Magic In The Storm (12 page)

“I
do
mean it, Morgan. I don’t think
you should try using this magic until we know where it’s coming
from.” Kat reached out toward him again. “I know you don’t like it,
but please, Morgan, please. Promise me you won’t use this magic
until we know more about it.”

Morgan hardly had to think this through
before he shook his head. “I can’t do that, Kat. I can’t! For the
first time in my life, my magic is working the way it’s supposed to
and you want me to just turn my back on it?”

At the thinning of her lips, he said, “And
how would you propose that we find out where this power is coming
from?”

That did stop her.

“What would you do?” he continued, “Ask my
mother? She’s the only one who might have some idea, the only one
who might be able to figure it out. She is the High Priestess.”

“I know that,” Kat snapped, meeting his anger
with some of her own.

Morgan sat back. “Are you going to tell
her?”

“No! No, of course not. I’m not so
stupid.”

“I hadn’t thought so,” Morgan said. He didn’t
want to be angry with Kat, nor have her upset with him. “I’ll be
damned, and rightfully so, if I don’t take this gift that is being
offered to me, if I don’t use this power. It is mine, Kat. It
should have always been mine.”

<><><>

“Miss Hayden, I just cannot,” the wicker
chair creaked as Lord Vallentyn leaned forward.

Adriana shook her head, and put her hand on
his arm to emphasize her words. She was not going to give up on
this. She couldn’t afford to. “I’m sorry, my lord, but you must.
You must tell your mother you will not marry me. You will not let
your mother and my guardian force us into marriage.”

Lord Vallentyn just sat staring, unblinking,
into her eyes. In the bright light of the solarium, his pupils were
tiny pinpoints of black amidst the pale blue of his eyes, but the
intensity of his stare unnerved her. She would not let it affect
her—she refused break eye contact.

Finally, he blinked and shook his head. “But
you don’t understand...”

“I do. I understand very well. You are being
forced to do something that is repugnant to you, but you must stand
up for yourself. How do you expect to make a name for yourself in
Parliament if you can’t even stand up to your own mother?”

Lord Vallentyn winced at her brutal honesty,
and indeed, Adriana could hardly believe it herself. Henrietta’s
voice echoed in her mind—scolding her and reminding her that a lady
never spoke to a gentleman in such a way. And, indeed, she had
never been so blunt with anyone before. But this was her future—her
life—that was at stake here. She couldn’t afford to be nice and
polite. She blocked Henrietta’s voice from her mind and
concentrated instead on Lord Vallentyn.

But now he had risen, and was pacing back and
forth in front of the open windows, muttering to himself. He seemed
to be truly agitated by what she had said. “I can’t!” he said,
coming towards her but staring hard at the floor. He spun around on
his heel. “But I must! I don’t want this marriage.” He spun around
towards Adriana once again, “But Mother...”

“I don’t understand why you must do as your
mother says. My lord, you are a man! From all that I have ever
learned and experienced, men are the ones who hold the upper hand.
They answer to no woman.”

Lord Vallentyn laughed, but there was no
amusement in it. Indeed, it was a very sad laugh. Adriana looked,
perplexed at Lord Vallentyn.

He only shook his head and said, “That may be
so in ordinary society, but, well,” he sighed heavily. “We are not
in ordinary society, are we?”

“Aren’t we?” Adriana asked. This made no
sense to her.
Ordinary
society? What other type of society
was there?

“Let me just say that you do not know my
mother, Miss Hayden. If you did, you would understand, I assure
you.”

But Adriana wasn’t going to allow him to
misdirect her. Getting out of this marriage was too important. “No.
I don’t understand, and from all I’ve heard, I don’t believe I want
to.” Adriana stood up to encourage him further and confront him.
“My lord, please. You must be strong. You must stand up to
her!”

“I can’t!” His eyes locked on to hers for a
moment, and then immediately he turned away again. “Oh, but I
must!” With his fingers to his temples and one last agonized look
at Adriana, he escaped out the door to the garden.

