A Lady and Her Magic by Tammy Falkner

Author:Tammy Falkner [Falkner, Tammy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 2019-06-27T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

A shley cradled his sleeping daughter’s head on his shoulder as he dismounted. He could have passed her off to the groom who met him, but he would have to give her up to do so. He would have to lose the warmth that was her and give it to someone else, and he wasn’t prepared to do so. Not when he’d just found her.

His mind was a muddle of thoughts. He must be a bacon-brained idiot to believe what he’d just seen was real. He’d watched as Sophia, his Sophia, blew some sparks into the air. Then, with a simple command, she’d made them come to life. It was like watching glimmery, shiny actors upon a stage. Yet they were depictions of what was in the children’s heads. Or thoughts she was putting into their heads. He couldn’t tell which. He must be bound for Bedlam. There was no way that what he’d seen could have been real. Maybe it was a manifestation of his worried mind.

Anne snorted and drooled upon his shoulder as he walked up the steps of the Hall. He glanced down at her. Her face was streaked with dirty tear tracks, and her hair was a scraggly mess. She desperately needed a wash and a pretty, clean dress.

Ashley walked through the door and was immediately accosted by the sight of his mother arguing with Wilkins. Arguing. A duchess and a butler barking at one another without a care for their positions or their consequence. Perhaps Ashley had slipped into some other realm where things weren’t as they were supposed to be. His mother he could understand. Wilkins did things to intentionally provoke her. But Sophia… He didn’t understand what had just happened with Sophia at all.

“I will have the two of you thrown into the dungeons if you don’t stop that bickering.” The duchess’s mouth dropped open. “Together,” he barked. “I will force the two of you to share a space not more than eight paces wide until you learn to get along.” His mother opened her mouth to contradict him, but then she saw Anne there on his shoulder.

“You found her!” she cried, as her eyes filled with tears. His mother could provoke tears at will, but perhaps these were genuine? It was impossible to tell. “Is she all right?”

“A little dirty, but otherwise fine,” Ashley said. “Wilkins, call for a bath for her,” he instructed as he started for the stairs.

“Yes, Your Grace,” the stoic older man said with a bow.

“Yes, Your Grace,” his mother mimicked in a singsong voice. “Why does he get ‘Yes, Your Grace’ while I get no respect at all?” She pointed a finger at the butler and jabbed it into his chest.

Wilkins grabbed the offending finger and opened his mouth to snipe back, but Ashley interjected, “The dungeons, I vow.”

They both pursed their lips tightly together and regarded one another with annoyed expressions. The duchess jerked her hand from the butler’s grip, and Wilkins colored slightly to find that he’d still been holding it.

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