Chapter 5 #2
He glanced at me, then at the sidewalk before he bent down and plucked a small blue bloom from the grass. “I don’t like it when we argue.”
Our hands brushed as he handed me the flower, and I drew mine back to my side. “Why are you giving me a frostpetal?” I glared down at the beautiful flower which was curled into a small bud.
“Because it reminds me of you.”
My head whipped up. “Why?”
“Because like you, it draws in upon itself when the world grows cold.” He stroked the bloom with a single glowing fingertip, coaxing it gently open. “But given sufficient warmth—perhaps the steady devotion of a certain humble clergyman—it blossoms into something breathtaking.”
I chewed on my lip, unsure of what to say, although there was something reassuring about his flowery speech. It was proof that not all of William had disappeared with the amnesia, but I wasn’t sure how much of his straightforward earnestness I could handle.
“My frostpetal,” he said softly.
The quill hanging on the necklace warmed with his words.
Cheeks burning, I turned my face down to stare at the ground and shoved back the small flutter in my stomach.
I didn’t need him to make me feel anything unnecessary.
Feelings were complications, and that was something our arrangement didn’t need.
Feelings left you vulnerable, as Hugh had taught me all too well.
The winterwisps glimmered red and green in the distance, flaring into existence between the trees before winking out again.
“Your eyes are like enchanted cocoa truffles glistening under the moonlight.”
I snorted. “You’re comparing me to food?”
“Excellent food!” he said.
I laughed, then coughed. What was he doing making me laugh, and why was I letting him? This new William might be even more dangerous than the one I married. No, I was being silly. I’d never let myself start to care for him as anything more than a friend. I could handle friendship.
Thankfully, we made it home soon after, and William grabbed a message from the mailbox before joining me inside.
I slumped onto the couch. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, yet it felt like there was a lifetime separating the Charlotte from last night who’d ignorantly sat down to read with a cup of tea and the Charlotte of today who was now trying to find a murderer.
“So what do you think we should do?” William took the chair next to me, skimming the letter.
“I wish I knew.” We needed answers, but all I had were questions.
“Lady Catherine has invited us for dinner tonight. We should go so I can keep her apprised of everything that’s happened. Maybe she’ll have some idea for what to do.”
Going to see her was the last thing I wanted considering she was my entire suspect list, but maybe he was right. Going to her would make it seem like we didn’t suspect her, and maybe it would also get us some answers.
A knock on the door interrupted us, and I hurried to open it.
“Lizzy!” Her name escaped me in a surprised gasp.
She pulled me into a hug. “I heard what happened and I came straight over. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I pulled back, taking in a whiff of her peppermint scent. Having Lizzy here was reassuring, not that I expected her to fix everything with her magic, especially since she was still practicing how to control her Portents, but she’d at least investigated a murder before.
“Here, I brought this for you.” She passed me a basket that smelled faintly of pine with their bakery’s homemade hot cocoa and some croissants. She was a saint.
William appeared beside me and thrust out his hand with a pleasant smile. He gave her that polite, slightly awkward grin of his. “Oh, hello Elizabeth.”
Lizzy blinked at him, then slowly offered her hand. “Hello, Mr. Collins.” She cut me a curious glance, and I shook my head in a silent promise to tell her everything later. She must’ve heard about the murder but not his amnesia.
“I’m guessing Lizzy is here to help,” I told William.
“Excellent.” He nodded and ran a hand along the back of his neck.
“I’ll look through some of my things and see if that jars anything loose.
Maybe I’ll even try a memory charm, although last time I tried as a boy, I accidentally turned myself into a frog.
” He frowned, then waved a hand in the air.
“Anyway, we’ll need to leave for Rosings Park at 5:30 if we want to be on time for dinner.
Punctuality is of the utmost importance to Lady Catherine, and so it must be of the utmost importance to us when we visit her.
And of course, you’re welcome to come as well, Elizabeth. ”
Lizzy smiled faintly. “If Lady Catherine’s charm is as important to her as punctuality, then you’re in for a treat.”
“Indeed we are,” William said, completely missing her sarcasm.