Adriana shook her head sadly. She hadn’t
meant to cause him so much distress. But just think how miserable
we will both be if we are actually forced to marry , she reminded
herself.

She reopened the book on her lap to a random
page, and then stared out the window thinking over her situation.
It couldn’t have been more than five minutes later that Lord Devaux
walked into the room and strode directly over to her.

“Adriana, it is time you stopped wasting my
precious time and accepted Lord Vallentyn’s proposal,” he said,
getting straight to the point.

Adriana sighed. Her guardian never was one
for small talk. Then, just to be perverse, she pasted her social
smile on to her face. “Good morning to you, my lord. It is a
beautiful day, isn’t it?”

Lord Devaux stopped and scowled at her. “We
don’t need any of that, young lady.”

“No, of course not,” she said brightly, and
then added “Please do sit down.”

“That is enough,” he said, despite taking the
offered seat. His voice was high with annoyance. “When are you
going to accept Vallentyn’s proposal so we can get back to London?
I’ve got important business to attend to there, but we can’t leave
with this unresolved.”

The light in the room dimmed considerably as
a cloud moved to cover the sun. Adriana let the smile drop from her
face. “I’m afraid I don’t see the point in this marriage, my lord.
Are you truly going to put your career at risk to help Lord
Vallentyn, who doesn’t seem to have any firm views on any subject,
to attain a significant position in Parliament?”

Lord Devaux scowled. “The only thing you need
to concern yourself with is that you will be able to keep that
garbage you call art... and Lady Vallentyn will give me an
advantageous marriage settlement,” he added quietly.

Adriana’s jaw began to drop, but she caught
it before she gave herself away. So that was it. She was being
sold.

The pain of hurt burned its way up into her
chest.

Her father had tried to protect her from
this. He had known that it was a common enough practice and didn’t
want his daughter to suffer from it. He had written into his will
at Adriana’s birth—a mere six years before his and his wife’s
untimely death—that she was never to be forced into a marriage. But
Lord Devaux had found a way around it. Yes, Adriana would have to
sign an affidavit saying that she was not being forced into this
marriage, but in truth, she was and there was nothing she could do
about it—unless Lord Vallentyn came through for her and did
actually stand up to his mother.

“I hadn’t realized you were so desperate for
funds,” Adriana said quietly.

“I’m not!” Lord Devaux paused and then
continued more calmly, “This will simply put me on the same footing
as some of the other more prominent members of Parliament.”

Adriana nodded her head slowly. Now she
understood. Everything her guardian did furthered his career in
Parliament—this would be no exception.

“There is only one flaw in your plan, my
lord,” Adriana said, beginning to feel true hatred towards this man
who thought nothing of using her for his own ends, regardless of
the consequences.

Lord Devaux looked at her askance.

“Without me, your political dinner parties
will be nothing. Henrietta, although I love her dearly and she is a
sweet soul, does not have the knack that I have for these things.
She can never be the hostess I am—you said so yourself,” she added
for good measure. If he wasn’t going to play fair, well then, why
should she?

Her guardian nodded his head in agreement.
“You are correct. That is why you will continue to host political
dinners. The only difference is they will have the added benefit of
being in Vallentyn House on Grosvenor Square instead of my humble
abode. And I, naturally, will always be invited.”

“And why would I want to do that?”

“Because it is the reason Vallentyn is
marrying you, you silly little girl. Without your dinners and my
presence, Vallentyn will never gain the position his mother wants
for him.”

“And if I refuse to hold these parties?”
Adriana asked, holding her head high.

Lord Devaux narrowed his eyes at her. “I
wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said very softly. “I may punish
you by taking away your art, but I’ve heard that Lady Vallentyn’s
punishments are much, much worse.”

A shiver ran down Adriana’s arms as she
remembered her conversation with Lord Vallentyn not ten minutes
ago. If that were the case, then what choice did she have? She was
being backed into a corner. Every road to her freedom, one by one,
was being made impassable. If only... if only she had the means to
run from this life—no, this was no life, this was servitude.

So long as she still had her painting, she
could escape.

