The Demon's Bride (11 page)

“Why, the one for the Bride. The Bride’s always the one on the point of marrying. Has to be really, the way it can take them.”

Rachel gasped. “You mean . . . it usually . . .”

“Tends that way, yes, miss, though there’s some as say that it’s just the excitement and the excuse. I’ve never seen it take anyone like tonight, that’s for sure. I reckon tonight were a proper Dym’s Night. The land’s all set for a while now.”

“Yes, it is,” said Rachel, then she spoke more loudly, so more could hear. “I have to tell you something, something I learned tonight. Dym’s Night comes of the joining of the Christian rhythms with those of the ancient earth. The date doesn’t matter, only that everyone believes it’s the right night. No calendar change can alter it.”

There was a murmur of relief.

“What happened to Meggie Brewstock, then?” Mark asked. “Did Waldborg kill her?”

“The spirit never kills. The third earl came as you did, but later. When he dragged her away, the bond was too great. She died of the shock.”

The experience was rapidly fading into a magical dream, but Mark could imagine the effect of being ripped out of it. “Damnation. If I’d arrived later, I could have killed you.”

Rachel took his hand. “But you didn’t. And you came to save me.”

Ada Brewstock stepped forward. “It were as you said, miss. Grandad told me before he died. They had to knock out the earl, you see, to try to save her, but it were too late. Said poor Meggie looked so awful they couldn’t have people see her like that, so they threw her on the fire and claimed it were an accident. She’d not completed her part, so that were a bad year in the land, and for many a year after.”

“So the impoverishment of the estate back then was entirely the third earl’s madness.”

 

 

“Your ancestor felt some of what you felt this night,” Rachel said to Mark. “That drove him mad.”

“Aye,” said Mistress Brewstock. “It’s not a mystery for men.”

“Are you still sane?” Rachel asked him.

“No, I’m madly in love.” He kissed her, despite their audience.

“You don’t regret it, then?”

“No,” he said, and it was true. “I regret nothing.”

She turned and drew the blade out of the earth and handed it to Michael Bladwick. “Keep it safe.”

“Aye, Lady,” he said, not at all prosaically. “That I will.”

People seemed to want to gather around Rachel, talking, but mainly touching. Mark noted how they all called her “Lady” and he didn’t think it was a reference to her future as his countess. It was as if she were magic, and perhaps tonight she was.

He knelt and tested the ground with his fingers—the ground from which she’d just drawn the blade. It was hard earth over chalky rock, with no crack or crevice that he could detect. Was he to believe this? That spirits could rise in the eighteenth century?

Whatever had happened, he knew he was changed without hope of recovery. His land was no longer maps and ledgers and rents to be spent, but a living thing in his charge, and perhaps now it would be more bountiful—because of a Dym’s Night.

He hoped so. He was called to cherish it as potently as he had ever been called to a woman.

Except one.

He stood and looked across to where she was talking to her father. Probably duly reciting all the details for one of his damned books. That dress outlined every lush curve of her passionate body, the bodice was far too low, and no woman with hair like that should be allowed to let it hang free in public.

He commandeered Sir George’s cloak and went to wrap it around her. “No details of all this are to be published,” he said to her father.

“The routine details, perhaps,” countered the vicar calmly. “But as for the rest, I doubt it would be believed. However,” he said with a direct look, “I think a wedding is in order.”

“Indeed it is, and as soon as possible.” Mark dared Rachel to refuse. He’d carry her off and hold her prisoner until she consented.

But Rachel smiled. “I am to be bride to another demon, I see.”

“For all time and beyond, without hope of escape. Yes?”

She blushed, looking every inch a clergyman’s proper daughter.

“Yes please, my lord.”

I wrote this story in 1991, and I’m pleased to see it available again. In looking it over, I was interested to see how some themes from it have appeared in other works.

I played with the sacrificial virgin story in “The Dragon and the Virgin Princess,” in a collection called
Dragon Lovers
.

