Chapter Thirteen
"Well done, Christopher," his father snarled. "At least you got that right, sending that old gossip off. Although you know exactly what she'll do—spread word of this sham engagement throughout the ton."
"It is not..." Mr. Vallentyn began.
"Not a sham?" his father interrupted. "No? Do you actually mean to marry this conniving girl? Will you give up your inheritance? Your place in the world? Your place in our family? For all of that will be gone. You will have nothing. You just say the word."
Tatiana was horrified by Lord Durrington's words. But turning back to Mr. Vallentyn, she became truly furious
His beautiful waistcoat was in tatters and blood seeped from the gouges his father's words had cut into his chest.
"How dare you!" she hissed as she spun back to Lord Durrington, her fury overriding everything else in her mind.
"Tatiana," Mr. Vallentyn's warning barely registered in her mind.
"How dare I?" Lord Durrington spat back. "How dare you? You have used your wiles to tear my son away from his family. You have no understanding of..."
"Father! Enough!" Mr. Vallentyn said, stepping in front of Tatiana to shield her from his father's harsh words. She began to feel them cut into her own body. Mr. Vallentyn's voice vibrated with powerful magic. "You don't know..."
"Oh, I know perfectly well," his father retorted, slashing away Mr. Vallentyn's words. He turned back to Tatiana. "You little..."
"Not another word," Tatiana warned him. Her voice was dangerously quiet as she stepped forward next to Mr. Vallentyn and fury burned like lava through her veins. She managed to rein in most of her anger, but did allow some of her magic to seep through effectively cutting off Lord Durrington's voice. Even if he wanted to say more, he would not be able to.
Of course he tried, but all he could do was open and close his mouth like a fish. His face burned red with the effort.
"Tatiana, that is not the answer," Mr. Vallentyn said. He gave a wave of his hand and his father stumbled forward.
"...of duty, of family pride," Lord Durrington continued as if he'd been speaking all along.
Tatiana trembled in her rage. Unlike the evening of the ball, there was no ceiling to impede her magic. A bolt of lightning hit the ground less than a foot away from Lord Durrington.
He jumped. "And intimidating me with magic won’t change my mind."
"Tatiana, stop." Mr. Vallentyn's words were quiet and gentle, seeping into her mind.
A ground-shuddering roll of thunder followed the lightning before another bolt hit on Lord Durrington's other side.
"I know nothing of duty?" she asked, her voice deadly quiet.
"You would take my son," Lord Durrington started, oblivious to the danger he faced.
"Tatiana, stop now!" The command in Mr. Vallentyn's voice was stronger this time. Not only did it slither into her mind, but also grabbed a hold of her magic and cut off the next bolt of lightning that was about to come even closer to Lord Durrington.
She spun to look at Mr. Vallentyn, her fury directed now at him. "Don't you dare stop..."
"You cannot kill my father," Mr. Vallentyn said, lacing his words with such strong magic that Tatiana wasn't sure she could break through them. Her confidence wavered.
"And clearly with you here, she wouldn't be able to, would she?" a new voice said, coming from the direction of the house.
Startled, they all turned to face the newcomer.
"Mother!" The word popped out of Tatiana's mouth. Her fury was gone, blown away in her astonishment.
"I believe the word your grandmother wished me to say was 'surprise!'" Her mother turned toward Mr. Vallentyn and said, "Bravo to you, sir," as she joined them beneath the trees.
"I assume that you are Mr. Vallentyn, the man Lady Southburn has been so pleased to tell everyone is now engaged to my daughter?"
Tatiana wasn't sure, but it seemed as if Mr. Vallentyn was trembling as he bowed in acknowledgement. "May I present my father, Lord Durrington?" he asked.
The man in question still scowled, but seemed less sure of himself than he had a moment ago. Had he noticed Mr. Vallentyn's nervousness or could he sense her mother's power? She wasn't trying to mask it the way Tatiana had done for the past two weeks. It was more than evident that someone extremely powerful was nearby—at least to Tatiana.
"I assume, my lady, that you are here to inform your daughter that you will not stand for this ridiculous proposal?" Lord Durrington asked.
