Belmary House Book One (37 page)
Read Belmary House Book One Online
Authors: Cassidy Cayman
He pushed aside the fears, having no choice but to go forward, wanting to go forward. He crushed her to him in a fierce hug.
“I thought you were going to give me bad news,” he said, voice muffled in her hair.
“You’re smothering me,” she gasped, and he let go, but only a little. “This is good news, then?”
He laughed. “It’s wonderful news, but it spoils my proposal plans. Now you’ll think I want to marry you out of obligation and I’m certain there will be no way to convince you otherwise.”
“Truly?” she asked, looking the same as when he first laid eyes on her so many years before.
All the hardness and old disappointments were gone from her face, and he hoped from her heart. He selfishly wanted to be the only one occupying that space. He counted off the months until his mourning ended. They should have time to have a proper wedding and not be too much of a scandal. He laughed again, thinking that would really get him back in the villagers’ good graces, they did so love a scandal.
“Yes, truly.” He dropped to his knee and held out his hand in a showy manner, his sentiments completely sincere. “Shall we get married?”
“That’s not right, Kostya, and you know it. You wait and do it the way you wanted, I’m not going anywhere.”
He popped back up and hugged her some more. “You mustn’t,” he said. “Stay with me always.”
“I am with you always, right here,” she said, placing his hand on her heart. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
“I did worry, a bit,” he admitted. “I’d forgotten what it feels like to be so happy.”
She kissed him softly. “I’m so glad I could help you remember. We’ll be a family, won’t we?”
The word hit him like a blow. Family. He’d had one once and it had been a dream come true. Could he do it again, risk it all again? He looked at her beautiful face, no longer pale with nerves, but glowing with the prospect of their future together. Did he dare risk it? Resignation settled on his shoulders, and something stronger. A desire to keep fighting for what he wanted.
“We’ll be a family, my love. Well and truly.”
She grinned delightedly and kissed him on the nose. “I’ve come early and disturbed your work. Hurry and finish so we can be disgustingly happy some more.”
“Nonsense,” Kostya said, glancing guiltily at the pile of letters. “I don’t have any work to finish.”
“Liar. I can see it practically spilling off the desk. Don’t worry about me. Cook was making pies when I came in. I’ll help her roll out the crusts until you’re done.”
“If you’re certain,” he said, knowing he should at least make sure nothing urgent needed his attention. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Bah, take as long as it takes.”
She smiled so radiantly he almost had to look away. Her brightness and beauty rivaled a cloudless summer day and he felt tears blur his vision as he watched her bounce from the room.
He sifted quickly through the letters, eager to get back to her, and glad to see that most of them could be put off until later. The last one in the pile was from Ashford, posted from France and he frowned. Had it even been a fortnight since they left? He must have sent the message the day he arrived and paid handsomely to have it get here so quickly. Urgent was scrawled all over the battered letter and he wondered how it had ended up on the bottom of the pile. The post usually came early in the day, he really should have seen this before now. Pushing aside his irritation, he broke open the seal, bracing himself for whatever his brother-in-law had written.
The first perusal didn’t make any sense at all, but he must have understood it at some level because he suddenly felt cold. He took a breath and read it through again.
Please come at once. Camilla is alive and in grave need of your help. I beg of you not to delay. Yours, A.
Ashford had been right all along, in his belief that Camilla hadn’t been lost in the shipwreck. They’d all pitied him and thought him mad, but now it seemed he had proof. Kostya knew he would never beseech him to leave the farm and travel all that distance without it. What else could he do? His wife was alive and needed him.
He looked out the window at the barn for a long while before laying his head down on the desk.
The End.
Camilla Alexander Povest replayed the images in her mind.
“Are you going to shoot me, Julian?” she’d asked after the squawking girl had taken off running.
Her brother always thought he was so weak against magic but he was surprisingly adept at recognizing and fighting off spells. It almost broke her heart to see him fumble for his pocket watch as he gaped disbelievingly at her. He was still using the same little tricks. Even so, it took almost all of her energies to cast something at him that would stick. She’d had to guide Donal to a chair and let him rest, not having enough in her to control him and quiet Julian at the same time.
She only wanted him to leave and give up on her, didn’t want to hurt him, so she’d confused him a bit, and sent him on his way. He was her twin brother after all, the only person she’d ever loved besides Kostya. She glanced at the now still form of sweet, young Donal and blinked guiltily.
Had she loved Donal? She thought she might have, but he left her so soon, and now all she had was the shell of him. But she’d get him back. She’d worked too hard and for too long to give up because she was feeling guilty over hexing her brother.
She stretched out on the bed and watched over the sleeping lad she was trying so desperately to bring back. She couldn’t feel guilty about Julian, not after everything she’d done to get to this place. It hadn’t been easy to make the ship fire seem like an accident, or to time it so it sank in just the right place to ensure no survivors. She’d been in that cold water so long, clinging to consciousness to keep herself and Donal afloat, nearly getting dashed against rocks, before she used the last of her power to get them ashore.
She’d chosen this town because she knew the Povests would get wind of her activities and come after her. She knew she was strong enough now to face any of them, and once she got her family’s book back, she could fully restore Donal. That was all she wanted. The book was rightfully hers. She knew those devils hadn’t kept their end of the bargain and lifted Kostya’s curse, and that was the entire basis of her giving it to them in the first place. They had almost succeeded in ruining her life, but she was determined to come out the victor in the end.
If only they would get here. How much more did she have to do? Send them a written invitation? She knew the Povests hated flamboyant and reckless shows of magic more than anything and anyone who dared to continuously defy them was swiftly shut down. So why hadn’t they come to try and shut her down?
She’d taken over a sacred church, hexed nearly every building in town to scare off half the villagers, and sent her undead lover to murder the other half. She grimaced in distaste at that unfortunate necessity. She didn’t like it at all, especially not the mess upstairs. But Donal required sustenance and she hadn’t counted on his finicky tastes.
She walked over to look down at him, head resting peacefully on the dining table, his hands folded in his lap. Stroking his hair, she sat down across from him and made him raise his head. He made one of his noises and stared past her. She reached over and patted his cheek, missing his lively conversation and vibrant smiles. The passage of time wasn’t being kind to him and every day it grew more difficult to sustain him. Worn out from the showdown with her brother, she let Donal go back to his rest.
Seeing Julian had thrown her. She honestly thought he believed her dead from the shipwreck, and the fact that he’d found her after all these months worried her.
Everything, all her hopes and plans depended on getting that book back. When she had access to the spells it contained, nothing and no one would be able to stop her. As unnerved as she was about Julian knowing her whereabouts, there was nothing to do but keep waiting for the Povests. She hoped they hurried, though, before Donal ran out of food.
Belmary House Book Two is now available!
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