by Lucia Ashta
I looked the lady’s maid up and down. She did look well... too well. Every one of her blonde hairs was in place, secured with her great-grandmother’s hairpin, I noticed. Her eyes were clear and alert, her posture straight and strong.
She looked nothing like the frightened and traumatized young woman of yesterday. It wasn’t possible.
But then, in a castle bustling with magicians, ‘possible’ was a malleable concept. Short of reviving the dead, it seemed anything was possible.
“How was your day yesterday?” I hedged.
“Quite lovely, Milady, thank you. I went into town and spent a wonderful day doing not much of anything. The weather was perfect for it. You gave me the day off, don’t you remember?”
No, I didn’t remember—and obviously neither did she. I wondered who of all of them had modified her memories, something I hadn’t realized could be done.
Anna had been drawing the blinds and popping open the window, but she stopped to study me. “Are you sure you’re well, Milady?”
I smiled to reassure her. “Yes, yes, I’m wonderful.” I realized I was better knowing that memories of Washur and Mirvela wouldn’t haunt her. “I’d like to hurry up and join the others for breakfast downstairs.”
“Oh it’s past the hour to break your fast, Milady. It will soon be time for luncheon.”
“Really? I hadn’t realized I slept that long.” I hurried out of bed, already peeling off my nightgown.
“I was surprised too, Milady. Nothing you did yesterday was strenuous enough to exhaust you like this. But then, sometimes you need extra rest to ward off an illness, and maybe that’s all it is.”
“You’re right, Anna, that does happen sometimes.” My honesty was important, and this was something I could say in truth.
“What do you wish to wear today?”
“Oh whatever, you choose.” I’d never cared much for the trivialities of the aristocracy. Now that I had magic, I cared even less, though I did miss my lady’s maid from Norland Manor. Maggie had become a friend to me, and she’d always enjoyed selecting my outfits. I’d led the life she wished for, while I’d wanted nothing to do with it.
Life was funny like that. It rarely gave you what you wanted easily, and sometimes it gave you what you wanted in the disguise of what you didn’t.
Here I was, soon to marry a count who’d control two large estates, Bundry and Irele. It was my parents’ dream for me—mostly because of what a situation like this could have once done for them—but it wasn’t what I’d wanted.
Until I met Marcelo, who just happened to be a count. He hadn’t come by his titles easily, and nothing about our courtship had been easy either.
But our love for each other was solid. As Mordecai’s runes had predicted, our love possessed a powerful magic of its own.
Marcelo was already a strong magician, and I was gaining my strength. Together, once we became one, we’d achieve the next level. It was unavoidable. Just like he and I joining.
I hovered around Anna impatiently. I had a man to see.
“You’re quite anxious today, Milady. Is it because you want to see that handsome betrothed of yours?” Anna blushed as she realized her impertinence.
But I didn’t care. It only made me miss Maggie and her forthcoming nature more. “It is indeed Marcelo I wish to see,” I said. “He and I are to be married soon. We’ve decided it.”
“Oh yes, I know, it’s all I’ve been hearing about all morning long.” Anna closed her mouth abruptly.
“Oh really? That’s surprising. What have you been hearing?”
“Oh it’s nothing, Milady. I shouldn’t have said a thing.”
That part I believed. Anna clearly said something she didn’t mean to, and it definitely wasn’t nothing.
I decided not to push her to say what she’d regret, but my impatience tripled. “Let’s skip my hair, all right? I just want to get down there already.”
I stepped into my corset and she tugged on the fastenings so hard my breath slipped. “Oh no, Milady, we definitely need to do your hair today. You want to look your best today.”
I did? “All right then, but please be quick about it.”
But when I was finally dressed in the finest dress I’d seen since leaving Norland Manor, and Anna had me sitting in front of the mirror, I realized she had no intention of hurrying. She took her time untangling my hair—a trying task, no doubt, after my swim in the ocean—until someone who I’d let take all the time in the world with my hair knocked at the door, barely waited for my answer, and came swooping in.
Chapter 30
I stood from the dressing table so quickly that I knocked over a row of small perfume bottles that must’ve survived since Clarissa’s time. But I didn’t spare the damage I’d done a second look, not even after heavy, exotic scents filled the air.
“Maggie, is that really you?”
“Well who else would it be, Milady?” Maggie’s smile was brilliant, and it was one of the most wonderful sights I’d seen lately. “How’ve you been, Milady?”
To Anna, I said, “Will you please excuse us? I’ll ring for you again if I need you.”
“Of course, Milady,” Anna said and slipped from the room with a single, curious backward glance.
The second the door clicked shut behind her, I said, “Now enough with this ‘milady’ business, Maggie. Come give me a hug.”
The words had barely slipped from my lips before Maggie was fulfilling my wish.
“Clara, I thought you were dead! It was awful.”
“I know, I’m so sorry. The others wouldn’t let me contact you or even Gertrude. They told me it would endanger you both. But I wanted to. I missed you, Maggie.”
“I missed you too.”
I embraced her long enough to convince my reeling mind she was real, and that I truly was blessed. Life had been intense and difficult, it’d been dangerous and frightening, yet here I was, with my sister and my friend returned to me, and about to marry the man I loved.
