A Lady and Her Magic (Faerie 1)

The midnight wind was already swirling. She could feel it in the air. All she had to do was step aboard and she would be back in the land of the fae. They all would. Well, Sophia, Marcus, and Margaret would. Sophia had very little time to say her good-byes to Ashley, speak with Anne, and retrieve Ronald.

Say good-bye to Ashley… She’d be leaving the biggest part of her heart behind when she did. But it couldn’t be avoided. She couldn’t live in his world. And he couldn’t live in hers. When she returned, they would all step aboard the rising-dawn wind and it would be as though they’d never been in the human world.

Sophia picked up her reticule and looked inside. Her vials of dust, in their clear glass bottles, shimmered like diamonds. She might need them. Heaven forefend, she might need all of them. She might also need none of them.

“Stop fretting, Sophia,” her mother said from her chair by the wall. “Everything will work out as it should. You’ll see.”

“I’m not fretting. It’s only Ashley I’m going to visit. Not some mad killer who will chop off my head.”

The corners of her mother’s lips tipped up in a smile. “It’s not your head I’m worried about.”

Margaret grunted from her corner of the room. Nothing more was heard from her. Just a grunt.

Her mother pretended to look affronted. “Now, Margaret, do speak up if you have something to say.” She cupped a hand around her mouth and pretended to whisper, “I never knew Margaret to withhold her feelings on any matter. Has she gotten soft in her old age?”

“She has gotten wise,” Margaret piped up. She shook a finger at Mother. “And you should not encourage her.”

“Not encourage my daughter to follow her heart?” Lady Ramsdale placed a hand upon her chest. “What kind of a mother would I be if I did that?”

Margaret pursed her lips, as though she wanted to say something but withheld it.

“Say it,” Sophia’s mother prompted, her eyes narrowing in challenge. “I dare you.”

Margaret opened her mouth as though to rush into speech but closed it quickly. Then she opened it again and said, “You of all people should recognize the folly in this.”

“The folly in falling in love?” Sophia could tell that her mother was purposefully goading Margaret into speech.

“The folly of giving your love to a man who’s not meant for you.”

“Like I did?” her mother questioned softly.

“The fireflies tell tall tales about you,” Sophia said, trying to break the tension in the room.

Her mother scoffed. “They do love to prattle on about nothing. Always have.” She speared Sophia with a glance. “Pray tell me what they have to say.”

Sophia shrugged. “Just that you committed some heinous crimes and were banished from the fae.”

“It’s a crime to fall in love,” her mother said.

Margaret took a deep breath and then her mouth opened. And words Sophia had never expected to hear tumbled forth. “The crime, my lady, is that your children were raised without a mother and a father.”

Sophia interjected, “Margaret, please hold your tongue.”

But her mother overrode her. “Margaret, please let loose your tongue. It always was razor sharp and viciously wicked. What has changed you, I wonder?”

“You knew the dangers when you chose him.”

Her mother finally jumped to her feet. “Don’t you see? There was never a choice. Not for me. He is the other half of my soul. I gave up my life as I knew it for love. And if offered the same opportunity, I would do it again.”

“You’d abandon them again.” The words slashed like a whip across the room, harsh and painful.

“I. Never. Abandoned. Anyone.” Her mother said the words slowly, and her voice choked with emotion.

Sophia sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “We have already determined the previous course of events. Must we rehash it?”

“Only as a lesson to you, because you’re about to make the same mistake,” Margaret said.

Sophia stepped forward and clutched Margaret’s hands in hers. “I choose the land of the fae, now and always. I choose it over Ashley. Over any life I could have had with him.”