Magic In The Storm (37 page)

With tears of wonder and joy, Adriana looked
over at her portrait of Morgan and wished with all of her heart he
was here to share this moment with her.

She was empty without him.

<><><>

Tatiana sat and watched her niece sleep. The
draught she had given her that evening at dinner had worked exactly
as it should have, naturally. Kat was in a very light sleep, one
where she was awake enough to hear everything Tatiana would tell
her, but deep enough so that she wouldn’t fight her.

It was perfect.

“Katrina, I have some sad news which I need
you to convey for me.”

The girl stirred a little restlessly.

“You can hear me, Katrina, can’t you?”

She nodded, but didn’t open her eyes.

“Good. Katrina, something terrible has
happened. One of the footmen saw Morgan with another woman.”

Kat frowned, her brow wrinkling with
concern.

“She is Vallen. A rather powerful one, so
naturally, he was attracted to her. And, of course, she is very
beautiful.”

“But Morgan...” the girl’s words were slurred
as though she were very drunk. “Morgan loves Adriana,” she managed
to get out.

“Not any longer. His head has been turned by
this other woman. He doesn’t want to be with Adriana any more. He
was heard telling this other woman that he wanted to be with
her.”

Kat shifted again.

“You must tell Adriana. She will be
devastated, but you must tell her. Tell her to forget Morgan. She
should marry Vallentyn. He is a good match for her, and he will
never stray.”

Kat nodded her head. “Good match,” she
agreed, “but Morgan loves Adriana.”

“No, he doesn’t love her any more. And
Vallentyn is a good match.” Tatiana sat back for a moment, giving
the girl a few moments to digest her instructions. Kat lay there
quietly, but with a frown wrinkling her brow.

Tatiana then moved forward once more. “You
must also speak to Morgan, Kat.”

“Morgan.”

This time, just to be sure, Tatiana added
magic to her voice. This was the truly important point, and she
would put it into Kat’s mind as a suggestion above and beyond the
power of the potion.

“Yes, you must speak to Morgan. No matter
what Adriana says when you talk to her, you must tell Morgan that
Adriana was happy to hear of it. You must tell him she wants
nothing more to do with him. She is happy he is lavishing his
attentions on someone else because she isn’t interested in him
anymore. She is through with him, for good.”

The girl seemed to have slipped into a deeper
sleep, for she was completely silent and still.

“Did you hear me, Kat? Do you know what to
tell Morgan?”

The girl nodded, and then turned over on to
her side. “Adriana’s happy he’s with someone else,” she
slurred.

“Yes,” Tatiana hissed quietly. “She wants
nothing more to do with him. She’s going to marry Vallentyn.”

Kat’s heavy breathing was the only sound in
the room as Tatiana quietly closed the door behind her.

K
at! How wonderful
to see you!” Adriana said, coming into the drawing room. She had
been so thrilled to hear her good friend was calling—it was so rare
now that she was allowed visitors.

She had so much to tell Kat—she had to share
her news about her art exhibition. She just knew Kat would be
thrilled.

Her friend was standing by the window looking
out. But, oddly enough, she wasn’t wearing her usual bright,
cheerful smile.

There was something wrong.

Adriana stopped. “What is it? What’s
happened?” Fears rushed through her mind and body as she rushed to
her friend’s side and took her hands. “Is it Morgan? Is he hurt?
Did his mother do something to him?” Adriana thought her heart
might stop beating all together if Kat didn’t answer her questions
immediately.

But Kat just stood there with tears brimming
in her eyes. One finally slipped down her cheek, and she hastily
wiped it away. Shaking her head, she said, “Morgan is well. His
mother hasn’t done anything. It, it is him who has...”

She tore her hands away from Adriana’s,
turned and walked away.

Adriana swallowed the lump that suddenly had
formed in her throat. “What has he done?” she asked quietly.

“He has been with... he is interested in
another woman.” She turned back, “Oh, Adriana, I am so sorry. I
know that you and Morgan... well, I thought that maybe... I mean, I
was sure he cared for you. He told me he did, but perhaps being
here in London, and meeting other Vallen has turned his head.”