My future was looking bright, especially when I had a full world of magic yet to explore. I might’ve discovered enough about my magic to understand there was much I could do, far more than I’d ever dreamed of, but that didn’t mean I knew exactly what. That didn’t at all mean that I couldn’t spend the rest of my life, surrounded with the people I loved, discovering the exciting possibilities in a world of magic.
With a broad smile on my face, I stepped away from Maggie. “Let me look at you,” I said.
She indulged with a spin so I could examine her from all sides. I was relieved to discover her playful manner still intact, no matter what the time apart had tried to do to us.
“You’ve changed, Maggie. You look like a woman now, a lovely one.”
“It has been years since we’ve seen each other. You’ve filled out too.” She lifted her chin and flicked her dark curls behind her shoulder. “My curves have come along quite nicely, haven’t they? I mean, look at this bosom.”
“Maggie!” I barked in laughter. “I have missed your candor.”
“You’ve also missed something big. You never were big on noticing the little details.” She started wagging her ring finger in front of her face.
“You’re married?”
“Yes, to a wonderful sweet man whom I truly love.”
“That’s amazing! I’m so glad for you. Who is he?”
“Travis, a stable hand who came on after you left. He’s strong and handsome, with a wonderful body that I get to touch all I want—”
“I think that’s quite enough of that,” I interrupted with a smile. “I’m so glad to see you, and most especially to see you happy.”
“Can Travis come to stay with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, now that we’re reunited again and I know that you’re a witch and all that—”
“You know I’m a witch?” My heart was thumping.
“Of course I do, and I think it’s brilliant, totally brilliant, and I
’ll take your secret with me to the grave.”
Her words and face were ebullient, and I couldn’t help but relax in her enthusiasm and think that everything was finally right in my world.
She continued, “Now that I’m here again, I’d hoped you’d want me to be your lady’s maid again.”
“Of course I do! I want you to be and do whatever you want. You can be a lady’s maid or simply a lady, if you’d prefer.”
Her face fell into complete seriousness. “A lady?”
“Yes, a lady.”
“Do you really mean it?”
“Yes!” I laughed. “I mean, I think so. I think I can make you a lady, can’t I? Once I become a countess?”
“Do I ever hope so. And Travis can come here to be with me?”
“Of course Travis can be with you, here or wherever we go.”
“Go?”
“Well, once Marcelo and I marry, we’ll become the Count and Countess of Bundry, but also of Irele. Mordecai, and Albacus before he died, who were the lords of Irele, both wish to pass the estate onto Marcelo. So we could be here or there... or anywhere.”
I was feeling adventurous. There was little about our lives that obligated us to be stationary. We could go wherever we wanted, do whatever we wished—more or less.
The world was ours, with nothing but possibilities. In that moment, even knowledge that the world was vast and also filled with the unknown, with a great variety of magicians with different intentions than my own, didn’t manage to dampen my enthusiasm. Count Washur might be dead, but there were many other dark sorcerers capable of taking on the role of a terrifying evil wizard.
I didn’t spare a single one of them a thought. I had better things to do.
Like plan a wedding.
“Maggie, would you do me the favor of doing your miracle work with my hair, and be fast about it? I want to get downstairs as quickly as I can.”
“Oh? Why the hurry?” But the way Maggie said it made me stand back up after I’d just sat back down at my dressing table.
“Why do you sound like you’re hiding something?”
“It’s nothing.”
But Maggie wouldn’t meet my eyes. She fussed by grabbing the hair brush and collecting pins for my hair.
“Maggie,” I said, and that was all it took.
“Okay, fine, but don’t tell them I told you. It’s supposed to be a secret.”
“What kind of secret?” I was instantly suspicious.
“The very best of kinds.” Maggie’s face lit up again, now that I was forcing her to reveal the secret. “You are about to get married.”
“Well yes, I told you that. I have to get to planning the wedding.”
“No, you’re not understanding me. That handsome rogue you’re about to marry whom, by the way, I knew you had something special with—”
I laughed again. “You did not. When you last saw him and me together, he was gruff and abrupt and he didn’t pay me the time of day. He thought I was no more than a silly little girl Father was obligating him to mind.”
Maggie arched dark eyebrows over mischievous eyes. “That’s not what I saw. I knew you two would find the way to be together.”
“You just didn’t tell me that?”
“Right.”
I looked at her with all the suspicion I could arrange across my happy face. Finally, I said, “Well, go on then. What’s this secret?”
“Marcelo, that handsome fiancé of yours, is all set to marry you now.”
“What do you mean ‘now?’”
“I mean, as soon as we get your hair down and fix you up, you can marry that fine-looking man who appears to be completely crazy for you.”
“Marry him now?”
Maggie maneuvered me in front of the dressing table and sat me down. She started unknotting my hair. “Unless you have a better idea?”
“No,” I said faintly, shocked.
“It was supposed to be a surprise, but you made me tell you. He’s been planning it for a while, or at least long enough to write me and ask me to come. I’m to be a wedding present, you see. Do you like it?”
