Magic In The Storm (2 page)

“Why would Henrietta...”

“My cousin has turned out to be an excellent
nanny for you, but she is worthless when it comes to dealing with
adults,” Lord Devaux interrupted her. “We all have our talents, I
suppose.” He then turned and looked at her with something that
could be construed as grudging respect. “You have a natural
talent—for housekeeping at least. If not for this.” He waved his
stubby fingers vaguely around the room.

“Your talents have brought you a husband,
Adriana. Er, your talents as hostess and housekeeper, that is.”

Adriana’s stomach lurched. “A husband? I
don’t want...”

“If you think I care for a moment what you
want...” her guardian began. He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Adriana knew he didn’t care one whit for her or for what she
wanted. She took a deep breath, letting the familiar smell of her
paints and turpentine soothe her.

“You cannot force me to marry!” she finally
said, trying to keep the triumphant tone from her voice.

“Your father may have stipulated that you had
the right to choose your own husband in his will, but that doesn’t
mean that I can’t, er, help you decide.” A little smile flickered
on his lips. “Either you marry the man I have chosen for you, or
this, all of this,” he indicated everything in the room with a
sweep of his eyes once more, “goes. I will never allow you to draw
again.”

Spots began to dance in front of Adriana’s
eyes and the tightness in her stomach made its way up to her
throat. “You can’t do that,” she whispered.

A smile slowly grew on Lord Devaux’s face as
he looked around the room. “Oh, yes, I can.”

<><><>

“And this is the northwest field.” Jonathan,
the sixth Viscount Vallentyn held his horse steady, proudly looking
over a large field filled with tall, green leafy plants.

For the life of her, Adriana couldn’t have
told the difference between the northwest field and the southwest
field, they all looked the same. Idly, she wondered if it was
possible to actually die of boredom. If it was, her life was
definitely in danger.

“Here we have another crop of barley. Last
year it was wheat and next year it will lay fallow in preparation
for another...”

Adriana let Lord Vallentyn’s voice fade away
as she looked out over the rich, green and gold field.

She couldn’t decide whether she liked Lord
Vallentyn better nervous and nearly silent as he had been when she
had first met him the day before, or more relaxed and talkative as
he was today.

Yesterday, every time he opened his mouth to
say anything his mother had cut him off or immediately contradicted
him. Today, without the terrifyingly formidable Lady Tatiana
Vallentyn next to him, he was clearly much more at ease, freely
describing all of the workings of his estate—in painstaking detail.
Adriana nearly groaned in frustration.

No, she had to do this, she reminded herself
unhappily. And just to be good, she occasionally truly did listen
to Lord Vallentyn’s patter, so that she could make an appropriate
comment, or ask a relevant question. After over thirty minutes of
this, however, her patience was at an end.

This was such a waste of time. There was so
much else that she needed to learn about Lord Vallentyn—not because
she wanted to, necessarily, but because she had to. She had to find
a good argument as to why her guardian should
not
force her
to marry this man.

She was certain that if she could just find
one thing that would convince Lord Devaux that her marriage to Lord
Vallentyn would not be in his best interests, he would call off the
whole thing. But what? What was it about Lord Vallentyn that her
guardian would not like? Surely, there was something.

“My lord, yesterday you mentioned briefly
that you do not actually like visiting London,” Adriana said,
finally getting desperate enough to set aside good manners and take
the plunge into changing the subject.

Lord Vallentyn stared at her with his mouth
gaping open for a moment, completely flummoxed by her interruption.
A lock of his dark brown hair blew into his eyes. With a careless
hand, he brushed it back. “Oh, er, did I? Didn’t mean to. Let’s
continue on to the Northeast field, shall we?” Without waiting for
her, he spurred his horse forward.

Adriana would not be put off so easily. “What
are your views on the new enclosure laws, my lord?” Perhaps if he
held opposing political views to Lord Devaux, then her guardian
wouldn’t be able to sponsor him in Parliament and, in fact,
wouldn’t want him there at all.

