Elemental Truth: A Victorian historical fantasy romance (Mysterious Fields Book 3) by Celia Lake

Author:Celia Lake [Lake, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

23

JANUARY 9TH AT BRYN GLAS

As soon as Vitus came through the portal, she could tell that he was upset. Or no, that wasn’t quite it. Agitated, or tangled up about something, possibly both. Thessaly had been waiting for him in the library, because it was rather chilly out, with the fireplace going. Collins showed him right inside, though he paused in the entry hall to take off his cloak and gloves and hat.

“Should I bring tea shortly, mistress, or wait?”

“Give us a few minutes, please? I’ll ring when we’re ready.” Thessaly said it without consulting Vitus. “Unless, hm. Could you bring some of the mulled wine out? A glass each?”

“Yes, of course.” Collins was back with the glasses before Vitus had finished removing all of his various outermost layers. She left the glasses ready on the table. She closed the door behind her as she went out, leaving them alone.

Thessaly held her hand out to him. “What’s the matter? Or what’s happened? I don’t quite know what the proper question is here.”

Vitus took it, turning her hand palm up and kissing it, which was also confusing. Pleasant, but decidedly uninformative. He sat, hesitantly. “Florent Montague asked me to help with a project today. He agreed to take it on only if I was brought in.”

She blinked. “A project? An interesting project, a beneficial project, a worrying project?” She was back to something of a game of parson’s cat in her head, her mind wanting to tidy the adjectives and put them in better order. That was also not getting her closer to answers of any kind.

“For the Fortiers.” Vitus swallowed hard, reached for the mulled wine with his free hand, and took a long sip. He closed his eyes, set the glass back down, and added, “That was the perfect thing. Perhaps some soup or something, if there’s any ready?”

“That was part of the plan for supper. We can, I suspect, have supper early, when you’re ready.” She glanced over at the clock. “Not actually very early, you were— were you busy the whole afternoon?”

Vitus nodded. “Florent came for his appointment, he explained the broad outline, and then we went out to the Arundel portal.” He stopped. “Didn’t you say there was something Childeric and Sigbert steered you away from? Near the Arun, maybe on it?”

“There was. I didn’t see much of it. A tithe barn. It looked like there had been a fire, maybe struck by lightning?” Her hand came up to her mouth. “Lightning.”

“Lightning.” Vitus echoed it carefully. “What are you thinking, then?”

“I suppose that’s the thing with lightning strikes, we think they’re all individual moments. But what if some of these are connected? You said a lot of people have had dreams of it, unusual fears. And then there’s Childeric, and I had that dream about Philip. And the barn. What if there’s some reason lightning is, what’s the word, prominent in the general psyche?” Thessaly took a deep breath, obviously aiming to keep calm. “Have you seen the tithe barn?”

“No, that wasn’t where I was.

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