Magic in the Stars (36 page)

“I’m sure that urge will melt away after a week or two,” she
scoffed. “And then I’ll spend my evenings updating my charts for the
discoveries you’re making alone.”

“I’ll fortify my office up here and provide a better bed.
We’ll hide here together.” He helped her down the hatch. “Or once I’m wealthy
enough to build an observatory, I’ll install a hidden bedchamber where no one
will ever find us.”

“A bedchamber with a nursery,” she said dryly as they
traversed the stairs. “One, of necessity, leads to the other.”

“Start training those nursemaids, then. There’s no reason to
waste these rooms.” He gestured at the empty corridor they’d reached.

Aster let the idea of half a dozen children brighten her
outlook, refusing to believe her chart would endanger future generations. She
could be carrying Theo’s child even now, and her smile widened. “You will hide
when these rooms are filled with wailing infants,” she predicted, taking his
hand and swinging it.

“I have no idea what I’ll do,” he admitted. “I’m content
having you all to myself. But if having children makes you happy, then I’ll be
happy with that too. I am supremely easy.”

Aster giggled. “No, you’re not, except when you’re
anticipating bedplay. But luckily, I wouldn’t want a simple man.”

William met them at the next landing. A big man with a square
face that was slow to smile or frown, he appeared close to scowling now.

“Duncan said I was to leave you be, but he’s not been out
listening the way we have. I think there’s trouble afloat, and the dogs are
restless.”

Aster clasped Theo’s hand tighter. Here it was, the misfortune
she always anticipated. “I hate this,” she muttered. “Everyone was just here dancing
and having a good time. Why would they cause trouble now?”

“Not the same people, dear heart,” Theo murmured. “It’s an
outside faction rousing the rabble. Go on to bed. William and I will take the
dogs out.”

She couldn’t ride with them. Scowling, she released his
hand. “I want riding lessons.”

Theo pressed a kiss to her head. “I’d rather think of you
waiting for me in bed. We don’t need a warrior queen.”

“I could carry a torch and shout spells at them,” she said
disagreeably. “Go on. I’ll have the twins watch the telescopes and tell me
what’s happening.”

Theo and William hurried off, leaving Aster to her
uneasiness. She found Hugh and Hartley already in the salon, arguing over who
got the more powerful glass.

“Hugh, take one of the telescopes to your father’s room and
tell him Theo is out looking for trouble. Station a footman nearby to run
messages in case the marquess wishes to communicate with anyone.” Others might
fear Ashford’s growls, but he needed Aster too much to throw her out for
audacity. Hugh could blame her for this interference, and Ashford could do
naught but roar, which he would be doing anyway.

Wanting to believe her charts were wrong, knowing they were
not, she could only pray the evening would bring no more than burned straw and
sheds as before. But forewarned was forearmed . . . Danger might
not be averted, but it could be diminished with planning.

Aster gestured at the second twin as Hugh ran off to annoy
his father. “Hartley, if you would be so good as to man the second glass and
keep me informed, I’ll read your favorite story aloud while we wait.”

“Robin Hood!” the boy shouted in glee. “Do you know where I
should look?”

Aster dug through the stacks of books littering shelves and
corners. “William and Theo will be riding out with the dogs. Follow them. I
should have told Hugh to look all over, in case they’re heading in the wrong
direction.”

She simply could not turn off her anxiety. How could she
guard the Hall’s inhabitants? If Saturn’s alignment was perfect for Theo’s
moons, it was all in perfect opposition to Mars as well. How had she not
understood until now that real stars and her charts were one and the same? Tonight
could be the night her chart predicted. She could not think straight for fear.

“Our father’s chamber has more windows. Hugh will look out
all of them. Do you think Papa will ever get his sight back?” Hartley adjusted
the scope, pretending nonchalance.

“When I have time, I’ll consult his chart and see if there
are any major changes in his health sector.” Would Uranus change what she saw
in Ashford’s future? She itched to work out this more pleasant possibility. “That’s
all I can do. I’m no physician.” She wished she was. It would be nice to do
more than order people about and fret.

