A Witch For Mr Darcy by Jessica L Jackson

Author:Jessica L Jackson [Jackson, Jessica L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781926467191
Publisher: Bru E-Books
Published: 2019-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

Lizzy swallowed her smile, more relieved than she would want to admit that the two men had returned safely from their attempt to capture the culprit—or rather, the man they supposed to be the one who had killed the groom. She had no proof that they were the same man, but she believed it with every fiber of her being.

Miss Bingley continued to sulk until the return of Mr. Od startled her. She clenched her hand and pressed it to her breast.

I know. You are not frightened, Lizzy thought to herself, amused. And then found herself surprised at Miss Bingley’s frank pronouncement.

“Your bird scares me nigh onto death,” she said, taking deep breaths in reaction. “He is so large, and his beak is frighteningly long and pointed. Crows are harbingers of death, as well.”

“Mr. Od is not a crow. He is a raven. Though, you are correct, ravens have also been stigmatized as messengers of death.” Lizzy tilted her head toward him, listening. “Hmm. Is that so?”

Mr. Darcy drew Agamantha closer to the pony-trap.

“What is it?”

“He has kindly informed us that the walnut tree at the far side of the wood is ready to be harvested.”

“Oh,” Mr. Darcy said shortly.

Lizzy whispered, “Well done,” to the bird and he flew off.

∞

I hurt. I hurt. I hurt. That black horse kicked me. Even grabbin’ hold of me thigh has not helped. Rub it. Rub it.

Hide! Hide! They’re coming. There, I’ll hide under that log. Aye, ‘tis far enough way. But don’t groan, don’t moan. Just watch. I like to watch.

I coulda sold that saddle. Why’d I drop it? All I ‘ave is this bit of cut rein. What good is it? Ah, if I wrap one end around me left ‘and and t’other end around me right, then I could…

The man mimed placing the rein around someone’s neck and strangling them.

If I ‘ad to, o’course. Not fer a man. If it t’were a man, then there’d ‘ave to be blood. Like the last time. Hot, wet blood. If it t’were a man.

But no blood fer a girl, or a woman, or a lady. No blood fer them. I like to watch them with their pretty white skin. Blood would spoil it. Their white skin must stay whole and pretty.

The man dwelled in his pleasurable thoughts, waiting for the two gentlemen to leave his part of the home wood. He waited so long that he fell into a light sleep, his head dug into the forest litter, his arm over his eyes.

When he awoke some time later, he rose and discovered he walked with a slight limp. He rubbed his thigh and slunk through the wood to his hidey hole. He was hungry and there’d be food there for him. All the way, he watched for that nasty Mr. Od and whenever he thought he spied him, he hid from the raven, torn between anger and fear of what the stupid bird might know.

Stupid, stupid bird.

∞

Darcy tossed and turned in his bed, sweating profusely, a dark and horrible vision upon him.

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