Chapter 10
I released time, and despite the fatigue humming through my veins from using time magic, I banged on the side wall.
The driver got the hint, and the carriage swayed as it rolled forward.
After a few moments, he began singing a romantic tune.
Inside, drawings of little couples along the walls danced, kissed, and flirted with abandon.
But Lizzy’s attention was fixed on me. “Whatever just happened—”
“—is a huge mess.” I swiped a hand over my face, remembering my sister’s reaction. At least she’d forgive me when I explained. I’d made a promise to the Trents I couldn’t back out of, then immediately turned around and insulted them. And Lizzy… I had to tell her.
She sat in the carriage, nose pink, breathing into her hands that she’d brought to her face. I pulled my scarf off and handed it to her.
She took it, her eyes flashing with gratitude even as she shook her head. “I don’t understand. You just said you’d marry who you wanted, and I guess I was silly for thinking you meant… not Rosalie.” She wrapped the scarf around her neck and lower face.
I released some heating magic into the carriage in order to warm her.
“Rosalie’s mom forced me to propose. If I did, she promised to tell me…
to tell me…” For a moment, I wished I hadn’t made the deal, that she hadn’t given me the key to finding the killer.
But I held up the slice of mirror she gave me.
“She stored a memory in here and claims it will lead us to the killer, but—” I took a slow breath.
“I’m afraid I know where it may take us. ”
Lizzy’s hand covered mine. “Then let’s look at it together,” she said, her voice steady.
I nodded, and she gripped the side of the mirror. I funneled my power into it to get it to release the memory it held. The glass glowed blue, and images appeared. A large plush bedroom with white carpets and a large dresser, bed, and vanity. And at the vanity sat Mrs. Trent, phone in hand.
She put the device on speaker and rested it on the vanity before lifting a straightener and starting on her hair.
“Hey, Vanessa.” My mother’s voice came through the phone loud and clear. Something warm and aching slid through me at just hearing her again. It had been so long.
“Is that your mom?” Lizzy stared at me with wide eyes, but all I could do was nod.
“Anne, how are you?” Mrs. Trent said.
“Oh, the usual. Meetings and more meetings,” my mom replied.
“Yes, being queen and influencing lives and policy must be so taxing.” Mrs. Trent ran the iron over her hair a few more times before setting it down and picking up her foundation.
“You would know.”
The two women chuckled.
“Do you have time to come and visit for a few hours tonight?”
Mrs. Trent hesitated. “What for?”
“Hold on, I’m going to put you on speakerphone,” my mom said. “Thomas wants to ask you a question.”
“You of course are aware that there are magical objects out there that can enhance powers.” My father’s baritone voice came over the phone, and somehow it reminded me of his stern yet caring ways that I missed more than I could say.
“Have you ever found one where if you add another’s energy, the object can hold and store it? ”
Mrs. Trent frowned. “You two aren’t experimenting with wild magic again, are you?”
“Now, now, Vanessa,” Dad said. “There is so much we can get done with—”
There was a noise in the background, like a door shutting and someone shouting. “Hold on,” Mom said.
“What? What have you done?” Uncle James’s voice came in angry and panicked. “Do you realize what’s happening?”
“James, calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down?” Uncle James’s voice rose. “You have no idea. I know what you were doing earlier today. And now… this is a total mess.”
“Uh, Vanessa, I have to go,” Mom said quietly. And then the phone went dead.
At the same time, the vision ended.
Lizzy looked at me. “Oh hex, Darcy, your uncle.”
“Mrs. Trent told me that my uncle had agreed to have me marry her daughter as the price for her staying silent. When I refused, she took matters into her own hands.” My voice was flat.
“That was when I suspected.” Uncle James, the man who’d taken over when I wouldn’t.
When I’d been obsessed with finding the source of Moonrot and my parents’ killer.
“I need to check with Georgiana. She said she was with Uncle when she found out that my parents were killed,” I muttered.
The thing was, I hadn’t spoken to Georgiana yet about my theory of our parents being murdered.
I hadn’t wanted to tell her until I knew for sure, and even when I did know for sure, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her until I found the culprit.
“Could Mrs. Trent be misleading you?” Lizzy asked. “We heard your uncle’s voice, but what if it’s distorted? She could be showing the truth but still leading us to the wrong conclusion?”
“My parents said his name.”
