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  “Now, child, I’ll tell you a story,” she suggested.

  Ranait’s violet eyes warmed and she sighed in relief.

  Victor removed Ranait from his lap and placed her on the chair. With a loving pat on his daughter’s head, he and his son left. As soon as they were alone, Ranait clapped her hands and wiggled in the chair anticipating the story.

  “Mama, are you going to tell me the one about the dragon who couldn’t spit fire? Or the one about the angry four winds? Oh, I know the one about---”

  “Now, calm down, this is a new one.”

  “Oh, goody,” her smile broadened reaching her tiny ears.

  “Once upon a time, in a enchanted forest where fairy’s lived, there was---”

  “What’s a fairy, mama?”

  “Well, they’re small people, with wings. They’re kinda different looking humans.

  Now, as I was saying. Deep in the forest, lived a man who had two daughters. The eldest was named Eve and the youngest was named Dawn. One night a star fell from the sky.”

  “Wow! Where did the star land?”

  Valda suppressed a sigh. “I do not know, but that doesn’t matter, honey.”

  Ranait snorted, “It does if it landed on someone’s head.”

  This time she sighed. “Now, no more interruption, all right? The star comes into the story later.”

  “Aye, mama.”

  Valda had her doubts but continued. “Dawn was good and the other, well, let’s say she wasn’t as kind as her sister.”

  “You mean evil, right mama?”

  “Aye, dear and because she was, Eve made Dawn very unhappy.”

  “Ohhh, I would have---”

  “Ranait Elise, please. Remember it’s just a fairytale. And also Dawn was blind.”

  “Oh, mama, she cannot see right?”

  “Aye, but she had a beautiful singing voice. One day a handsome prince heard Dawn sing and fell madly in love with her.”

  “Oh, goody,” Ranait clapped.

  “But---”

  Ranait groaned. “I knew there’s a but.”

  “Dawn did not know that the prince, Reynar had heard her but Eve did and when Prince Reynar returned the next day, she ran out to greet him. She and her sister were only a year apart and could pass for twins. She pretended to be Dawn.”

  Valda quickly raised her hand anticipating her daughter’s question. “I know she’ll be caught in lie when the prince asks her to sing, so she told him that she had a sore throat. And now she had to get rid of her sister so that night she led Dawn deep into the forest.

  “Oh, no, how awful!” Ranait gasped. “Poor Dawn, she needed a witch, right mama”

  “Aye, you’re right but your getting ahead of me.“ Valda rolled her eyes, she had given up. “Now, Dawn didn’t realized that she was alone until she called out to her sister. She heard only crickets and other forest sounds. She sat on a rock and wept until someone asked why are you crying, my child?”

  “Is this where the witch comes in mama?”

  Valda sighed. “Aye, dear. The old woman took Dawn in and gave her a home for as long as she liked. One day, Dawn sat outside and sang, and by chance, the prince was ridding near by and heard her beautiful singing. He was confused because he had just left after visiting with Eve. Dismounting, he quietly walked over but she sensed someone was near and she asked, who’s there? I’m prince Reynar, who are you? he answered. I’m Dawn, she replied back. It didn’t take the prince long to figure out that Eve was not the woman he had heard singing a while back. He asked if she had a sister and realizing he had been deceived, the prince stayed with Dawn that day and many days after. The old witch knew they were in love and one evening as Dawn slept, she went deep into the woods where she’d seen the star crash and gathered up pieces. She went home and made magic brew, placing it on Dawn’s eyelids. In the morning Dawn was able to see but she had lost her beautiful voice and this made her very unhappy and she ran away.”

  “Oh, mama,” she wiped away the pea size drops of tears on her cheek. Why did you make the end so sad.”

  “Because dear heart, the moral of this fairytale is to show you that playing with magic to interfere with another’s life is the wrong thing do.”

  “Oh, poo. Anyway, like you said, it’s just a make believe story.” She jumped from the chair and scooted away.

  “I give up!” Valda raised her hands into the air.

  Chapter One

  In the darkness of the night, when most decent folks are abed, she flattened herself against the cold brick building and waited. This was not the first time Renny waited in the dead of the night to catch a cheating husband, or lover. She wiggled her nose at the stench of the alleyway and tried to ignore the noise of rats scurrying about looking for garbage. Snapping her fingers, she took care of that problem. The cat she conjured up thanked her with a big smile and ran off after its meal.

  The night was cool and damp, usual for England’s weather. The greatcoat she wore was a mite big, but the garment and the black hat she wore helped her blend in with the shadows. Renny rubbed her arms to ward off the chill, and she wondered how long she’d have to wait before the man showed up. She chewed on her lower lip hoping she’d not have to spend too much time. A nice hot toddy right now would be just what the doctor ordered, or maybe a brandy would warm the cockles of her heart more.

  Just then a rider, on a large black horse, cantered up to the house she was spying on. She wished that the moon would make an appearance so she could see the man‘s face, but it was not going to cooperate. And her magic was not good enough to take a chance with things in outer space.

  When he climbed down, she could make out that he was tall. The man wore a dark cape, that flowed behind him like a flag. When he reached the door, it opened and the candlelight from the hallway silhouetted a woman, who immediately went into his arms. The door quickly swung closed but she got what she wanted. Putting her two fingers in her mouth, Renny whistled and her mare, Sorceress, Sorcy, for short, trotted from where she had left her.

  “Good girl, Sorcy, you have a bag of oats waiting for you at the stable.” Her horse was so black, but in the sunlight its coat shown blue in color. The animal was a gift from her father and when Renny first saw her, the colt had big, black spell-binding eyes; thus the name Sorceress.

  Renny gave her mare the lead and she closed her eyes. Her profession kept her up late nights, so she didn’t get much sleep. There wasn’t much for her to do during the day, but she was not one to lay in bed late. Besides, she couldn’t if she wanted to; she had four brothers, three all younger than she.

  She was twenty-six; she groaned inwardly at that thought. Twenty-six and no beau, but then she had no one but herself to blame for that. No one fit her standards. Victor, her oldest brother was married and Reginald was serving in the king’s army, but her other two scallywags, the twins, were fifteen, Yale and York were a handful.

  Renny smiled thinking how surprised her parents were when they found out that her mother was breeding again, five years after her brother Reginald turned twenty. But, sadly her mother suffered a very difficult delivery, and although Renny had begged her to lessen her pain with magic, her mother was too weak, and she couldn’t do anything to help. Her own magic was not developed enough because her mother had refused to let her practice. Alone at night in her room, Renny would do simple things, and after her mother’s death, she continued to believe that she might have been able to save her mother’s life. She was so angry for obeying the woman, and not trying to help, she turned her bedroom upside down, literally! