The Haunting of Lady Sophie

by Marly Mathews

  “Seraphina. It is Seraphina, Amelia.”

  Amelia looked around and waved her hand, “Hello, Seraphina.”

  Seraphina snorted. “For being magical and part of our family, Amelia is terribly timid when it comes to dealing with my sort. She wasn’t this way when she was little, she used to love me entertaining her back then.”

  “Seraphina wants you to know you were cuter when you were a small child and could actually see her.”

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “Well, some of us do need to grow up,” she muttered.

  “Is that what you call what you’re doing?” Sophie asked.

  “I am seventeen, not twelve,” Amelia muttered. “Alexandra and I can’t expect to be as popular as you are on the social circuit. After all, this is our first season, and unlike you, we have to rely on being seen rather than our reputation as the girl who can see spirits.”

  “You and Alexandra are far prettier than me, Amelia. Believe me, my newfound notoriety on the marriage mart isn’t something I wanted. I wasn’t trying to start a row with you.”

  Amelia’s eyes softened. “Did something magical happen to cause you heartache, Sophie?” She glided further into the room.

  “Lord Redding happened. He did something to change life as I know it, and now I wish that everything could go back to the way it was.”

  Amelia’s eyes narrowed at her. “It didn’t affect me or Alexandra did it? Because if it did, so help me…”

  “No, the two of you are completely unchanged.”

  “Well, thank heavens for that,” she muttered. “Or else I would have had to hex your Lord Redding. Everyone knows he is head over heels for you and that is why Simone has been sulking all day. She was hoping you would accept Beaufort’s advances last night.”

  “His advances?”

  “Why, yes. You were there, weren’t you? He wanted to fill up your dance card with his name, and Redding filled it with his name using magic. Beaufort was awfully upset and Charlotte was mortified. I don’t like to see the two of you at odds. I told Charlotte you don’t want Beau. I assured her that you were doing your very best to deter him, but she won’t have any of it. She thinks you want to have your cake and eat it too, and I can understand why.

  “I mean most expect you to accept a proposal this season, and everyone thinks Simone should have taken one long ago. If she wasn’t so nasty, she probably would have nabbed herself one of the lords of lesser distinction but she can’t expect to hook someone like Redding. He is quite the catch. He is going to be a duke someday, for heaven’s sake!”

  “I am thankful Redding did that for me last night,” Sophie said softly.

  She wasn’t really. She wasn’t thankful for anything that Redding had done for her. She knew he had to do what he’d done by helping out Beaufort, and she knew he hadn’t wanted the resulting complications, as much as he wished for any of his spells to backfire in his face. The only thing they could do now was attempt to make some kind of sense out of the chaos that Beaufort’s being alive caused.

  “I should be dashing away. Maybe if I can’t convince Alexandra to tag along, I could get her to come and keep you and Seraphina company.”

  “I take it Papa is letting you use his precious landau?”

  “Papa knows we must fulfill our social obligations, and besides, I think he is hopeful that he shall finally find a way to unload Simone. She is usually not too overbearing when we go riding in Hyde Park, and you needn’t lecture me about how I should hold my twitchy fingers when it comes to her. I shan’t turn her into a parrot or a pug…”

  “Or a pig with a bonnet on its head, and a pink ribbon around her neck,” Sophie finished for Amelia.

  “She was quite fetching that way, wasn’t she?” Amelia said laughing.

  “Quite,” Sophie confessed, chuckling along with her. “Despite all of that and despite how horrible she can be to all of us, we must attempt to rein in our emotional outbursts around her. Especially given the fact that we might inadvertently reveal ourselves as witches.

  “The world has come a long way from the time when they persecuted us, Amelia. Despite that, we are still forbidden to reveal ourselves to the public, and the Magical Intelligence Agency has a terrible time covering up for our lapses in judgment.”

  “Since when did you go about lauding the talents of the MIA?” Amelia asked. She looked at her as if she were looking right into her soul. “Oh, now I get all of it. Now I understand why you’re running yourself ragged trying to avoid Lord Redding. They have attempted to recruit you, haven’t they?”

  Sophie remained silent. She couldn’t confirm or deny it, given the documents she’d signed, and yet, she needed to confide in someone other than Seraphina.

  “You could say that,” she muttered, attempting to avert Amelia’s gaze.

  “Well, that’s that, then. You shall have to accept the position. They say those that are courted by the MIA rarely get away from them. I won’t be surprised if you’re eventually summoned by the Queen herself. Some say she is a huge supporter of our kind. Maybe you shall find out if that is really true.

  “No wonder Redding is like a bloody dog with a bone. You do know that’s not where his want for you ends, right? He wants you as a wife and a professional partner. I would surrender if I were you, Redding puts me in the mind of the sort who always gets what he wants. Truthfully, I’m a bit envious of you. I would love to be whisked away by someone like Redding who could show me the kind of adventure agents like him see. They even say they get to go to other realms. I wish they knew how to get back to Carn Brea,” Amelia let out a dreamy sigh. “I wish I had your talent to see the dead, maybe they would come courting me, and I could get out of this dreary existence, we all call our lives.”

  Sophie laughed. “Your life is a charmed one, darling sister. Remember that the next time you see those who have to work their fingers to the bone just to have food on their table.”

  “You know what I mean. All of us girls are expected to look pretty and fetch ourselves men with titles and fortunes as our husbands, and yet, Papa knows how difficult it will be for us to catch the right kind of man. Princess Sophie made sure of that.

  “We are more likely to curse ourselves than charm ourselves when hunting for a potential suitor. I feel like I am dancing on cracked glass whenever someone asks me to take a turn with them out on the dance floor. I can’t quite engage myself with them. I feel like I have to put up a wall, and if I find my heart’s desire, and Alexandra doesn’t, then what is the bloody point?”

  “She has something there,” Seraphina muttered. “Fortunately for her and Alexandra, she has me. I will make sure that they all find their heart’s desire, and from what I can see, they are all alive, hearty and hale.”

  “How much can you see, Seraphina?” Sophie asked softly.

  “More than you all need to know or should know, Sophie.” Her eyes filled with sadness and Sophie smiled at her. For one brief moment, the carefree soul she had always known looked as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, and reminded her all too much of herself.

  “I think I should go before Simone leaves without me. I do enjoy our afternoon outings to Hyde Park despite her constant prattling. I shall tell Amelia to come and see you if she manages to convince me to leave her behind.” Alexandra winked at Sophie and in a flash, she had left the room.

  “She has to be careful using that fleet of foot ability of hers. One of these days someone that doesn’t know about our kind is going to catch her using it,” Seraphina sighed heavily.

  “I am going to ring for some tea, my stomach is rumbling with hunger,” Sophie said.

  Seraphina flopped out on her stomach on the bed. “Goodie, you do that and I’ll watch you eat,” Seraphina said, the carefree mischievous glint back in her eyes.

  She was like a little fairy, so impetuous and full of life that at times, Sophie forgot she was dead. “You should have gone out with them, Sophie. Hiding away in this room won’t change the out
side world. You will have to be satisfied with licking your wounds at some point, and take life by the horns, and just deal with the fact that you are meant for Lord Redding.

  “Beaufort will tire of you eventually. He is just besotted with you right now. His heart will eventually lead him to the woman he is meant for, trust me on that one.”

  “And how pray tell do I deal with him in the meantime?” Sophie asked tiredly.

  “Flirt with him a little bit, and do what he wants you to do, Sophie. Bridge the gap for him between the mortal world and the world where his father dwells. Once his father tells him that you are destined for another, he will change his mind and his ways, and he shall leave you be. It is as simple as that.

  Until then, enjoy being alive, young and beautiful. Never forget to enjoy the fact that you are wanted. Even if Redding is the only man that can truly give you a world of happiness that doesn’t mean you can’t revel in the fact that you are desired.”

  “Did you dance with scandal this way when you were alive, Seraphina?”

  Seraphina looked away from her. “I danced with disaster when I was alive, Sophie, and I have stuck around to make sure that I do all I can to ensure my fate doesn’t become the fate of future FitzCharleses. My grandmother couldn’t have known what she was doing when she placed that blood curse on our family. Sometimes, I wish her heart had never led her down that path. If she had never fallen in love with the wrong man, we wouldn’t be paying so dearly for her folly.”

  “If she hadn’t fallen for the wrong man, we wouldn’t be around to rue the fact that she enchanted the Dragonwyck Ruby to begin with,” Sophie pointed out.

  “She was always destined to have three children,” Seraphina muttered, giving her a shocked glance, as if she had set too much this time around.

  In fact, Seraphina was a fountain of information if you caught her in the right mood. Her normal flighty and sarcastic personality was not open to gleaning insight from—but the way she was with Sophie today made her so much more open to telling her exactly what she wanted to—needed to know.

  “Anyway, if I had your life I could probably defend my dear Grandmother as well.”

  “So you knew her?”

  “Of course I didn’t,” Seraphina snorted. “She passed away from pining over my wicked Grandfather, didn’t you know that? She died long before I was born, poor thing. Some in the family said that she actually returned to Carn Brea, but my father swore that she had actually died.

  “I think my brother vaguely remembered her, but to be honest it has been a long time since I have been able to hear dear Charles speak. I knew a version of her, and she was the loveliest creature you would ever want to meet. She was a lot like you, actually, Sophie. Unfortunately, she also died with a broken heart.”

  “And you think that will happen to me as well unless I stop pushing Redding away?”

  “I don’t think it, Sophie, I know it. Rupert is your match whether you like it or not. You could do worse. You could be saddled with the man that is destined for Simone. I will share a secret with you, dearest.

  “Simone is going to get all that she deserves when she finally marries her intended. He is going to make her toe the line if she attempts to behave like a spoiled little shrew around him. He is a hard man with a good heart, but I tell you I don’t think she will see that soft part of him very often if she acts like a little prissy thing around him. He just won’t put up with it as some men would.”

  “I still can’t understand why she turned out the way she did. She was raised the same way the rest of us were raised. If anything, she was favoured by Papa over the rest of us.”

  “She didn’t have the gift of magic that all of you had. It is there hidden deep within her, but she doesn’t have the ability to nurture it and help it grow. She will have her limitations. Alas, she compounds her limitations by not being able to open her heart the way she needs to in order to become the only kind of witch she can be.”

  “Sometimes, Seraphina, you remind me of just how wise you are compared to us, and then sometimes, you make me wish you never existed,” Sophie sighed heavily.

  Seraphina smiled widely at her. “That is my lot in this life. I might annoy you witless, and tease you senseless, but no matter what happens between us, Sophie, I shall always be there for you just like I should have been there for you before.”

  Sophie stared at her long and hard. “What do you mean, Seraphina? I can’t recall a time when you were not right behind me nagging me into a frustrated mess of a soul.”

  Seraphina’s eyes grew distant, and filled with forlorn sorrow. “I am getting too maudlin for my own good. I should go now and see what else the house spirits are doing. You should get some more rest. You have got dark shadows under your eyes, my dear.”

  Seraphina literally ran out of the room, leaving Sophie with a hollow feeling in her heart. A timid knock on the door told her that Amelia had not been able to coax Alexandra into going along with her.

  “Come in, Alexandra,” she said, sighing heavily.

  She was still tired and had been getting ready to get some more sleep. Something she wouldn’t be able to indulge in, now that Alexandra had sought out her company.

  Alexandra opened the door and stood on the threshold, as if she didn’t know if she had the right to walk over it.

  “Come in and stop standing there like little girl lost,” Sophie said, getting off the bed to meet her sister.

  “It is quite chilly in here,” Alexandra said, rubbing her bare arms. “Were you just speaking to one of your spirits?” she asked, looking around with sheer curiosity on her face. “We should ring for some tea, and maybe some of Mrs. Perry’s delicious scones, with some clotted cream and strawberry jam.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she said.

  She had told Seraphina that she was going to ring for some food and had quickly forgotten about it. Her head was so full of things she wished she could stop thinking about. She was also still wondering what Seraphina had meant when she said she had let her down before. She had to cast her worries aside.

  Even though she had two men chasing her, and ghosts monitoring her every move. Somehow for one blissful afternoon and night, she just had to forget it all.

  Chapter Five

  Nights haunted Sophie.

  As the clocks throughout the Mayfair mansion chimed midnight, the spiritual activity would start in bone chilling earnest. That was probably why she spent the days usually sleeping. The nights consistently kept her awake.

  During the daylight hours, the ghosts roaming the house were strangely conservative in their movements. Unless of course, they decided to have a bit of fun with Sophie and at that point, the gloves came off and her life became a satirical affair created by the spirits of her ancestors that still inhabited Rayne House. Although to be fair, Seraphina had mostly behaved herself since the death of Sylvie.

  Sophie had spent the rest of the day chatting way with Alexandra and the two of them had fallen asleep early with Alexandra by her side after they’d spent most of the night playing cards.

  Amelia had come by once to see what Alexandra was doing and had left to go down to their dinner party as their mother and father were entertaining a few friends of theirs.

  “What do you want now?” Sophie called out into the darkness. Fortunately, Alexandra was a deep sleeper, and her calling out hadn’t roused her—yet.

  Gooseflesh pebbled along her arms. She rubbed them briskly, and sat up in bed. If only she could somehow shut them out. She could hear them whispering to her within the house, and even from outside of the house.

  She clapped her hands over her ears.

  “Please, do be quiet! I can’t help you all. There are too many of you and only one of me! Leave me alone!” she whispered loudly.

  Alexandra mumbled in her sleep. “What…” she said sleepily, and then she fell back asleep.

  The spirits were unusually restless tonight. Sophie looked to her window. No wonder she was chilled straig
ht through to the bone. Some daft person had left it open, or a spirit had decided to push it open using their powers over the living world to do so.

  No fire crackled in the hearth. And the room was so cold they would need one, which, was unusual for this time of the year.

  Directing her attention to the fireplace, she snapped her fingers and smiled jubilantly when it lit with a warm glow. Soon, the room would be nice and toasty again.

  Reaching for her dressing gown, she slipped into it and got out of her high four poster bed, leaving Alexandra alone and sleeping soundly. Thank goodness she was a heavy sleeper. Amelia sometimes joked that Alexandra could sleep like the dead, but she hadn’t made that particular quip for a long time.

  Magical moonlight spilled in through the open window illuminating the room in a ghostly hue, adding to the spookiness already permeating the air.

  An ethereal dreamy sigh drifted to her.

  The ghosts of Rayne House never slept. They were active again, prowling through the Georgian townhouse like the bloody residents they were. She’d had enough of dealing with ghostly affairs over the last few days to last her a bloody lifetime, and sometimes wished they would not continue to pursue her when she was in her own bedchamber. Drowning out the voices of the spirits was hard at the best of times, and as she wasn’t exactly at her top form right now, she felt it quite hard to ignore, and extremely annoying!

  Swallowing thickly, she took a hesitant step toward the window. She had to get it closed. The night air was damp and it would cause them to catch their death!

  That was all she needed, to die and join their ghostly party. She groaned, and waved her arm. The window magically closed and latched shut. Smiling serenely, she turned back to climb into her bed when the window flew open again.