When he released her at last, he smiled and pressed her hand with its lovely new ring to his heart. “Lady Rosefield,” he said.
She laughed and pulled her hand free so she could hold it out and admire the sparkle of the ring in the firelight. “I’ll never get used to being called that,” she said.
“You will when you learn how effective it can be at getting things done.”
She flicked her fingers, watching the ruby’s glow change in the light, and thought about how nice it was going to be to give orders of her own and have them obeyed. She could tell Jermyn to saddle whichever horse she wanted to ride. She could visit the farmers and take gifts for their children and find out what their crops were like. She could forage for herbs wherever on Seabeck’s wide lands she cared to. She could breed horses and care for them, and see that Black Satin’s line was the best it could possibly be.
If all of that was what being a marchioness meant, she was going to like it. She was going to like it very much indeed.
48
Harriet
Did you bring them?”
“Yes.” Annis set a small covered basket on the worktable in the herbarium. As she stripped off her gloves, Harriet saw her surreptitious glance at the shining ring on her left hand. Self-consciously Annis adjusted it on her finger, and a small, furtive smile curved her lips.
Good. She was happy. No one had coerced her. Indeed, knowing Annis, they probably couldn’t have even if they had tried.
Harriet’s own lips curled, but she didn’t say anything. She had already formally congratulated Annis and James, sent them a small silver tea service as a wedding gift, and accepted the invitation to their wedding.
She watched as Annis folded back the bit of linen that covered the little objects. In the bright morning light, the manikins looked crude and sinister. It would be a relief when they were disposed of.
Annis said, “I know this thing doesn’t really look like me, and of course I didn’t create it. Still, when I touch it, I feel something. Something nasty. Shameful.”
“And the other one?”
Annis glanced up, and there was something in those clear blue eyes that made Harriet pause in the act of tying on her apron. “What is it?” she asked her.
Annis’s eyelids dropped, as if she knew her eyes revealed too much. She wasn’t smiling now, but thoughtful. Grave. She put out a finger to graze the top of James’s manikin, and withdrew it again as if the thing were hot and might burn her.
“Annis?”
“I want to keep it,” Annis blurted. She folded her arms in a defensive gesture and thrust out her chin. “In case I need it.”
“Need it!” Harriet stared at Annis. “Have I not been clear about this? The maleficia—”
“Oh, I know, Aunt Harriet, I know! I wouldn’t use the maleficia, or do anything to hurt James. It’s just—”
Harriet, dismayed and disturbed, managed to hold her tongue as she watched Annis struggle to find a way to express herself.
Annis breathed a long, gusty sigh. “You know how fond I am of James. And I have no doubt he’s fond of me, at least for now—”
“Ah. You’re thinking of your father, and Frances.”
Annis nodded but didn’t look up. “Papa and Frances made all the promises, the same ones James and I will make, but they broke them. What if James breaks his promise?”
“Which one are you worried about?”
“He promised he wouldn’t tell me what I can and can’t do. What if he changes his mind? What power will I have except—” She unfolded her arms and swept them around the herbarium with its shelves of jars and bottles and candles, its bunches of herbs hanging overhead. “This is the only real power I have, Aunt Harriet. I’m afraid of losing it when I’m only just learning it.”
Harriet finished tying her apron and walked away to stand at the window and gaze out at her beloved park. She touched the amulet where it hung on her breast and thought of Alexander. For just a moment, a few heartbeats, she felt him at her shoulder, and it was such a distinct sensation that she closed her eyes to feel the warmth of his body behind hers. She might have stood that way a long time, but Annis came to stand beside her, and the impression of Alexander’s presence evaporated.
Harriet released the amulet and leaned forward to take in the winter vista of the park,