“Maybe we should go to church and pray?” he suggested
tentatively.

“I think that is a most excellent suggestion. Let’s see how
many of your uncles we can take with us on Sunday. Your mother must be very
proud of you.” Finding the book, Aster settled into a chair beneath one of the
gas sconces rather than pace restlessly.

It had been so much easier predicting doom and riding away
to leave someone else to deal with it. Right this minute, she despised her
gift.

“Mama tells us we must get good marks in school and impress
Papa so we always have a home. She likes traveling to different theaters and doesn’t
much like staying in one place.”

“You’ll always have a home here,” Aster assured him, hoping
she wasn’t lying. What would happen if the Hall burned down? “But good marks
will give you more opportunity in the future, so they’re an excellent idea too.”

Hartley shot her a distinctly Ives scowl. “They can’t teach
me about dogs at school.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his boyish intent. All Ives
had their peculiar interests. “What are they doing out there, can you tell?”

“The hounds are leading them across the north pasture. I
think I see torches near the London road.”

“And where are the thresher machines?” Aster chewed her
fingernail and stared blankly at the first page of the book.

“They used to be in a barn by the north road, but Theo had
Mr. Browne move them. But the glass manufactory is by the north road also,”
Hartley said worriedly, following the action. “They won’t burn an empty barn,
will they? There are kittens in there.”

“Oh dear.” Aster bit her lip. “Cats are smart. They’ll run,”
she said for the boy’s benefit. Danger in the family sector did not mean danger
to the cats, she was reasonably certain. Going out there to save cats—now that
would be dangerous.

But Theo’s manufactory . . . Everything he
owned and wanted was in there. At times like this, she wished she really was a
witch.

Anxiously, she began the tale of Robin of Loxley and Maid
Marian.

A few minutes later, a footman scratched at the salon door.
Aster gestured for him to speak.

“Master Hugh says as there’s horses comin’ up through the
east pasture, quiet-like. The marquess says we’re to send word to Mr. Browne.”

“Mr. Browne is gathering the tenants,” Hartley said from the
window. “I can see where they are now. I can ride out and tell him.”

“No, we need you here,” Aster said without hesitation.
“James, send one of the grooms to inform Mr. Browne. Tell him what you just
told us.”

She didn’t want to turn Theo from protecting his livelihood
until they knew what they were dealing with here. She hoped Mr. Browne knew
what to do. She bit her lip and prayed she’d made the right decision.

The footman bowed and hurried off. Aster couldn’t sit still.
She rose and took the telescope from Hartley. “Where do I look?”

He explained and she eventually located the stealthy figures
approaching the creek that fed the pond. They were some distance away and
hiding in the shadow of the hedgerow, but she could clearly see their
surreptitious pace. They were coming from the direction of the village and not
riding boldly up the drive. Their behavior had danger knives written all over
it. “Is that the bridge where your father was hurt?”

“Yes, it’s the shortcut to the tavern.”

Hartley didn’t see her point, but Aster’s instincts leaped
to appalling conclusions. That was private land. Everyone connected with the
Hall was riding north to the more obvious danger on the public road. Whoever
was sneaking in the back way was trespassing, using the riot as a cover.

There were no houses in that direction, no witnesses to
notice intruders.

Those could be the very same people who had brought down the
marquess. Perhaps she was being overly suspicious, but Ashford had been blinded
while planets transited on the part of
assassination
.
And now they’d moved on to
catastrophe,
danger, and violence
.

And the Hall and all its inhabitants were under those
knives. She could not simply sit here and do nothing. Should she send grooms to
Theo after all?

“Keep an eye on them. I want to talk to your father.” Aster
lifted her skirt and hurried down the corridor.

The marquess was pacing his chamber, twitching his walking
stick angrily while Hugh ran from window to window.

“What would qualify as catastrophe?” Aster demanded, not
even bothering to knock to announce her presence.

“What the bloody hell does that mean?” Duncan swung to face
the direction of her voice. The scowl on his scarred visage was formidable.