Adriana began breathing again. She wasn’t
sure when she had stopped. She opened her mouth, but wasn’t certain
what she should say, or what she
could
say. She grasped her
hands together, and found that they were cold and shaking.

Morgan had been with another woman? He wanted
to be with someone else?

She shook her head. “Perhaps she is just a
friend. Do you know who she is?”

“No. I just know she is a Vallen. A rather
powerful one.”

“Oh, well, then, he must have just been
gathering some information from her. You know, trying to learn more
about his own powers,” Adriana said, trying hard to believe her own
words.

But Kat just shook her head. “He was heard
telling her that he cared for her, and... and, he kissed her.”

Adriana just stared at Kat for a full minute
trying to accept what she was being told. Morgan had been seen
kissing someone else. He didn’t want to be with her any more. The
words kept going through Adriana’s mind, but somehow they weren’t
registering.

Oddly enough, she didn’t feel anything. She
didn’t feel
anything
— it was as if her whole mind and body
had gone numb.

Morgan had been with another woman. He
wanted
to be with another woman.

“Well, I suppose it is no more than I should
have expected,” she finally whispered. “I did tell him to go away
and leave me alone.”

“You didn’t!”

Adriana gave a laugh, that hiccoughed into a
sob as her numbness disappeared in a rush of anguishing pain. “Yes,
I did.”

“Why?”

Adriana shrugged and held her breath, hoping
the spasms of her tears would go away. She pressed a shaking hand
to her mouth as she tried to regain control. She wouldn’t cry in
front of Kat.

Blinking rapidly, Adriana looked at Kat, who
was looking so lost and upset standing in the middle of the drawing
room. “I was upset.” She paused to take a deep shuddering breath.
“It’s all right,” Adriana managed to whisper, ignoring the grief
that was still boring a hole in her chest. She shook her head
trying to dispel the pain, and cleared her throat. “It’s all right.
I had no right to expect anything else.”

Kat moved forward and took her hands. Heat
and good feelings moved from Kat’s hands to her own. It was very
calming. Adriana took a another deep breath.

“Perhaps it would be better if you married
Vallentyn after all,” Kat said quietly. “You know he would never do
anything like...”

Adriana looked at Kat. Did she really believe
that. Did Lady Vallentyn tell her to say that? Adriana pulled her
hands away. “Are you... have you spoken with your aunt about
this?”

“No! Oh no! Adriana, I would never speak with
Aunt Vallentyn about you. I promise!”

Adriana wanted to believe her friend. She
would believe her. Kat wouldn’t lie to her, she wanted Morgan to be
happy, and hopefully she wanted to same for Adriana.

But Adriana could never marry Vallentyn, even
if Morgan... tears blurred Adriana’s vision once more as the pain
clamped down hard on her heart.

<><><>

“Morgan, I can’t believe you,” Kat said,
rounding on him the minute he walked into the drawing room.

“You can’t believe what?” Morgan asked,
completely confused.

“I can’t believe, after all you’ve done,
after all you’ve said, that you would go and be with another woman.
I thought you cared for Adriana.”

Morgan stopped. “Be with another woman?
How...?”

“The footman saw you,” she said, lowering her
voice. “He saw you kissing some woman last evening,” she hissed.
Kat was truly angry.

But then, so was he. Had he been followed?
Spied upon? He hadn’t told anyone he was going to visit Sarah, but
he hadn’t hid it either.

“And what business is it of yours if I did
pay a call to another woman?” he asked, trying hard to contain his
own growing anger.

“It is my business when you are clearly
trying to both destroy your own life, and the happiness of one of
my good friends. Adriana, by the way, wishes you well. But I could
tell she was very upset.”

“Wait a minute! You
told
her?” Anger
exploded in Morgan’s head as if he had just been struck by
lightning. He had never felt anything like this toward anyone,
aside from his mother. Suddenly, he felt as if he was suffocating,
and yet a fire sparked to life in the pit of his stomach.

“Yes, of course I told her. She’s my friend,”
Kat said, taking a step away from him. She glanced nervously at the
fireplace where the coal there mimicked the burning within him.

