The Christmas Curse by Monique Martin

The Christmas Curse by Monique Martin

Author:Monique Martin [Martin, Monique]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Monique Martin


“How did it start?” Charlotte asked. “The curse?”

Phineas took a deep breath, and Nicky said, “You might want to sit down. He tends to be long-winded.”

Phineas shot him a withering look before turning back to Charlotte. “I shall be brief for there is, unhappily, very little of which we are certain.”

“Tell her about the witch!” Ambrose said excitedly.

“Spoilers!” Nicky quipped.

“I was getting to that,” Phineas said irritably.

Ambrose took a step back and gestured theatrically for him to continue.

Phineas cleared his throat. “As I was saying, there is scant we are certain of regarding the origin of the curse. What we do know,” he added before Ambrose could interrupt him again, “is that four hundred years ago, our dear progenitor, Mordecai—”

“A real git,” Nicky added.

Phineas closed his eyes to keep from losing his temper. “Mordecai,” he continued in a slightly strained voice, “committed some … act against a woman he claimed to be a witch.”

“I think the evidence shows he was right,” Nicky said and then added after Phineas’s glower, “Well if she was just a farmer’s wife we wouldn’t be in this predicament, would we?”

“He’s got a point there,” Ambrose said but then hastily continued, “not that it excuses what he did. Whatever it was precisely.”

“Mordecai was a witch-hunter like Matthew Hopkins,” Charlotte said.

Nicky’s grin was so large it split his face. “I told you she was special.”

“We saw a documentary about him at school.”

“That is somehow deeply disturbing,” Nicky replied.

“If you are finished,” Phineas ground out. “Yes, he was a witch-hunter. An unfortunate avocation, but, given the times, not all that surprising. Such foolishness.”

“What did he do to her? The witch, I mean,” Charlotte asked worriedly.

“Those details remain … obscured. However, I feel it is safe to assume that whatever he did resulted in the poor woman’s death.”

Phineas eyed her carefully, seeming to weigh how she took in this particular piece of information.

Charlotte wrapped her arms around herself, feeling suddenly cold. “He killed her?”

Phineas looked at her intently. “You suffer from a chill?” he asked gently before glaring at the empty fireplace. “What sort of laggards has your father hired? Why is there no fire in the hearth? Thoroughly unacceptable—”

“I’m all right,” Charlotte said, forcing herself to relax her arms. It was all just a little overwhelming. Her great, great, so-many-greats-she-wasn’t-sure grandfather had murdered someone, and now her father might die because of it.

No. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

She raised her chin. “What was the woman’s name?” If she was going to find out what happened, she was at least going to need to know that.

She thought she saw something akin to pride flash in Phineas’s eyes before he replied. “Elara. Elara Prynce.”



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