I stilled one of her hands as it flitted across my head and held it. “I love it.”
“Good,” she said, blushing and pretending she wasn’t by busying herself again.
“You were at Norland Manor, when you received Marcelo’s letter?”
“I was.”
“How did you leave then? What did you tell Mother and Father?”
“Don’t you worry yourself about what I said and did. All you need to know is that all is well. Today’s your wedding day. You don’t need to concern yourself with anything or anyone else.”
“All right, but just tell me, my other sisters, are they well? Father and Mother haven’t married them off to ogres like they did with Gertrude and me, have they?”
“Your three other sisters are married, but from all that I can tell, well enough. They’re different from you and Gertrude. They find happiness in other ways. They’re not as... wild as the two of you.”
“True,” I said and studied the woman looking back at me in the looking glass.
I did look like a wild woman, one who’d survived the merworld and the underworld of magic. One who’d not only survived, but found the way to thrive. Amid loss and challenge, I’d grown stronger.
More than a wild woman, I looked like a woman who listened to her heart and passions and followed both to live her life fully.
When Death finally came for me, I’d be ready.
But in the meantime, I had much to do.
The five-petal knot pulsed within my chest.
I smiled the biggest smile I could manage, and it was all for me and the reflection I saw in front of me.
Somewhere along the way, I’d become both a woman and a witch I was proud of.
And my journey was only just beginning.
Chapter 31
Maggie took a long time preparing me for my wedding day, but when I examined the final results, I couldn’t argue that it’d been worth it. She’d indeed done miracles with my hair. At least a hundred little braids ran all over my head before she swept them up into intricate knots and twirls, and she wove bright jewels into them, so that anytime I turned, they sparkled.
She strung a thin, delicate silver chain across my forehead. A large clear jewel hung from it just above and between my eyebrows.
My ivory-colored dress, I realized, had been intended to be a bridal dress all along, and I couldn’t deny that I looked all the part of a princess.
A very impatient princess, who wasn’t only ready to marry her prince, but also to get on with the excitement of the day.
But Maggie wouldn’t let me go downstairs until she went ahead and warned everyone I was coming.
I paced the length of my chambers, wishing I had Sir Lancelot with me. I didn’t think he’d be able to keep any secrets. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge, and I was certain I’d do a good job of extracting whatever information I wanted.
But Sir Lancelot wasn’t there, and when I finally heard a knock on the door, it wasn’t Maggie either.
Grand-mère didn’t wait for me to respond, she and Gertrude just entered, both dressed and readied for a wedding.
“Oh my darling, ma cherie,” Grand-mère said with a hand to the chest, jeweled rings on several fingers. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Thank you, Grand-mère. You both are beautiful too.”
“Yes, well, that’s because we all look much like one another.” She swept into the room and straight to me, pulling my skirts out to fluff them.
“Hello sister,” Gertrude said and kissed me on the cheek.
I smiled at the women who did, indeed, look so much like me. We were the wild, passionate, and magical ones of the family. I didn’t imagine you could have magic without the passion. My magic burned hot, pulsing inside my chest.
The five-petal knot at my heart center hadn’t been quiet since I woke.
“Maggie told us
that you forced her to tell you our secret,” Grand-mère said with a twinkling smile that belied that she realized that Maggie had been desperate to do it.
“She did,” I said. “But how did you manage it? I haven’t been asleep that long.”
“I think Mordecai may have done a little something to make sure you were well rested this morning, darling, but the rest of it’s been Marcelo. He loves you, you know.”
“Yes, I think I do know.”
“Well I think he’s been wanting to marry you for a lot longer than you realize.”
“No, Grand-mère, I don’t think so. He would’ve said so.”
“Oh really? Because Marcelo is always forthcoming with what’s on his mind, darling?”
She had me there.
Gertrude stepped in front of me. “Clara, are you absolutely certain this is the man you want to marry? That this is what you want, not anyone else?”
“Oh yes, I’m sure.” I kissed her on the cheek and hugged her. The excitement was arriving in a wave and I didn’t think I’d be able to hold it back.
This was happening. My life was unrecognizable when I compared it with how it was at Norland Manor.
I wanted more of it, much more of it all.
“Then let’s get you downstairs before Marcelo jumps out of his skin.”
Grand-mère said, “He’s been pacing so much I’m afraid he’ll wear holes into the rugs.”
Grand-mère took one hand, Gertrude the other, and I allowed the two women I’d feared I’d never see again to lead me toward the life I’d never once imagined I’d have but now didn’t want to be without.
I wanted to tear down the staircase, but they forced me to take my time. Halfway down, I was the one to come to a full stop.
I just stood there. “How? When?”
Grand-mère chuckled. “I assume you’re trying to refer to the marvelous transformation of the castle.”
“Yes.”
“You do realize that we’re all magicians, right? Which means we’re collectively capable of magical feats?”
“I suppose so.” Awe sang on my words.
The castle was truly transformed. Where before the vestiges of darkness that Marcelo’s father had allowed into the castle had clung to every surface and corner, light had dispelled all the shadows. The curtains, shutters, and windows were flung open, letting in the light and a fresh early summer breeze.