Threads of Magic: Excerpt

Hello everyone. I hope your New Year has been going well so far. I know some of you have been having an unexpectedly snowy time of it, but I hope it’s been a pleasant experience overall. Personally, I’m looking forward to Spring and longer days. 

I dropped off my daughter yesterday at her university, Royal Holloway.  For those of you who may not know it, I got my inspiration for Founder’s Hall from that university.  So if you need to visualize the Hall, then this is vaguely what it looks like. I say vaguely because Founder’s Hall in Dangerous Magic is a medieval building, whereas this one is early Victorian, but it gives you a general idea. 

Today, I’m excited to share with a small section of my new novel, Threads of Magic.  This is from Chapter 1, in which Elizabeth and Darcy are riding towards Founder’s Hall after she spent part of the summer in Longbourn. 

~ *** ~

It was growing cooler as the sun began to set, spreading a cloak of orange across the sky. These were the last days of summer. She was glad she had spent some of the summer in Longbourn, out in the country. It seemed fitting that she was returning to Founder’s Hall as they made the transition to Autumn. She would be indoors most of the time now. She was prepared for it, especially now that Darcy was at her side, but as they drew closer, a prickle of apprehension nagged at her. Mama would no doubt call it her nerves, but Elizabeth had a more common word for it: cold feet. She was not quite ready to step into that brooding Hall.

Oh, Founder’s Hall was beautiful, with its cloisters and old tapestries and the ancient traces of magic that spoke to her, but she had not been happy there. She would be lying if she said she was looking forward to her arrival.

She pushed the somber moment aside. There would be time enough to deal with it when she got there.

“Are you looking forward to your arrival?”

She stared at him. How had Darcy plucked that thought from her mind?

“Must we talk about it? Let us just enjoy the here and now.”

He answered her with a kiss that melted away any uncertainty. He was with her now. They would face the future together.

The landscape was starting to become more familiar. Elizabeth could see the outline of the Richmond Bridge in the distance. That was the patch of woodlands she used to gaze at from her bedchamber. Soon, they would reach the clearing where the deer liked to graze. And here was the area where the river turned again, where Darcy had taken her on an outing because she desperately needed to leave the confining walls of Founder’s Hall.

There was a boat on the river now, with a young gentleman rowing while a young lady was reading to him from a book.

“Do you remember our night out on the river?”

He raised his brow. For a moment, she caught a glimpse of the haughty, distant gentleman he had been then.

“How could I forget? You drilled me about Pemberley and shamed me for having so many servants.”

“But you told me about Cuthbert, your Twin, and I began to see there was more to you than the condescending, powerful mage who wanted me to fail.”

He shook his head. “The recollection of my conduct is painful to me. I cannot think of it without abhorrence. You taught me that even good principles can sometimes be twisted by pride and conceit.”

She wished she had not raised the issue. She did not want their time together overshadowed by the past.

“These recollections will not do at all. I can think of other, more pleasant matters to dwell on.”

In response, he drew her more tightly against him. She basked in his warmth, a glow of happiness settling over her like a warm blanket in the chill of the carriage.

“I envy that young couple on the river. What do you think she is reading to him? Do you suppose it’s a book of poems?” asked Elizabeth.

Darcy smiled. “I know it is not The Compendium of Spells.”

“I am beginning to wonder if that is the only book you have ever read.”

“It is the only book that matters.”

He was teasing her, of course. At least, she hoped so. There was a time when she would have believed him.

“Don’t you envy them? They do not need to go out under cover of darkness. Here they are, in broad daylight, simply enjoying each other’s company.”

Darcy watched the couple out of the window silently. She could not read his expression at all.

“When did you begin to love me?”

He considered the question.

“It is difficult to determine when I fell in love. I cannot fix the hour. I was in the middle of it before I knew it.”

~ ** ~

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt from Threads of Magic. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon, and will be officially launching on January 25th.