Tatiana's mother turned to him, taking a moment to size him up. She raised an eyebrow as she folded her arms across her body. "I admit that I had come out here to do exactly that. But now that I've seen what your son is capable of, I believe I've changed my mind."
She turned back to Mr. Vallentyn. "You will do very nicely. Well done, Tatiana."
"You cannot be serious!" Lord Durrington exploded.
Lady Ashurst turned back to the man, giving him a look that made him take a step away from her. "I am always serious."
"Mother? You approve of my marrying Mr. Vallentyn?" Tatiana asked just to make absolutely sure she understood.
"I did just say so, did I not, child?" her mother asked. "You are an extremely lucky man, Mr. Vallentyn, you do realize this? It is quite a responsibility you are taking on here."
"The responsibility is mine, Mother," Tatiana protested, "not his."
"What responsibility, ma'am? There is something very important I'm missing here," Mr. Vallentyn interrupted.
"What are you two going on about?" Lord Durrington echoed his son, looking from Tatiana to her mother and back again.
Lady Ashurst studied Tatiana. "I can see you've hidden yourself well, child. So I assume you've not told either of them."
"Told us what?" Lord Durrington asked again.
Tatiana let her magic fall away. "No. I haven't..." She could hear Lord Durrington gasp, but Mr. Vallentyn seemed to be expecting it.
Her mother tsked. "Really, Tatiana, you cannot agree to marry someone without informing them of what they'd be getting themselves into. That's not right."
"But I didn't think you would actually allow us to marry. You said that you must choose my husband," Tatiana argued.
"Excuse me," Lord Durrington broke in again, his voice cracking now with nervousness.
Mr. Vallentyn also looked expectantly between Tatiana and her mother.
Tatiana stayed quiet to allow her mother do the explaining. Lady Ashurst just shook her head before she turned to the two men.
"Tatiana is of the sixth generation. Her seventh child will be the Seventh. That is quite a responsibility for both her and the child's father."
"The seventh what?" Lord Durrington asked.
"You don't mean..." Mr. Vallentyn started, but his words petered out. He was beginning to understand, Tatiana was certain. He was an intelligent man.
"What do you mean the seventh, what?" Lady Ashurst snapped at Lord Durrington, clearly now thinking him an imbecile.
"He doesn't know, Mother." Tatiana said. She turned to Mr. Vallentyn. "But you know now, don't you?"
"I have an idea, but it may be entirely wrong," he said. Tatiana wished she could have wiped his forehead clean of the worry lines criss-crossing it.
"What? What is it?" Lord Durrington was perhaps beginning to lose his patience.
Tatiana took pity on him. "My mother is the High Priestess of all Vallen. Upon my twenty-first birthday, I will take her position. I will be the sixth to do so since the last Seventh. According to the prophecy, my seventh child will not only become the High Priestess, but also the Seventh—the one destined to be the most powerful Vallen in centuries."
"The one who gives all Vallen back the powers that we have lost over so many generations?" Lord Durrington's voice squeaked.
"Yes," Tatiana nodded. She turned back to Mr. Vallentyn with a little smile. "I've even decided what I will name her, my seventh child. She'll be Morgan, after my great ancestor, Morgan le Fey."
Mr. Vallentyn's face had lost all of its color. Tatiana watched with growing worry as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down in his throat and he struggled to speak. Finally, he came out with it.
"I'm so sorry, Tatiana." He shook his head, his eyes sad. "I cannot marry you. I cannot be the father of your Morgan." His words were little more than a whisper, but they echoed in Tatiana's ears as if he'd shouted them.
"But she has chosen you!" her mother protested. "And even more importantly, I have chosen you."
He looked over at her, still shaking his head. "I must beg your indulgence, my lady, but I cannot."
"Christopher, don't be an idiot!" his father growled.
"No. I'm not, I'm..." he started.
"May I have a word?" Tatiana interrupted him. He could not do this to her. He could not turn his back on her just because of who she was. Why did this hurt even more than when Lord Durrington's words had cut into her earlier?
She walked to the other side of the copse of trees, hoping Mr. Vallentyn followed her. She was relieved when she turned and found him right next to her.