“Was that possibly altered also?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” I held up the piece of mirror to examine it while I thought about the wording of my deal with Mrs. Trent. “Yes, it would work within the terms of our agreement. But what’s her motive for doing so?”
“To push your uncle aside so you’ll put more trust and power in Rosalie’s hands?”
I sighed. “Being heir to the throne complicates things so much.”
The driver serenading us continued his melody, coming to a high note.
As if on cue, little rose petals began falling from the ceiling.
One landed on Lizzy’s nose, and she brushed it away in annoyance.
“Seriously? How is this romantic?” She refocused on me.
“Maybe it’s not your uncle. We don’t know what he was angry about or what he did afterward.
Maybe he’s just the next stop on our journey. ”
I wanted to believe that, but the evidence was mounting against him.
My uncle saw my parents that night and kept it hidden from everyone.
He’d been angry with my parents and they’d quarreled over something.
Mrs. Trent had made a deal with my uncle, because he obviously didn’t want any of it to get out.
I pulled out my phone and opened the family app.
“What are you doing?” Lizzy asked, trying to glance over my shoulder.
“Checking my family’s flight logs. They’re always updated here, and I can check them when I want.
” I brushed away a rose petal that landed on my screen and looked over the entries.
“Here.” I pointed at the line. “It says my uncle left from Wyoming at 4:15 p.m. Mountain Time and arrived in New York at 10:15 p.m. Eastern. With a two-hour time zone difference, that means he went straight to New York. There’d be no time for a layover.
” Relief moved through me. “He couldn’t have killed Clara Ashcombe. ”
“Does that mean he didn’t kill your parents for sure?”
I frowned. “No, it doesn’t. What if we were off about my parents’ and Clara Ashcombe’s murder being connected?”
“That’s possible.”
There were protective magical stones placed around Pemberley to keep the royal family safe while inside the home.
However, after doing a few magical tests on them, it seemed the stone’s power had weakened over time.
And a good glamour spell could trick them as to the killer’s intentions. Few knew that. Did uncle?
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, even though it did. “If he started the Moonrot by killing my parents, then hopefully he knows how to stop it.” I double-checked Uncle James’s itinerary on my phone. “My uncle comes into town tomorrow. I can confront him then.”
“Do you want me there?”
I found I did. Reaching up, I pulled a rose petal from her hair. “Yes. Can you whip up some of that truth serum you used on me when we first met?”
“I can.”
The serenade continued, and the world outside danced in calm snow, but inside the carriage turmoil churned inside me, and Lizzy was my only anchor. “It’s time that we found out the truth.”
After the carriage came back from its tour around Rosing Park, I was semi-ready for the chaos I’d left behind. I exchanged a glance of dread with Lizzy and opened the door.
Mrs. Trent was on me first. “You propose to my daughter and have the gumption to run off with someone else two minutes later?”
“It’s fine, Mother. I’m sure there’s an explanation.” Rosalie gave me an angry glare, which I probably deserved.
I held up my hands. “I gave my word to my sister that Lizzy and I would take the carriage ride. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to Georgiana.”
Mrs. Trent’s face flushed red, but I ignored her and walked up to where Georgiana, Henry, Anne, and Ernesto were standing together looking flabbergasted. “Will you come with me alone?” I said to Georgiana.
She nodded. I turned to Anne. “Will you drive Lizzy home?”
“Sure.” Anne took Ernesto’s hand and tugged him along with her as they ushered Lizzy to their car. They most likely loved an excuse to escape the tension, and I definitely couldn’t leave Lizzy alone with my aunt and the Trents.
“Don’t worry,” Henry said, “I can handle the Trents and… Lady Catherine.” He grimaced like he wasn’t sure he’d be up for all that.
“We won’t be gone long.” I grasped my sister’s hand and pulled her into the house to a side room that I realized too late was the traditional “Celebration Room” at Rosings. A room spelled to commemorate accomplishments.
A giant sign hung in the air with miniature hearts and fireworks exploding in tiny pops out of it. “Future Mr. & Mrs. Lovebirds: Happy Marriage, Rosalie and Prince Fitzwilliam!”
The wedding march started playing on the old stereo in the corner. Waffles paddled into the room after us and barked a few times, tail wagging as she tried to jump and catch the disappearing magic between her jaws even though she was nowhere near reaching it.
“Darcy, what is going on?” Georgiana turned to face me. “Why did you propose to Rosalie Trent of all people?”