Even though I was tired from travel and the stress of discovering that my pseudo parents from the future were visiting my biological parents in the past, sleep eluded me. I was haunted by the way my parents and uncle reacted to Sophie’s mentioning of Elsbeth. My gut told me that there was a family secret concerning my aunt that they didn’t want me to know. What could it be?
Easing my body out of bed, I lit the lantern on the small nearby table. It provided lighting for only a fraction of my surroundings. I wanted more lighting. Heaving a sigh and longing for electricity, I lowered the chandelier in the center of the room. Wrinkling my nose at the smell that the many candles that the chandelier held gave off, I took shallow breaths as I carefully lit them. My parents used a more modern paraffin candle in the public rooms, but since tallow was easier to come by and, therefore, less costly, the private family rooms were stock
Sometime, while imagining my aunt’s life from her entries in her journal, I managed to relax my body enough to fall asleep. Unfortunately, the horsehair stuffed tapestry didn’t provide the same comfort that modern day foam would have. That, and the fact that I wasn’t in the most comfortable position, caused my body to inevitably suffer. When Jasmine gently shook me awake to present me with a tray of tea and biscuits, my shoulders were so stiff that I could barely flex them, my hips refused to release my legs to mobility, and there was a nagging in my head that was rooted at the nape of my neck and circled around to my temples.“You should have slept in your bed instead of me, mistress,” she scolded. “I am accustomed to sleeping on a floor mat. Now, look at you. You will suffer the day for the inconvenience.”“I have no qualms about sharing a bed with you,” I insisted. &ldquo
When the world returned to me, I was stretched out on the parlor sofa with my aunt Sophie mopping at my forehead with a cool cloth.“If there is one thing I do not miss and am happy to be free of, it is those damnable corsets,” she complained. “This child has a perfect figure. She has no need for such contraptions. They are horribly unhealthy.”“They are part of our world, sister dear,” my mother said in a soft voice.“I don’t know,” Nora said as she swirled her skirts while entering the room. “I feel a bit like a princess in this outfit.”“We’ll see how you feel in a few hours,” I muttered as I struggled to sit up. “Wait until the heat of the day hits you.”Nora gave me a sympathetic look as she seated herself in a nearby chair. “Are you feeling better?”“What are you doing here?” I asked as my head
It took a considerable length of time to catch my parents, aunt, and uncle up with Jason’s antics. I hadn’t realized that my parents had been left in the dark concerning Jason’s deal with Marduke. When they were told, you could have pushed them down with a feather. Not one of them could believe Jason to be of such a nature.I secretly questioned what they’d think if they knew the depth of what Jason had done to me. Since I’d shared that with no one, I had no intention of divulging it. Just seeing their reaction to the severity of how his actions had jeopardized our family was all I needed to know that more news of his vile antics could very well push my mother over the edge. Which mother? Past or future? Since they both wore similar expressions, it would probably be both.They didn’t know who Killian was, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that their reaction to his be
It was dinnertime before Nora lifted her head off the pillow and joined the living.I’d rested only briefly beside her before seeking out my father to converse with him about what we might do to rescue Killian.Whether Anton told him or he simply guessed by my behavior, I wasn’t certain and I didn’t bother to ask. Whatever the reason, my father was aware that Killian and I had a relationship that went deeper than simple friendship. To my relief, he didn’t lecture me about being unfaithful to my husband as I’d anticipated with dread. He did, however, explain in depth how, because of the fact that very few socialites married for love, taking a lover was quite normal and acceptable as long as the relationship was not made public. Although a good deal of married couples were actually open with their spouse about the fact that they had extra-marital interests, he didn’t feel Lance would be pleased
“You were surprisingly quiet this evening,” Lance said as he entered our bedroom after having a male servant that my father lent to him assist him out of his dinner attire and into a thick, cozy robe. Removing the robe and tossing it onto a nearby chair, he added, “I have missed you, my love… more than you will ever know or possibly understand.”Had I not been so mesmerized by his rock hard erection and the many pleasurable possibilities that it promised, I would have questioned his choice of words and voice inflection. Or, I would have asked why his man, Radcliff, who always traveled with him, hadn’t come along this time. Both were clear clues that something was amiss. Instead, I hurriedly threw back the coverlet that was draped over my nakedness and beckoned him with eager, extended arms to join me.With a smile that could charm a wild beast, my husband dove onto the bed. Landing at a convenient location at
My father took his time settling us down with tea and brandy before he steeled himself for the tale that he clearly didn’t want to tell.His voice was slow and steady as he said, “Your mother was completely smitten with a young man from the county next named Jeremiah Freeman. His family is as magical as ours, if not more so, but they do not agree with our policies for the use of magic. They are also less cautious about concealing their abilities. It is because of this that we separated from them when we formed the society.”“It’s my understanding that you and a few of your peers formed the society,” I said. “Was it in existence when grandfather killed my father?”He squeezed his eyes shut and made a guttural sigh. “That sounds horrific, but, alas, it is the fact of the matter… It is because of this horrible event that the society was formed. It created a cover for those of
I was grateful that Lance slept through my return to the bed. It was his habit to want sex upon awakening and I was not in the mood to do much more than brood over the information that had just been sprung on me.What I wanted more than anything was to go into blissful oblivion, but I thought for sure that my brain was too busy mulling over the heavy load it carried to allow sleep to take over. When I arose late the following morning to discover that my husband had long ago awakened and begun his day, I was surprised.My head felt rejuvenated, but I was still troubled by the information that I’d been burdened with. I needed to know more about this other magical group of people whose genetics I carried. With just the little that I did know, much of my level of abilities was explained to me.My parents were of good magical stock. So good, in fact, that Marduke coveted their abilities. Add that to Jeremiah’s mag
“Have you thought of what to do to rescue Killian?” I asked as I approached the trio.My father shook his head and looked at his feet while Lance slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me close.“We have a bit of a dilemma,” my father said with angst. “It seems that the threat of losing our lands is greater than I’d realized. That scoundrel, Jason, secured the most unscrupulous legal team to create the transfer of our lands to this dark lord. It can be undone, but it will take cunning and persistence.”Lance leaned his head down close to my ear. “I dare not forfeit even a minute for any other task. If we lose the plantation, we become part of the chattel.”“Do you mean that my parents will enter slavery?” I asked with concern.Anton nodded as he said, “As will your husband and mother-in-law.”Although I had no interest about what m