Lost & Found by Julie Cooper

Author:Julie Cooper [Cooper, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing
Published: 2020-07-10T04:00:00+00:00

Elizabeth knew the heart of the truth must be found in the tale of his missing sister. She was reluctant to mention her; it somehow seemed…cruel. But she had to know.

“And your sister?” she asked gently.

Real pain tore through his eyes. “Georgiana came at the soul-call and stayed, too,” he said. “As close to my fiery cocoon as she could without burning up. And whenever she caught fire, Mrs Reynolds put her out.”

Elizabeth’s eyes filled. Georgiana had loved him as she loved Jane, with a sister’s limitless heart. “What happened to her?” she asked gently.

His face hardened. “For two years she devoted herself to me, to helping me…adjust to my new circumstances. I did not…accommodate the changes gracefully. I was difficult, unreasonable. Then there came a time when she distanced herself, just a little. She would look at me as if she was trying to…to sketch my character. I thought at the time I had finally tested her patience beyond bearing.”

Suddenly, Elizabeth knew. Wickham told her he was enchanted for daring to love Darcy’s sister. Georgiana would have been quite young, only fourteen years, but…

“Was Wickham ‘spreading poison?’” she asked.

“It is what I believe,” he said. “Wickham did not hear the soul-call, thus was not bound. It was the same as openly admitting he held little loyalty to me…as I said, hearing is not something one can pretend. Still, not everyone hears, and it is not usually a public matter, but he was known by all to be my closest friend. He ought to have heard it, loudly. He was disgraced.”

“Was he publicly shamed?” she asked.

“For all intents,” Darcy agreed. “He was given money for the sake of his family, enough to start a new life, and sent away before I even woke from the cocoon. I did not know he returned, for he stole back after the death of his father. One day, as I was flying over the forest, I caught sight of him…kissing my sister, as a man does a woman. I thought she was attempting to free herself from his clutches. It was a long while later before I realised…he may have had her consent. I suppose I will never know. At the time, I was furious, and yet…a small part of me was also triumphant. I had wanted an excuse to make him pay for his part in my misfortunes, to fight him.”

Elizabeth looked dubious. “It could not have been much of a fight.”

He laughed mirthlessly. “It was not. I would not use magic against one so weak, and could not use the smallest part of my strength. It was like fighting a child, and I wearied of it quickly. I ordered him to leave Pemberley, but he was angry, saying awful things of my sister and how he used her. Neither of us realised she was still there, watching us from the shadows, until she fled. I enchanted him then, into his present form, and swore to end the enchantment only when she wished it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.