Lord Vallentyn paused, but only for a moment,
before completely ignoring her question and going on with a
detailed description of his plan for slowly moving more of his
crops over to wheat. They had arrived at the next field, and Lord
Vallentyn pulled his horse up so that Adriana could admire it while
he went on with his monologue. As soon as they stopped, a large
raven swooped down and landed on the ground next to them.

“Shoo!” Lord Vallentyn waved his arm at the
bird. “Don’t understand why we are suddenly overrun with these
creatures,” he said, as the bird flew off.

With a frown, Adriana watched the bird as it
circled above them, and then turned her attention back to Lord
Vallentyn. There had to be something he and her guardian would
disagree on. “What about the corn laws, my lord? Surely that will
impact your plans for what to plant in the future?”

“I leave that up to those who have more
knowledge than I,” he answered shortly, and then kicked his horse
into motion once more. “I am sorry to hurry you, Miss Hayden, but I
don’t like the look of those clouds,” he called back to her.

Adriana glanced up and had to agree that they
did look menacing, but clearly not enough to deter either of
them.

She and Lord Vallentyn were coming to the end
of the fields, and she still hadn’t received any information she
could actually use to get herself out of this marriage. Frustration
began to simmer inside her.

She had to find out something or else this
whole excursion would have just been a waste of time. She didn’t
know when she would have another chance to be alone with Lord
Vallentyn, and to speak with him candidly. Somehow, she was certain
that he wanted to marry her as little as she wanted to marry him.
If only he would admit it!

In desperation, she pulled her horse in front
of Lord Vallentyn’s so that he was forced to stop.

She looked directly into his large pale blue
eyes, which were now wide with surprise. His heavy brow drew down
in concern, but she would not be stopped. “Please, my lord, be
honest with me.” Adriana leaned toward him and held onto his gaze
with her own. “Do you want this marriage as little as I do? If so,
you must help me to find a way out of it.”

“I do not want this marriage, but it is
useless to even try to get out of it. My mother has decided that we
should marry, and so we shall.” Lord Vallentyn snapped his mouth
shut, his eyes suddenly narrowing with suspicion.

Adriana shook her head in frustration. “I
cannot simply let Lord Devaux blackmail me into marrying you, my
lord. I am sorry.”

“Miss Hayden, are you...? Can you...?”

A flash of lightning pulled Adriana’s
attention away. Only now did she notice that while they had been
talking the wind had picked up. Lord Vallentyn had been right to
worry. The gray clouds above had begun stirring themselves up into
what looked like a significant storm. Luckily, the accompanying
thunder took a few minutes to reach them. The rain was still some
way off.

Lord Vallentyn’s voice had fallen to nearly a
whisper, but the wind seemed to blow the word “magic” into her
ear.

She didn’t know what he was referring to, but
it didn’t matter. All that mattered now was finding some way out of
this marriage. “My lord...”

He shook his head. “Miss Hayden, I am sorry
that you, too, do not wish to marry, but you simply must accept it
as I have. This is the way of the world. You are from a good
family, have been trained...”

“I don’t care about any of that. I will
not...”

The pounding of hooves interrupted her. A man
rode toward them so quickly that, for a moment, she was afraid he
would crash straight into them.

The rider stopped just short of where they
stood. “My lord, there’s... a fire... the Drummond’s cottage...
afraid it will spread... with this wind...” the man panted.

Adriana was surprised to see Lord Vallentyn
immediately sit up straighter in his saddle and take charge of the
situation. It was a completely different man who turned his horse
in the direction the man had come. He paused for a moment and
turned back to Adriana. “Miss Hayden, you must forgive me, I need
to go. In any case, our conversation is at an end. There is no more
to be said on this subject. Can you find your way back to the
abbey?”

“Yes, but...” Another burst of thunder
drowned out what she was about to say and Lord Vallentyn did not
wait to hear any more. With a quick nod, he and the man rode off in
the other direction, disappearing from view within moments.

