Sneak Peek: Traces of Magic, Book 3 of Mr. Darcy’s Magic

It’s almost here!

Almost means I’m still doing some edits and waiting impatiently for the book to come out on September 28th. It’s the third in the series (but not the last), and it goes in a slightly different direction from the first two. This is good news for those of you who’ve forgotten the first two books of Mr. Darcy’s Magic, because you don’t have to remember a lot of details before you can get back into it.

Of course, for those of you who didn’t read the first two, you’re missing a lot.😊

I’m really excited about this one. It has less conflict between Elizabeth and Darcy and more of the ‘working together’ element. It also brings in more Pride and Prejudice characters.

For my sneak peek, I’ve included an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Traces of Magic. I think it gives you a good idea of what the story is like. The excerpt starts with Lydia. At this point, she is completely clueless about the kind of trouble her behavior could cause.

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“Look! There is a young gentleman in the courtyard. He has a very fine seat. He is just dismounting.”

Lydia opened the window and leaned out. “His back is turned. I cannot tell if he is handsome or not. I wonder if I can make him notice me?”

Elizabeth stared at her sister in dismay.

“Have you no concept of propriety? He is a stranger! Come away from the window at once, Lydia.”

“Not until I draw his attention.”

Elizabeth gritted her teeth. Was Lydia so incapable of grasping the situation?

“You may have been followed, Lydia. A French mage, perhaps.”

Instead of looking alarmed, Lydia clapped her hands. “Do you really think so? I am having an adventure! How thrilling!”

Elizabeth bit back an angry retort.

“It would hardly be thrilling if he sent a firebolt to kill you.”

Lydia snorted. “That is very unlikely.”

She leaned even further forward and waved her handkerchief. “There. I have done it. He is turning to look at me. Oh!”

Lydia suddenly fell silent.

“What is it, Lydia? Is it someone you know?”

“No. It is nobody.” She stepped away from the window and threw herself on the bed. “He is not as handsome as I thought after all.”

Elizabeth walked to where Lydia had been standing and looked out. She caught sight of a young gentleman with undistinguished features looking in her direction.

When he spotted her, he turned and walked away casually, whistling a tune.

The hairs at the back of her neck stood up as Elizabeth picked up a magic signature coming from his direction. It was very faint. The tune eluded her, but there was no mistaking its intent.

The whistling was a spell.

Elizabeth’s pulse started to race. She needed to tell Darcy at once.

“Stay here, Lydia. And whatever you do, do not use magic. You cannot draw his attention.”

“If he followed me because of my magic, he already knows about it.” Lydia looked pleased with herself for working this out.

It was certainly a logical conclusion. Elizabeth was surprised Lydia had even thought of it. “True. But just in case I am mistaken, try not to draw his attention. I need to talk to Darcy. Stay here, and I beg you, don’t do anything. Don’t move.”

“Are you serious? You do not want me to move?” Lydia sighed dramatically. “Just when I thought I was starting to enjoy myself.”

With a doubtful look at her sister, Elizabeth knocked at Darcy’s door for the second time. When he answered, she slipped past him into his bedchamber. He looked startled.

She was about to set up Wards so they would not be heard, when she remembered what she told Lydia. It was better not to use magic just yet, in case it alerted the unknown mage.

“I believe we might have been followed.” She quickly told him about the man Lydia had spotted.

“Confound it!” Darcy went to the window and peered cautiously into the courtyard, trying not to move the curtain. “There is nobody there. And I do not feel any magic.”

“Well, I do. Do you think I should set up Wards around us?”

“If there is someone who intends us harm,” said Darcy, his brow furrowing, “setting up Wards will confirm that we are mages. Whoever this person is, he can easily send for others. I think we need to leave as quickly as possible.”

“And go where? We cannot lead him back to Netherfield.” Elizabeth’s heart sank as she considered the implications.

“We will have to continue to London and hope we can escape him,” said Darcy. “I know a bolt hole where we can hide in case of emergency. With just the three of us, it should be easy enough to lose him in Town.”

Elizabeth was not convinced. “Are you sure that is our best solution? Why not strike while the iron is hot and ensure he cannot follow us?”

“And risk another magic signal that draws even more people to us?” Darcy was understandably cautious.

Elizabeth thought of the man’s whistling. What kind of magic was he using? He was not trained by the Academy. They needed to find out more about him before he slipped through their fingers. “As Lydia wisely pointed out, if we have already been noticed, it will not make any difference.”

“You think we should tackle him?”

She hoped she was not advocating something foolish. “If he is alone, yes, I believe so. We cannot let him escape and spread the news.”

Darcy took a deep breath. “Very well. I will rely on you to find him. You are better at tracing magic than I am.”

Another admission that she was better than him at something. She chuckled. He smiled in response. Her gaze went to his lips as she remembered how they had felt against hers earlier that day. She flushed and turned away quickly to hide her reaction. This was no time to be having such thoughts.

She focused instead on sending out threads of magic, searching for the whistling gentleman. He could not have gone far.

It took several minutes, but she finally found something. “He is near the stables. We had better hurry. He may be planning to leave.”

“What if there are others with him?”

“There is no one else,” she replied, “though I could be mistaken. We will just have to deal with it if that is the case.”

Darcy quickly outlined a sequence of spells which would both achieve their goal and ensure that their magic was hidden. Elizabeth nodded in agreement. She found the Academy spells long-winded and clumsy, but the results were predictable and easy to control.

They headed down the stairs with an air of grim determination.

~~~

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. TRACES OF MAGIC is available to pre-order on Amazon, and will be released September 28th.