“I won’t try to explain our natal transits, but Theo and I are
on the part of
catastrophe
in the
home. I believe those are your would-be assassins coming across the bridge. Would
they strike the Hall if they think they’ve rendered you helpless?”

Duncan glowered, but he didn’t call her a bloody fool. Aster
thought that might be promising—and terrifying.

“They’ve left one man by the bridge,” Hugh reported from the
big bay window. “The others are leading their horses this way.”

“They’re cutting off help from the village,” Duncan
deciphered. “If anyone wants to warn us, they’ll have to go the long way or be
cut down. If Theo and Browne are engaged elsewhere, they have the Hall
isolated.”

“Surely there is no reason to cause you more harm?” Aster
asked in alarm. “Where’s the sense in that?”

“If they deliberately lured Theo and the others out of the
house, they could be after the Hall . . . or you,” Duncan said
with a frown of puzzlement. “Erran’s in Brighton. Jacques, William, and the
boys have no legal authority and are harmless. If they think they’ve rendered
me helpless, you’re the only one of importance left. You’re a weaker link than
Theo and an easier target.”

“Me?” she squeaked. But her charts agreed. She just didn’t
understand
.

Duncan thought about it. “After my injury, they expected us
to wallow helplessly. Everyone knows I’m the one who runs the estate and no one
else is interested. But then Theo stepped up. Worse, he dared to marry into a
family nearly as dangerous as ours. If I’m right, that means the men out there
are of some station, probably men who oppose my beliefs and practices—or more
likely, their hirelings are out there.”

“I’m still not understanding,” Aster said in bewilderment. “It’s
not as if I can do anything.” But if
she
were the target and not the Hall . . . then the manufactory was
more important, and she was right to leave Theo defending it.

“You already have—you involved your father. He’s in London
now with Pascoe, both of them throwing their weight around, rocking the boat.
Parliament is about to be dissolved because of dissatisfaction with
Wellington’s Tory party.”

“My father is loud, but he’s not
dangerous
,” Aster protested in bewilderment.

Duncan snorted. “Your father is one of the most powerful men
in Scotland, and between us, we’re related to half the landed gentry in the
kingdom. Pascoe and your father will be standing in my stead to lead the
election. If you are correct about assassins wishing to stop me, they have
learned to their dismay that instead, a double monster has risen in my place.
They must be in a state of panic.”

“What can they expect to do to
me
that would stop my father?” Aster cried, bringing the topic back
to the moment. She was unwilling to believe civilized Englishmen would conspire
against her or her family.

Her family
. She—personally—was
a real danger to them, even when she wasn’t in Scotland! It wasn’t just a
figment of the zodiac. Appalled, she shut up, trying to determine how she could
avert a catastrophe she couldn’t see.

“If you are right that these men actually attacked me,”
Duncan continued, apparently using her as a sounding board, “then they did
their best to make it look like an accident. Outright murder is apparently not
on their agenda, yet. I assume that at the very least, they will attempt to
frighten you off. Women do generally leave us, so it’s not exactly a
far-fetched notion.” Duncan’s grim tone said it all.

If the villains didn’t succeed in driving her away, they
might set fire to Theo’s manufactory. That would guarantee he gave up and abandoned
the estate. Incinerating the Hall would scatter everyone to the winds. Aster
could barely contain her horror at the choice before her.

She had to leave to save those she loved. Again. She didn’t
think she could bear it.

“Theo and William are holding the ground between the men in torches
and the manufactory and barn,” Hugh reported. “The grooms have just saddled up.
It will take them time to reach Mr. Browne.”

While Theo battled rioters, stealthy invaders crept up on
the house. It was too medieval to make sense—except in the terms Dunstan laid
out. With her gone, her father would abandon Duncan and any upcoming election.

“Everyone knows I don’t ride,” Aster said, attempting to
find another solution besides fleeing. “They can’t expect me to just up and run
away if they start shooting at windows.”

“They don’t realize that you know they’re there, so, no, they
don’t expect you to ride out. They don’t want to rouse the household. They want
to frighten us, perhaps do something so appalling that we’ll leave and never
come back. I think I’ll sit on the portico with a shotgun,” Duncan said grimly.