Chapter 4 #2
She gazed down at the cake and bit her lip as if she were gazing at the meaning behind a Van Gogh instead of my wonky cake decorating skills.
She scooped a tiny amount of frosting off the cake with her finger.
“I used to think lost causes were just that, lost. But now I believe that there’s always room for redemption. ”
“How did you do?” Charlotte asked. “Brexton is our judge! Who is the winner, Brexton?”
Brexton grinned. “For the cupcake decorating contest, the winners are Caroline and Jack.”
I glanced over at their design, which held an image of a well-crafted disco ball and even a dance floor to go with it. I had to admit they deserved first place.
“Next is a three-legged race over by the Cupid’s Confections stand.”
Sir Walter and Lady Denham headed over, and I motioned to Lizzy. I moved so that we were right behind them and cleared my throat. “Good morning, Sir Walter, Lady Denham.”
Sir Walter turned in surprise. “Your Highn—”
I coughed loudly and fixed him with a stern stare.
“I mean Darcy,” Sir Walter said with a grimace.
Before I arrived at Austen Heights, I’d made sure the entire council knew not to reveal my identity.
Anyone who knew me before they came to Austen Heights would see through my glamour.
That included the members of the council, my family and friends.
Lizzy saw through my glamour as well since I’d revealed my true identity to her.
“How are you?” Sir Walter asked, recovering. “I see you’re as bad at cupcake decorating as we are.”
“We may be bad at cake decorating, but we’ll win this one,” Lizzy said, taking a heart-shaped balloon from her sister Mary.
“Use this to tie around your ankle,” Mary said.
“Although don’t count us older folk out,” said Lady Denham. “Perhaps we’re slower, but we have had years to practice moving in sync.”
“We don’t doubt it,” I said amiably.
“I’ll go get our balloon, sweetheart.” Lady Denham wiggled her fingers at Sir Walter.
“If you don’t mind Sir Walter, I wanted to ask you about something a bit more serious,” I said while observing Charlotte and Pastor Collins struggle to get their balloons tied around their ankles.
“Oh? And what is that?” Sir Walter asked.
“On the evening my mom and dad passed away, you were in a meeting with them, correct?”
He frowned. “John Rittle came after me. He was the last to see them alive.”
“Yes, I’m aware,” I said. As Lizzy tied the heart-shaped balloon around our ankles, I held still, and I could tell by her slow, precise movements that she was listening. “Did you notice anything else the night you met with them? Anything strange or off?”
“Strange? What do you mean? Are you suspecting foul play?”
Sir Walter jumped to that conclusion awfully fast. I hid my suspicion. “I’m not sure,” I hedged. “I’m double-checking with anyone who had contact with them that night.”
“Well, it was kind of odd. You see, your parents had this greenish tint around their fingernails.”
“They did?”
“Yes, and you know what that means, don’t you?”
My parents had been experimenting with wild magic.
What could my parents have been experimenting with so close to their death?
“And what did you do after your meeting with my parents?” I asked.
“I left to have dinner with my daughters. That night is ingrained in my memory because it was the final time I saw your parents.”
“Is there anything else you noticed?”
“I’m afraid that’s it. If you want any more knowledge, I’d talk to John Rittle. Like I said, he was the last person to see them alive.”
I nodded. “One more thing, when did you last see Clara Ashcombe?”
He paled. “Clara Ashcombe? I heard about her, that poor woman. I haven’t seen her since our council meeting a week ago, but I want to be clear that the text she sent a couple of days before wasn’t just to Lady Denham.”
I looked at him in surprise. “I’m sorry, what text?”
“Oh, you don’t know. Well, Clara Ashcombe tried to text Lady Denham, asking for your phone number. I guess she wanted to meet with you. But she actually sent the text to every member of the council.”
“So the whole council was aware of her wish to meet me?”
“Yes, but as I said, I haven’t seen her since a week ago, at least.” He rubbed his hands and looked around.
He appeared nervous about something. Something hidden? Or maybe he wanted to protect Lady Denham from any accusations.
“Thank you, Sir Elliot. I hope my questions didn’t offend you.” Although I hadn’t missed that he’d pointed me toward John Rittle twice. Sir Elliot could be innocent, or he was endeavoring to get my curiosity off of him because he was hiding something.
“No, my boy, no worries at all. If something happened to your parents and it’s connected to poor Clara, I hope you figure it out.”
Lady Denham returned with a balloon in tow and handed it to Sir Walter. He lifted the balloon. “Let me get my love properly bound to me.”
Lady Denham laughed with delight.
I tugged Lizzy a bit off to the side so we could speak without being overheard.
