Lady X

She went running back toward her home. When she exploded into the kitchen she found her mother already brewing something on the stove. Her mother looked at her and said, “I know. I felt it the moment I lost you to his compulsion spell. I cannot undo it, but I can put you out of range long enough for it to wear off.”

“Then do so, Mom. Do it! You were right, I know. As sick as it makes me feel, I will put on a pretty dress and go out with Galen which means the next thing he will do is force me to marry the creep.”

“Not only that. He will enable Galen to get you pregnant immediately and before your majority.”

“Get me out of here!”

~ One ~

Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.

Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)

1815 England

IN BEAULIEU, IN the lush green of the New Forest, a small and once charming manor estate reposed. It was known as Kingston House.

Exerilla’s mother, Rachel had visited there a year ago. She would have been shocked to see the disrepair the grounds had fallen into in this short time.

Rachel was invisible to the occupants of the modest manor house. She flitted about one year ago, waved her wand and conducted her all encompassing memory spell, so that Exerilla’s arrival would be expected. Letters had been written and left for them as proof positive and all had been prepared for the arrival of her daughter.

Every member of the household believed they had an American friend who had passed away. They expected that his daughter, Exerilla Radley, would be arriving to stay with them as a treasured guest in their home.

She had not expected that Kingston House would change so drastically in just one short year and that the life she her daughter would be hurled into would be filled with such serious problems and confusion.

Exerilla shook her head. She wasn’t sure what to do. She had come running from a mess right into another.

Exerilla looked out the dirty but panoramic window of the drawing room, onto the long winding drive that led to the main road. The driveway was rutted and full of puddles from the hard rain they had experienced the night before.

The lawns were green, but very little grass remained. There were weeds of different lengths, some budding while others were ready to shoot out their seeds and take over completely what had once been a manicured lawn.

Only the tall oaks whose branches met one another to shade the drive remained a signature of better times.

Exerilla took up her dark wool shawl and went to the front door. She wrapped it tightly around herself as she stepped into the cold, delicious fresh air.

A brisk walk brought her to the stables and she sighed. They too, were in a state of disrepair. Everything at Kingston House had been sold to pay the creditors.

Rachel had spelled the squire and his family into believing he had a ward, the orphaned daughter of a dear friend who had moved to America years ago. The only trouble with this was that she had not investigated matters past their veneer. The Squire of Kingston House had been an inveterate gambler and had lost everything only a month after her visit.

He was unable to face the ruin he had brought upon his family and himself and had shot himself in the head, leaving his family to face the creditors without him.

Exerilla arrived to find chaos.

She held the squires’ grieving wife and gave what comfort she as a stranger could give. Had she been allowed to perform real magic, she would have been able to adjust their finances and been able to ease their pain.

Her mother had warned her that only the most basic magic should be used. Her father could track her into the past if she used more than that. She had refused to leave her wand behind, but it was relegated to an invisible air space just within reach. She sighed as she even missed the feel of it under her pillow. But her mom was right, powerful magic left a residue and if used, her father would trace it back to her. She felt helpless.

She turned as she heard the scrape of wheels she stepped to the side of the wet drive and allowed the open wagon to pass. The young driver tipped his peaked wool cap and X gave him a half smile as she turned back to the house. It was time

.

The family was unable to care for themselves let alone anyone else and had decided to send her off to distant relatives.

She was in a major fix.

Here she was in the year of 1815 surrounded by strangers. Even though her mother had filled their minds with who she was, they were strangers to her. She did have an emergency purse of money in her trunk, but she wasn’t sure it would be enough to last till the end of October.

Obviously her mother had not known she would need more and she was at a loss to know what to do about the problem.