Chapter 12 #2
“I am not to be trifled with. A report of an alarming nature has reached me and I instantly resolved on setting off for this place to make my sentiments known.”
“And what report did you receive. I am still unaware of what has you so concerned.”
“That you are engaged to my nephew.”
“Which one?” Bad Lizzy. Why must she antagonize her soon to be aunt by marriage?
“Mr. Darcy, of course! Has my nephew made you an offer of marriage?
Tendrils of anger curled tight in her belly. The woman was beyond ridiculous, but she went too far.
“That is my personal business. You have no right to ask me these questions.”
While trading barbs with Mr. Darcy’s foreboding aunt, Lizzy couldn’t help but notice Mama had approached the carriage which held Lady Catherine’s daughter.
“I have every right as his nearest living relative?”
“But you are not mine, and have no say in how I feel, or in what I do.”
She caught a glimpse of Mama entering the carriage and taking hold of Miss de Bough’s hand, then the door slammed shut and the curtains closed. A strange glow seemed to radiate around the edges of the drawn curtain. Dimly, she realized Lady Catherine continued to rant.
“...You are a gentleman’s daughter, but who was your mother? Who are your aunts and uncles? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.”
“Whatever my connections may be?”
She stopped mid sentence and her eyes widened as Mama exited the carriage and glanced around.
When her gaze alighted on them, she approached with amazing speed.
Was it her imagination, or did Mama seem to grow taller?
Leaner? Translucently beautiful? Mama passed under the rose covered trellis and the flowers weaved and bobbed as though a great wind buffeted them.
“You!” Mama raised her arm and pointed her finger at Lady Catherine.
Lizzy cut a sideways glance at Lady Catherine and noted that she’d lost all color in her face.
Eyes wide and lips trembling, she stood completely still - and silent.
Not a sound permeated the garden, not even bird song.
It was preternaturally silent, as though nature had curtailed its activities to see what was about to transpire.
Mama had by now reached them and stood toe to toe with Lady Catherine.
“Catherine Meredith Agnes Fitzwilliam de Bough, what have you done?”
“How.... How do you know my name?”
“I know everything about you and am exceedingly disappointed. How could you do that to your own flesh and blood?”
“I know not of what you speak.”
“You dare lie? To me?” Mama stepped back and leaves on the ground began to swirl around her skirts. Her eyes became almost iridescent, with flecks of silver around the pupils. She raised her arm again and Lady Catherine whispered, “Ellucia.”
“I became afraid, Ellucia.” Lady Catherine cried out, her voice trembling and weak. A complete opposite of the harridan she’d been earlier with Elizabeth.
“You were given the gift of a beautiful daughter. The mixing of two souls is a difficult business and if my brother hadn’t been so callous, you wouldn’t have lost the first babe. It is the only reason I was allowed to aid you and Sir Lewis to conceive this child.”
Her uncle Gardiner caused Lady Catherine to lose a baby? How was that possible? He would have been but a young lad himself when Anne de Bourgh was born. Lizzy mentally gave her head a shake. What in the world was going on?
“I know and I’m truly grateful.” Lady Catherine bowed her head and kept her eyes trained on the ground.
“Are you? You have stripped that poor girl of all joy and life.”
“I needed her to be pliable. She does not want to marry my nephew.”
“That is not true.”
Lady Catherine’s head snapped up. “No, no. She’s told me more than once she will not marry Darcy.”
“Then you have pushed the wrong nephew forward.”
“Wrong nephew?” Confusion caused Lady Catherine’s brow to furrow.
“I can only help you so far, Catherine. The rest is up to you.” Mama turned her head slightly and looked toward the carriage.
Lizzy followed her gaze and saw the pale face of Anne de Bourgh peeking out the window.
Mama faced Lady Catherine again. “I removed the binding spell that dark wizard cast and gave your daughter what she needs to protect her body and soul. You have no more control over what she eats, drinks, or even what she thinks. The wards around Rosings Park are no more. She is her own free woman and will make her own decisions. I suggest you learn to listen to your daughter. She may not have magic, but she is a fearsome woman in her own right and she bears a soul mark.”