"I'm sorry, Tatiana. If I had known..."
"If you had known, would you have spent so much time with me?" she asked as she looked up at him, willing her eyes to stay dry.
"No," he whispered. "Yes!" he said, quickly changing his answer.
Tatiana shook her head, confused.
Mr. Vallentyn seemed to be equally confused. He dropped his head down into his hands. "I don't know."
She waited for him to figure it out. To explain himself to her.
Finally, he looked up. "I do not regret a moment I've spent with you. I've thoroughly enjoyed talking with you, being with you. I truly thought I could easily spend the rest of my life with you. But I cannot marry the High Priestess. I can't be the father of the Seventh."
"I don't understand. Why not? Is it the responsibility? As I said to my mother..."
"No, it's not the responsibility. It's... it's that I'm not worthy." He paused and held up his hand before she could say anything. "Tatiana, I'm a farmer. It's all that I want to be. Well, that and perhaps a local magistrate. But I don't want to go into politics. I don't want to take my seat in Parliament. I don't want to be..."
"You are more than worthy!" she said, interrupting him. She just couldn't allow him to berate himself. "You stopped me, Mr. Vallentyn! You stopped me from using my magic. You're extremely powerful."
He shook his head. "Power has nothing to do with it. Or, maybe for you it does, but for me... don't you understand? I want to live an ordinary life."
Tatiana could feel the tear escape from the corner of her eye. "Yes! I want... I will need as ordinary a life as I can get. As the High Priestess, I will be pulled this way and that by my duties. To know that you're there, at home, being ordinary... Being a farmer or whatever else it is that you want to do... that's what I want. That's what I'll need. But even more than that..." she paused, wondering if she could be so bold and forthright. But then she remembered that he valued plain speaking.
She took a deep breath, looking deeply into his eyes so that he could feel her honesty and not just hear it. "You are the joy in my life. You are my happiness. Without you, my life would be nothing but duty and responsibility. I need you and your ordinary life." She swallowed again. "I love you, Christopher."
The wrinkles on his brow smoothed, as if the storm clouds in his mind had rolled away. A small smile lit up one side of his mouth. "Kit."
"What?"
"My father calls me Christopher when he's angry, but I prefer to be called Kit."
Tatiana laughed. She couldn't help it. She worried that her entire life would be spent thinking about what might have been because she hadn't told him the truth earlier—and his response was that he wanted her to call him by his nickname!
"I love you, Tatiana," he said. To ensure that she knew he truly meant it, he said it not just with his words and his voice but with his eyes and his heart as well.
"I love you, Kit," she answered, as the warmth of his love seeped into her very being, warming her even in the chill evening air.
"And we'll create this Morgan of yours?" he asked, a twinkle of laughter in his eyes.
Tatiana could feel her face heat at the thought of having a child with him. "Six more before her, though," she agreed.
Kit's laughter moved from his eyes, replaced by something that made Tatiana feel even warmer.
"Well then, we shall busy, won’t we? Perhaps it would be best if we married quickly."
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To follow Tatiana and Kit’s story read on for a sneak peak at the next book in the series, Bridging the Storm
Can a twenty year-old woman make life worth living for a man nearly a thousand years old?
Kate Cherington is certainly trying her best. The handsome and amusing Sir Arthur Dagonet does exactly what Kate has always dreamed of doing—travel the world, exploring new lands. He also may be her only path away from an aunt determined to keep Kate from having a life of her own. Kate knows that her only hope for the adventure she craves is to escape with Sir Arthur.
Sir Arthur has already lived through several lifetimes, thanks to the gift of immortality from the great Merlin. After centuries of adventure, he’s eager to rid himself of this gift, and to finally die. But meeting the brave and beautiful Kate brings back memories of his happy exploits with the Children of Avalon, the first of the magical Vallen. Though he decides he really doesn’t want to get distracted from his goal, he is bound by a promise to help, Tatiana Vallentyn, the current high priestess of the Vallen.
From the mists of legend to the estates of the Regency, Kate and Sir Arthur tussle with a force unanticipated by either, and stronger than any desire for life or death—love.