Adriana sighed. She would not give up this
fight just because Lord Vallentyn had. Slowly walking her mare
along the border of the forest that edged the last field they had
visited, she tried to think of some way out of her difficult
situation. It just wasn’t right. She was an adult and, as such,
should be allowed to decide who, and if, she wanted to marry. Men
had this right—well, most men. It seemed as if Lord Vallentyn was
as bound to his mother’s will as she was to Lord Devaux’s.

The raven that had bothered Lord Vallentyn
earlier landed in front of her horse, startling her. It took a few
hops off to one side, seemed to look directly at her, and then flew
up and away.

As she watched it go, she noticed the beauty
of the wood next to her. What a good thing it was that she had
thought to bring her sketch book along—that was just what she
needed to make herself feel better and get her mind off of her
problems, at least for a little while.

A glance up at the sky had her praying that
the storm would hold off for just a little bit longer. If it
didn’t, Adriana considered, well then, she would get wet. A few
more minutes of freedom was worth a soaking any day.

A well–worn path leading into the dense woods
teased her with its enticing twist around a large oak tree before
disappearing immediately afterward. She longed to see where it led.
She hesitated for only the briefest moment before giving a little
click of her tongue and turning her horse onto the path.

The forest gloom could not block out her
thoughts as they wandered back to her problems. Even here in the
silence of the woods, she found herself desperately wishing she
could find some respite from all the horrible twists her life had
suddenly taken.

She stopped her horse, and closed her eyes
for a moment. Her problems would sort themselves out. She had to
have faith that they would.

Taking a deep breath, she let the wind gently
caress her. It blew over her eyes and her forehead, smoothing away
the troubles that were causing her so much tension. It filled her
nose with its fresh scent and allowed her mind to relax and
empty.

She opened her eyes to a flash of lightning
feeling wonderfully refreshed. Darkness had moved into the forest,
deepening the colors all around her, but she could still see
clearly ahead of her. It was so pleasant here in the woods with
only the sound of the wind in the trees to disturb the absolute
quiet. She would explore only a little bit further before turning
back.

H
eart pounding,
blood racing—he was free. Crouching down against the neck of his
horse, Apollo, they moved as one. Skirting low branches, leaping
over fallen trees, they flew through the forest, taking the sharp
turns that threaded them through the closely growing trees.

The wind was hard in Morgan’s face, making
his eyes water and his hair fly behind him. This was magic. This
was true magic, and nothing could compare. If he closed his eyes,
he could almost imagine himself speeding across open fields, down
long straight roads, through towns and villages—riding away, far,
far away.

Ah, they were approaching the stretch where
there was an arrow–straight path through the trees—that beautiful
straight–away where they could really run, at least for a short
distance. Apollo increased his speed. Morgan knew that the horse
was looking forward to this part where he could really stretch out
his legs and gallop at full force. Morgan, himself, loved it
because he could almost imagine himself free of these towering
trees that pressed down on him constantly, never letting him
go.

Morgan whispered into Apollo’s ear, “Yes! Go,
boy, go.” He encouraged the horse, praising him as they approached
the last tree that held them back.

A burst of fire exploded directly in front of
them, the sound echoing in his ears.

Morgan’s arm shot up to protect his eyes and
face. The horse reared and twisted under him, but instinct kept
Morgan seated. He held on as tightly as he could as Apollo fell
back onto his forelegs.

Within moments, Morgan was down, off the
horse’s back trying to figure out what had just happened. His heart
pounded in his chest.

The ground beneath his feet began to rumble
with thunder, before the sound could even reach his ears. Morgan
had never felt anything like this before—it was the strength of the
earth, just barely contained.

But there was more. There was something... As
the thunder rolled away, he heard it, like a voice in the rumbling
of sound.
It’s coming, be ready!

Morgan spun around, looking everywhere, but
there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing but the forest
surrounding him and the tree in front of him, from which smoke
lazily snaked up into air. Following the trail of smoke through the
thick canopy of trees, Morgan noticed whisps of grey clouds
overhead.