At that, Lady Catherine gasped. She stood completely still and then cast a mournful look at her daughter’s worried face.
“I understand.” Lady Catherine moved toward the carriage, stopping to look back as an after thought. “I bid you good day, Miss Elizabeth. I will be pleased to call you my niece.” With that she straightened, and head held high, walked to her carriage, entered and called for the driver to carry on.
Side by side, mother and daughter watched the heavy carriage lumber down the graveled drive of Longbourn. When it was no longer in sight, Mama heaved a sigh.
“I suppose are wondering what that was all about?”
Lizzy turned to face Mama and saw the flecks of silver remained in her mother’s eyes. “It would be nice to know exactly who, or what you are, dear Mama.”
“For that, we need tea and lemon tarts.” Mama looped her arm through hers and guided her to the terrace doors leading to the drawing room.
Once inside she gave a small flick of her wrist and all the doors locked and a lovely setting for tea appeared on the table between two chairs.
“Have a seat, Lizzy. We have much to discuss before your Father realizes magic is flowing in the house and it’s not Miatharan. ”
“You know about Papa?”
“Yes, and I know about you, although it took your father much longer to realize your abilities and because of his indolence, you’ve not been trained properly.”
“To be fair, Mama, I didn’t come into my powers until the age of sixteen and hid them.”
Mama burst out laughing.
“Lizzy, you are such a treasure. You’ve always had magic. You are not held by the constraints of age. Miatharan daughters come into their magic at sixteen but my people have magic from birth. I masked your abilities for years because I didn’t want Mr. Bennet to know we had magical children.”
She gaped at her mother. Gone was the simpering woman who called for her salts on an hourly basis. In her place was a composed woman who practically glowed with good health.
“I am all astonishment. And Mama... did you say children, as in all of us?”
“Pour the tea, Lizzy and I’ll start at the beginning.”
“My people are Ellorian and we exist in a different time and dimension called Miathara. At one time both Miatharan and Ellorian lived together, but Miatharans became restless and for reasons long forgotten left the realm of Miathara and settled amongst humans, specifically Normandy, France. This happened so long ago I’m not even sure if the Old Ones have records of our heritage.
They’ve lived among humans for thousands of years and slowly the males have depleted and the bloodlines have thinned.
Your Mr. Darcy is the purest Miatharan I’ve come across in a long time, the exception being your father, of course.
His dear father, Viscount Benoit took a human to wife, but prior to that, the Benoit’s always married magical women.
I guess love has you do strange things, although, Viscountess Benoit did have a soul mark on her wrist, so she was fated to be his wife. ”
“Humans can receive soul marks?”
“Aye, although ‘tis rare. The love must be very strong, indeed.”
“You remember Papa’s family?”
“Yes, dear child. Your papa’s spells have no effect on me, but I allowed him to believe in their power.”
“Mama, who are you? Lady Catherine called you Ellucia.”
“Ellucia is my Ellorian name as is yours. I called you Elizabeth as it’s the closest human name to your Ellorian one.” She picked up a lemon tart and took a delicate bite. “This may come as a bit of a shock, but I’m quite a bit older than you realize.”
“How so, Mama?”
“Suffice to say, the parting of the Red Sea was a spectacular moment in history and the Good Book does not do it justice.” Mama smiled at her. “Close your mouth, Lizzy. A lady does not sit with her mouth agape.”
She closed her mouth so fast, her teeth banged together. “The Red Sea? As in Moses and the Red Sea?”
“Yes, the very one.”
“That is physically impossible.”
“True, but you are thinking the way humans do. Miathara, like I said is a different time and dimension. A few seconds in Miathara translates into weeks and months on Earth. Our time moves slower. We still age and die, but compared to humans we seem immortal. Once I stepped into the mortal world, I aged as you do. If I were to step through the veil and return to Miathara, I would age at Miatharan time.”
“I have so many questions I don’t know where to start.”
“Ask me anything, but make it quick. I give your father about another half hour and then he’ll begin to sense my ward at the door.”
“First, Lady Catherine and her daughter.”