large voice who moved and spoke with great self–assurance as if he were someone very important.

  “I beg your pardon,” Morgan said, as he approached the other table. The man had just taken a large bite of his fish cake, but he looked up enquiringly at Morgan.

  “My name is Vallentyn, Morgan Vallentyn,” Morgan said with great meaning.

  The man looked at him blankly.

  “Have you, possibly, heard of my family?” Morgan asked a little hesitantly.

  The man finished swallowing, wiped the corners of his mouth delicately with a napkin, and then shook his head, sending his many chins wobbling. “No. Should I?”

  “Er, I had hoped that you would. You see, I am looking for a gentleman who matches your description.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. He was seen at a meeting a few weeks ago near London Fields.”

  The man shook his head again. “Haven’t been to any meetings out there.” He then leaned closer to Morgan who bent down to hear what he said. “Wasn’t a secret sort of meeting, was it?” the man whispered.

  “Yes!” Morgan whispered back, becoming very excited. Maybe this was his man, after all.

  “Lots of young females? Virgins? I’ve heard of those meetings. Didn’t know they held ‘em out in the fields though. Somehow thought they were in basements and cellars and such.” The man whispered to him, giggling a little.

  Morgan feeling his stomach begin to churn a little, sighed and straightened up. “No, I’m sorry, it wasn’t that sort of meeting.”