“Punctuality can’t be that important to her or she wouldn’t have been late to our wedding,” I said. William’s brow furrowed, sending a twinge of guilt through me. I snagged Lizzy’s arm to escape into the other room. “We’ll meet you in time to walk over.”
“All right.” William nodded and wandered into the other room, still frowning.
I pulled her toward the kitchen. “Come on, Lizzy. We can make some cocoa.” The kitchen was warm and cozy, even with my half-unpacked boxes taking up too much space.
Fairy lights twinkled over shelves lined with jars of spices and dried herbs, and vanilla and pine scented the air, wrapping us in a festive embrace.
As soon as the door closed behind us, Lizzy spun me to face her. “What’s going on with Mr. Collins and why is he sort of hot now?” She scrunched her nose. “I never thought I’d say that.”
I sighed and rummaged through a box of dishes in the kitchen until I found a suitable pot for the cocoa.
I refused to use the one in William’s kitchen since it whispered compliments to you as you used it and it sort of weirded me out.
“Amnesia. And apparently one of the officers told him to dress better.”
“Amnesia? No wonder he’s being so nice to me.” Her eyes widened, but then she winked at me. “And thank goodness for reliable law enforcement.”
“I’ll be sure to send them a fruit basket as a thank you.” I added a pinch of kinako—roasted soybean flour Okaa-san always used for winter treats—to the cocoa powder.
Lizzy laughed, then added, “If most weddings are like this, I think I’ll avoid it for a few more years.”
I chuckled and poured some milk in to heat. “You’re telling me.”
“And here you thought you had everything all figured out.”
“Is this really the time for an ‘I told you so’?”
Her smile dimmed. “Sorry, guess not. But is it terrible for me to say that I might actually prefer Mr. Collins this way?”
“I don’t,” I muttered, pulling open the bag of cocoa and sending a little puff of chocolate powder into the air. The kitchen filled with the comforting scent of chocolate and cinnamon. I pulled out another mug from the set my aunt had sent from Tokyo and washed the cup I’d used yesterday.
“How could you not? He’s so much friendlier and less pompous.”
“He’s too friendly. Him being awkward and pompous was precisely why I agreed to marry him. Now I feel like I can’t predict his next move, and I hate that. It’s like I’m married to a stranger!”
“To be fair, you already were sort of married to a stranger,” she said. “You two hardly knew each other.”
“Be serious, Lizzy.” I took her hand and squeezed it. “I want you to come to Rosings Park.”
Her eyes widened. “What? Why? Seeing Lady Catherine at your wedding yesterday was bad enough, but seeing her two days in a row is terrible.”
“Because you’ve done this before.”
“Done what before?”
“Solved a murder.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hardly. Most of that was just me trying to write my story, and even then I was wrong half the time.”
“Still, you know what questions to ask. Just for tonight—come with us. I could use backup.”
“What about Mr. Collins?”
I sighed and ladled the cocoa into the mugs for us. “I’m not sure how much help he’ll be. He’ll probably be too busy fawning over Lady Catherine to do anything else.”
Lizzy’s lips twitched. “Are you jealous?” She pulled out a small vial that sparkled with golden flecks and gave me a questioning look. At my nod, she poured a drop into each of our cups. I never turned down her offer of her starroot elixir, which reminded the consumer of their favorite memory.
“What? No. Of course not. I just feel like he isn’t as worried as he should be about the fact that someone took his memories and is still trying to take his life.”
“So you’re sure that there was someone else there and that Mr. Collins is innocent?”
“What are you saying?”
“Are you sure that Mr. Collins isn’t guilty?” She gave me a piercing look, her blue eyes narrowing.
I hesitated, not because I doubted him, but because that kind of certainty scared me.
He’d gone from a convenient stranger to someone I wanted to protect, and that made everything feel a lot more complicated.
“Of course he’s innocent. The police found evidence that there was someone else at the scene, a third magic, and we think William is the target. ”
Lizzy put up her hands. “Okay, okay. Just thought it was worth asking,” she said before taking a small sip of her cocoa, then sighing happily.
“So do you have any suspects? The timing seems awfully suspicious. Do you think this could have anything to do with your wedding? Have you found out anything about the victim yet?”
