by M. J. Putney
“I’m so sorry your father is gone,” she said when they were well away from the house. “But he died peacefully at a great age and with those he loved best beside him. That is not a bad way to go.”
“You’re right, of course.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and turned so they could see the towers of the great hall in the moonlight. “But I and my magic caused him great grief.”
“Not so much that he stopped loving you.” She studied how moonlight edged the strong planes of his face. “How do you feel about what happened tonight?”
He shrugged. “I never cared that much about the title.”
“I didn’t ask how you felt about the title, but about the fact that now Kemperton is yours for as long as you live.” She made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the hills and fields and the great sprawling house. “Yours.”
The glow that connected him to the land flared brighter, and he smiled. “That makes me happier than I dreamed possible. Almost as happy as having you.” He turned and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve never asked this formally and we won’t be of age for years, but Tory—will you marry me?”
Her brows arched. “Of course. Was there ever any question?”
“Not really,” he said, his gaze warm. “But I needed the words to be said.”
“Now that they have been—let’s dance on air in honor of your father, a great and good man.” She put one hand on his shoulder and lifted his other hand in dance position, then let her magic flow out to meet his.
He summoned his own power, joining it with hers until they soared together into the air, swooping up toward the moon. Tory laughed aloud as they danced above the green hills of the land that was Justin’s destiny.
“Did you know that there’s a faint glow connecting you to the earth?” he said with an answering laugh. “Kemperton has claimed you as its own.”
So this land was Tory’s destiny as well as Justin’s. “Perhaps someday you can create a sanctuary for lost magelings,” she mused as he guided them back to earth. “A place where people like us but less lucky can find themselves and build a better future.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” They glided back to the ground and he bent his head into a kiss. “And you are the most wonderful girl in the world!”
As their lips met in a kiss of love and promise, Tory knew that his inheritance would not be easy for both of them. But together, they could face anything.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Dark Mirror series isn’t real history—as far as I know, time-traveling teen mages have not been working behind the scenes to make events turn out the way we read it in history books! But the stories do use real history as the raw materials of the plot.
Between 1803 and 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte really did have a ferocious desire to invade England. He said, “All my thoughts are directed towards England. I want only for a favourable wind to plant the Imperial Eagle on the Tower of London.”
So he built up a huge army concentrated around Boulogne and ordered a massive flotilla of ships to be built for the invasion. Needless to say, this upset people in Britain a great deal, and plans were laid to raise militias and even train volunteers to act as guerrillas if the French managed to land troops.
The French did attempt to invade Ireland and raise the Irish against the English, but none of the ships could land at Bantry Bay because of bad weather and rough seas. Weather mages, perhaps?
The invasion of Wales depicted in this book was based on a real invasion that took place in February 1797 near Fishguard in Wales. It’s called “the last invasion of Britain” because the French did successfully land about fourteen hundred troops near Fishguard under the command of an Irish American colonel who had fought Britain during the American Revolution.
When the French troops landed, the local militia, the yeomanry, and many volunteers banded together to mount a defense. After a mere two days, the British commander, Lord Cawdor, managed to bluff the French into surrendering.
It’s possible that the Welshwomen who lined up along the bluffs in their red shawls and tall black hats helped persuade the French to surrender because they looked like scarlet-clad soldiers. In truth, the local troops were many fewer until reinforcements arrived, but the French quickly realized their position was untenable. Surrender was a wise decision, and there were only a handful of casualties.
I used the real town of Carmarthen (which I’ve visited) to stand in for Fishguard, and I apologize for liberties taken. For more information, search “the Battle of Fishguard.” I’m told there is a wonderful tapestry of the invasion exhibited at the Fishguard Town Hall.
Despite Bonaparte’s massive preparations for invasion, in 1805 he dropped his plans to invade Britain and marched the Army of Boulogne, now known as the Grande Armée, east toward Austria. There was not another serious attempt to invade Britain until Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion in World War II, but that didn’t happen, either.
The English Channel may be narrow, but it’s mighty!
ALSO BY M. J. PUTNEY
Dark Mirror
Dark Passage
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. J. Putney is the YA alter ego of New York Times bestselling author Mary Jo Putney. The winner of numerous awards for her historical romances, M. J. is fond of reading, cats, travel, and most of all, great stories. Please visit her on the Web at www.mjputney.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DARK DESTINY. Copyright © 2012 by Mary Jo Putney, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover photographs: girl©Emma Delves-Broughton/Trevillion; tree©Terry Bidgood/Trevillion; castle©Jill Battaglia/Arcangel Images
www.stmartins.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Putney, Mary Jo.
Dark mirror / M. J. Putney.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Sequel to: Dark passage.
Summary: Tory and her friends receive an urgent summons, leading the young mages known as Merlin’s Irregulars to ask Rebecca Weiss, an untrained telepath from 1940, to join them in 1804 and stop Napoleon from invading England.
ISBN 978-0-312-62286-2 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-1-250-02017-8 (e-book)
[1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Space and time—Fiction. 3. Boarding schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. London (England)—History—19th century—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—George III, 1760–1820—Fiction. 7. Napoleonic Wars, 1800–1815—Fiction. 8. France—History—1789–1815—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.P98232Dar 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2012004624
e-ISBN 9781250020178
First Edition: July 2012