“What did you tell her, exactly?” Morgan
asked, his voice low, as he pressed down his anger. She wouldn’t
have, couldn’t have...

“I told her exactly what the footman told
me,” Kat whispered.

“You told her I had kissed another woman?”
Flames burst to life both within him and the fireplace.

Kat looked at the fire again. “That’s what
you did, so that’s what I told her.”

The fire began to rage within him. “You had
no right to tell her that!”

“Morgan! You’re going to set the house on
fire.”

He looked toward the fireplace, but his eyes
were caught by the flames that were leaping from his own
fingertips. He suppressed the fire, but needed to dispel his anger
somehow. With a lift of his arms, all the furniture in the room
rose a foot into the air. In one swoop it all flew against the far
wall. China smashed and wood cracked.

Kat screamed and ran toward the door as a
chair nearly hit her.

“Morgan, calm down!”

“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down
when you have just destroyed my last hope of ever being with
Adriana? I love her, Kat! I love her and you told her that I kissed
another woman!”

Kat covered her ears and backed away from
him. “Please, Morgan, I’m sorry, but...”

“But? But what? What am I supposed to do? I
was planning on going over this afternoon to tell her that I loved
her, but now...” The chair that had nearly hit Kat rose up in the
air and hovered threateningly above the ground.

Kat looked at it with fear in her eyes.
“Morgan, put the chair down. Please, I’m sorry I told her, but
destroying the house won’t help anything.”

Morgan looked over at the chair. He wanted to
break it. He wanted to burn it, and everything else until there was
nothing left but ashes. He flexed his muscles, curling his hands
into fists and opening them again. It took all of his control not
to set everything on fire.

Just before the chair hit the wall next to
him, he stopped it and set it gently down on the floor.

With a moan, he closed his eyes and sat down
on the chair—swinging it under himself just in time. His head
dropped into his hands. “What am I going to do? Adriana must hate
me,” he groaned. He had to ask, he had to know, “What did she
say?”

Kat was slowly rearranging the furniture,
putting it back where it belonged. She stopped what she was doing
and turned back to him. “She said she was happy for you.”

Morgan looked up. “Happy for me?” Morgan
looked down at his chest fully expecting the blade of a knife to be
protruding from it.

“Yes, because now you won’t be lavishing your
unwanted attentions on her anymore.”

Morgan winced. There was no knife, but he was
certain he could feel his hot blood trickling down to his
stomach.

<><><>

The sobs continued to rack Adriana’s body
despite her exhaustion. For how long she had lain there crying, she
did not know. All she knew was that Henrietta—dear, Henrietta—had
sat by her the entire time, softly stroking her back and murmuring
words of support mixed with cruel words for Morgan.

But Adriana couldn’t stop crying. She didn’t
think she would ever be able to stop. The pain was too much.

She loved him. He was a part of her life. He
meant more to her than even her painting—she hadn’t cried this long
after all of her art materials had been taken away.

But now, her heart was truly broken. Her
dreams were gone. Any hope of freedom destroyed. She would live a
very lonely life without Morgan.

How could he? “How could he?” she said aloud,
sitting up.

“He is not worth your time, Adriana,”
Henrietta said, sitting back.

“He is worth more than my time, he is worth
everything. But he needn’t have been so cruel,” she said, wiping
her tears.

“You are better off without him, my love. He
has encouraged you to...”

“He has encouraged me to live. He has
encouraged me to not just sit back and accept the life that Lord
Devaux has laid out for me, but to fight for my freedom,” Adriana
said emphatically.

“But dearest, you are a woman, you have no
choice but to do what your guardian...”

“No! I am a woman who has the right to live
her life as she chooses. Everyone should have that right!”

“In a perfect world, my dear, but not in this
one,” Henrietta said sadly.

“I thought he cared about me,” Adriana said,
sitting back against her pillows. “I thought he... well, I suppose
it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

T
he rain started
that afternoon. Adriana just stared out the window, her mind and
heart empty. The tears had stopped, but only because there was
nothing left. The world was gray and colorless.