“Slow down and give me a chance to answer some of those.” I laughed and took a sip of my own, smiling at the potion-inspired memory of Christmas morning in Tokyo with my family when I was a kid.
I gave her a summary of everything we’d learned that day, including the fact that we believed William to be the intended victim.
As I spoke, curiosity lit a fire in her blue eyes.
“Hmm. There’s definitely something fishy going on here.” She drummed her fingers on the counter.
I didn’t say anything, giving her a moment to process everything.
“Maybe Lady Catherine was angry with Mr. Collins,” Lizzy said.
“I also wondered if she might be involved, but I couldn’t figure out a motive.”
“Well, think about it. She told him to marry a witch, but then he went and married an Unmarked instead. Maybe he thought he was going above and beyond what she asked, but maybe she viewed it as him disobeying.”
My grip tightened around my ceramic cup, though I was careful not to break my favorite mug. “It’s more of a motive than I could come up with, but I feel like we need to talk to her tonight to know for sure.”
She sighed. “All right. Fine. I’ll come. But you owe me.”
“Nah, you can just consider this payback for that time you ruined my favorite pair of mittens with that anti-warmth charm.”
“That was an accident!”
I laughed and poured an extra cup of cocoa for William. “I’ll be right back.”
Lizzy gave me a knowing smirk but said nothing as I carried the cup to the living room where I found him poring over a huge book. “Would you like some cocoa?”
He glanced up briefly. “Thank you, but no. I prefer tea. Earl Grey. Ideally loose leaf, but the bags are fine if steeped properly.” He offered a brief smile, then returned to his book without missing a beat.
“I’ll remember that,” I said, then immediately cursed myself.
Why had I said that? Shaking my head, I returned to the kitchen and spent the next hour chatting with Lizzy.
For a little while, it was easy to pretend things were normal.
But soon the three of us were on our way to Lady Catherine’s house.
Even though the attack had just happened in the woods, there was something about the protection of the trees mixed with the snow and the overhead lights twinkling in the growing darkness that made it feel like nothing could ever happen here, like we were trapped inside a snow globe.
“Do you always walk to Lady Catherine’s?” Lizzy asked as we trudged along the path under snow-dusted trees.
“She doesn’t approve of many of the modern advances,” William said, “so I avoid them as much as possible when visiting her.”
“Because that’s not high-maintenance at all,” Lizzy muttered to me.
William glanced back at us, taking in Lizzy’s red sweater and black pants.
“If you two are worried about what you’re wearing, don’t be.
” He turned to me. “You look nice and Lady Catherine is extremely understanding when it comes to the situations of others. She would never judge someone based on their appearance.”
“Thank you,” Lizzy said, her lips twitching. “How… reassuring.”
That was exactly what William had intended—to reassure us. He must have heard Lizzy’s earlier comment and assumed she was nervous about the visit.
Soon Rosings Park came into view, and Lizzy and I drew to a halt.
Despite growing up in the area, I’d never been inside.
Rosings Park wasn’t usually open to visitors, so having the chance to see it for ourselves was more than Lizzy and I could pass up, even if we didn’t need to ask questions.
But at Christmas, it was truly a sight to behold.
Lady Catherine had also jumped straight to Christmas decorations. Maple trees wrapped in red velvet ribbon and glimmery fairy lights lined the winding drive. At the end, the estate sprawled out, wearing Christmas decorations as formally as a uniform.
Even though most of yesterday’s snow had melted elsewhere, it still blanketed the roof and lawns—everywhere except the cobblestone path to the front door, which must’ve been enchanted to melt snow on contact, keeping it perfectly clear.
Giant wreaths hung on the upper windows, and a garland of pine and gold framed the archway. A towering tree dusted with unmelting snow stood out front, its ornaments softly singing carols as lawn statues subtly shifted.
“Wow,” Lizzy breathed.
“I know.” I had a hard time looking away.
“Come on, you two. We don’t want to keep Lady Catherine waiting.” William called to us from the front.
“We would never want that,” Lizzy said with another smile at me. She linked her arm through mine and we caught up to William just as he knocked on the impressive front door.
After a moment, it swung open, revealing a tall fae with dark curly hair and piercing green eyes—one whom I hadn’t seen around Austen Heights lately.
Darcy.