The calendar change of 1752 is crucial in another fantasy story, “The Marrying Maid,” in
Songs of Love and Death
, which also involves a rakish aristocrat and a clergyman’s daughter--and some rapturous faerieinspired sex, now I come to think of it!

Lastly, this story is about an unlikely countess, and I first wrote that in a Regency historical called
Forbidden Magic
. Yes, I played with a little fantasy that time, too. In that case the magic was a lewd statue that could grant wishes, but with a sting in the tail. It catapults impoverished Meg Gillingham into the marriage with the eccentric Earl of Saxonhurst, and she soon wonders if she’s been blessed or cursed. That novel has been reissued and is available now.

My new book, coming in March 2011, is actually called
The Unlikely Countess
! Like “The Demon’s Bride,” it is a Georgian romance about a simple woman whom fate shoots into the aristocracy. There are no dragons, faeries, or demons in this one, however--simply the craziness that overtakes humans when they fall in love, especially to an unlikely opposite.

In
The Unlikely Countess
, Prudence Youlgrave is the daughter of a librarian, left in poverty by her father’s death. At the opening, the hero, Catesby Burgoyne, is also very short of money, but his brother’s death catapults him into being Earl of Malzard and back among his alienated family, none of whom have any faith in him.

To see how these two people come together, why they marry, and how it all turns out, read
The Unlikely Countess
. If you want to try before you buy, there are excerpts on my Web page,
www.jobev.com
.

All these books are or will be available in print and e-book format.

As for this wild story, is any of it based on reality?

Walpurgis Night does fall on April 30, and it is associated with witches and the raising of demons, but also with Saint Walburga, whose feast day is May 1. This odd mix was probably an attempt by the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festivity and make it harmless, as in blending Yule, the winter festival of light, with Christmas, and Samhain’s Night with All Hallows’ Eve—or Halloween.

However, as best we know, Saint Walburga did exist. She was an English princess of the eighth century who became a powerful nun, known for her learning, purity, and piety.

Ascension Day did fall on April 30 in 1573, 1668, and 1761. It happened again in 1818. I can’t find a date when it will next occur. If this story were true, that would be rather ominous.

The calendar change really happened in 1752 to correct accumulated errors, and people really did feel that days had been stolen from them.

Apart from the above facts, this story, the location, and the customs described are complete invention. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

There’s a complete list of my published work on my Web site at
http://www.jobev.com/booklist.html
. There are also some pieces of free fiction on the site, at
http://www.jobev.com/miscwrit.html
.

Nearly every page of my Web site has a place to sign up for my occasional newsletter, which will mean you won’t miss news of any new or reissued books, and I have an author page on Facebook. I enjoy hearing from my readers at [email protected], though sometimes I’m too lost in a book to reply promptly.

All best wishes, and happy reading always!

Jo

Jo Beverley
is widely regarded as one of the most talented romance writers today. She is a
New York Times
bestseller, five-time winner of Romance Writers of America’s cherished RITA Award, and one of only a handful of members of the RWA Hall of Fame. She has also twice received the
Romantic Times
Career Achievement Award. She has two grown sons and lives with her husband in England. You can visit her Web site at
www.jobev.com
.

Available from New American Library
REGENCY

 

THE ROGUE’S WORLD

 

Lady Beware
To Rescue a Rogue
The Rogue’s Return
Skylark
St. Raven
Hazard
“The Demon’s Mistress” in
In Praise of Younger Men
The Devil’s Heiress
The Dragon’s Bride
Three Heroes
(Omnibus Edition)

 

OTHER

 

Forbidden Magic
Lovers and Ladies
(Omnibus Edition)

 

THE MALLOREN WORLD

 

 

MEDIEVAL ROMANCES

 

 

ANTHOLOGIES

 

“The Dragon and the Virgin Princess” in
Dragon Lovers

 

“The Trouble with Heroes” in
Irresistible Forces