“Why would your parents be experimenting with wild magic just like Clara Ashcombe?” Lizzy asked. “Did you know?”
I shook my head. “That was news to me.” They couldn’t have been trying to solve Moonrot like Clara since Moonrot had been created the day they died. “I have no idea what they were trying to do.”
“Hmm, I wonder what it means.”
“It’s strange. My parents were always very by the book.
It wasn’t like them to experiment with something forbidden like wild magic.
” And yet, Pemberley possessed many hidden rooms and passageways.
It would be more than possible that my parents experimented in one and nobody was aware of it.
“We should talk to John Rittle. He might know something about it, too.”
“Does everyone have their ankles tied? Thumbs up if you’re ready,” Charlotte said.
Each couple gave a thumbs up. We wrapped our arms around each other’s shoulders, and I saw the spark of excitement in Lizzy’s eyes. Now that I finally had my arm around her, I wished I never had to let her go.
“For this activity, Mayor Pembroke will tell us when to start,” Charlotte announced.
Mayor Pembroke stood to the side, wearing a deep raspberry velvet tailcoat embroidered with swirling gold hearts that shimmered with tiny sequins and caught even the faintest light.
“The first couple to round that large tree and come back wins!” Mayor Pembroke adjusted her boots and headband that said “Love Conquers All” before pointing toward the tree.
“May the best couple win.” She raised her arms. “Ready, set, go.”
We stumbled forward. Sir Walter and Lady Denham had an early start, but then we rounded the tree and Collins and Charlotte took the lead.
We were catching up as a close second when Lizzy gasped as she tripped.
I extended my arm, attempting to grab her, and we both fell to the ground with her underneath me
Her wild hair splayed out behind her, and her gaze sparkled with mirth. A chuckle rose in my throat and shook my chest. Lizzy brushed her hair from her face, her eyes widening. “Did you just laugh?”
“It’s been known to happen on extremely rare occasions.”
“I suppose I’ll have to add it to the list of things you said I didn’t know about you.”
I adjusted on my arms to ensure I wasn’t crushing her. “I hope that list is shrinking.”
The heat of her body underneath mine and the flush of her cheeks beckoned to me, and I couldn’t help but wish I could lean down and kiss those lovely lips. Lizzy lay there unmoving, as if lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked her. My words snapped her out of whatever she was thinking.
“I believe we’ve lost this one as well,” she said.
“Like you said, there’s more to life than winning.” And I wouldn’t trade that moment with Lizzy for anything. “Although we should finish up to show we’re good sports.”
We fought our way to a standing position and finished our race.
“Those two are more in sync than I would’ve thought possible,” Lizzy said as Charlotte and Pastor Collins accepted the first-place ribbon.
I loosened the string tying the balloon to our ankles and gave it to Lizzy. “It took us a moment to get in sync, but we finished. Here, for you.”
She took it and stared up into my face, something serious flashing in her eyes.
“And for the last activity, we will use a little bit of magic,” Charlotte said.
She led us over to her candle stand. “You will make a new candle scent based on a memory that you share. All you have to do is both think of it, and then let a fae partner put their magic into the pot to create your candle scent.”
I frowned. Lizzy and I had some wonderful moments, but we had some not so good moments. Was there really one we could choose?
“We got the information, so we don’t have to finish,” I said gently.
She tied off a loop on her balloon string and stuck it on her wrist. “We should do Pemberley.”
She chose to do a scent having to do with my home? I wasn’t sure where she was going with this. “Oh well, Pemberley is nice.”
“No, I mean seeing you at Pemberley, with Georgiana. You were… different from how I’d ever seen you before.”
We’d been snowed in at Pemberley, and seeing Lizzy there, I’d striven to make her feel at home. “You made me want to be different.”
“Remember that night when we were next to the fire and Georgiana was playing the harp? We should choose that one.”
I did remember. While my sister had gently plucked out Greensleeves on the harp, I’d gazed at Lizzy from across the room.
She’d looked achingly beautiful sitting near the fire, the flames highlighting the spark in her blue eyes.
I’d wanted nothing more than to pull her close and declare my love for her right there.
“That is a pleasant memory.” My power flowed into the vat of candle wax.
“I remember how easy it was to just be there, how relaxing and calm. I hadn’t felt that way with anyone for a long time.” Lizzy watched my magic, longing flashing across her face.
My heart ached a little. “Me too.” It had been such a wonderful moment, I’d love to go back.
“Shall we see what you created?” Charlotte walked up. I cut off my magic, and she sniffed. “Ooh, smells like smoked cedar and frosted pine—a wonderful winter scent. Very romantic.”