<><><>

Morgan could hardly wait to try out his new
powers. Finally, in the early afternoon, his patience wore out. He
knew he still had chores to do, but what would it hurt to just
try?

His eye landed on a small pile of hay sitting
in a corner of the barn. The energy was swirling around inside him,
surely there could be no harm in using it. In fact, it could only
help him to use it. He knew that magic was like a muscle—the more
you used it, the stronger it became. If he practiced, if he used
his magic, it would become easier and easier.

He focused his eyes on the hay and thought,
fire.

Nothing.

No, it couldn’t be that easy. All right. He
reached inside of himself, pulling his energy together and imagined
the hay on fire. “Fire,” he said aloud, this time.

Oberon, who was standing nearby watching him,
slid down to the floor. Morgan looked over to him. “I can do this.
I know I can.”

The dog gave a small bark of
encouragement.

Morgan nodded and tried again. This time he
really concentrated. He imagined the energy swirling within him. He
saw it move about his body and gathered it, directing it into his
arm, just as Kat had told him. Pointing his hand at the hay, he
released the energy like an arrow from a bow. “Fire!” he
shouted.

The hay twitched, as if a light breeze had
blown past.

“I am tied to the element of fire! I am one
with it. It is mine to command!” His anger mixed with the magic and
swept into his hand faster this time, but still there wasn’t even
the smallest spark.

Morgan slammed his hand against the wall in
his anger. He heard the wood crack, but didn’t care. Oberon gave a
little whimper.

No, maybe I’m starting too big, he thought.
Maybe I need to start with something smaller. Even his brother and
sisters could move objects with just a thought, and he had heard
his mother lamenting over how weak they were. Surely, he could make
something move. Any Vallen could do that.

He looked around the barn for a likely
object. A fox crept quietly out of the end stall and slinked up to
the water trough. Morgan had yet to refill it that day and it was
nearly empty. Still, the animal lapped up what little there
was.

As soon as he was done, Morgan moved to the
pail that sat ready for him to take to fetch the water. Holding his
hand out over it, he willed it into his hand.

Come into my hand, he thought. Come, he
projected. Up! But still the pail didn’t move. Once again, Morgan,
grasped at his magic, pulling it, cajoling it into his hand. Rise,
he thought, focusing his energy on the pail at his feet.

“Rise!”

“Up!”

“Move!” he finally shouted.

And then kicked the pail with all of his
frustration and anger. It went flying across the barn. The fox shot
back into his stall, so fast that it was hardly a blur.

Why didn’t this work! How could it not? He
had put a suggestion into Adriana’s mind! That was powerful magic –
much more powerful that lifting a pail or starting a fire. Why
couldn’t he do this?

Was this why Kat hadn’t wanted him even to
try? Because she knew he would fail? Had she been trying to protect
him?

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair! He was
destined to be the greatest Vallen of his time and he couldn’t even
move an empty pail!

Leaving his heart and his anger spent on the
floor, he went and retrieved the pail. He still had chores to
do.

A
s always, Oberon
bounded on ahead. Morgan heard him give a little bark, warning him
there was someone by the stream. But who could be there?

Morgan’s heart gave a little leap at the
thought that it might be Adriana. He had been hoping she would come
back to visit him again.

He looked out from between the trees. It
was
her! All of the pent–up tension in his body disappeared
at the sight of her. Morgan moved a step closer to her into the
clearing.

Her auburn hair glinted in the sunlight as
she sat on the ground facing the stream, a pretty straw bonnet on
the ground to her left. Oberon was sniffing at something in the
grass to her right.

“No, puppy,” Adriana laughed, pushing
Oberon’s nose away. She gave his jaw a rub to move him away from
whatever it was he’d been smelling, and then started massaging him
between his ears. Oberon moved closer, enjoying her attentions, but
nearly stepped on the thing she’d been pushing away from him.

“Oh, no! Please, do be careful!”

Morgan moved forward, eager to talk to her
and be with her once again. “Oberon,” he called, both to save
whatever it was Adriana wanted him to move away from and to let her
know he was there.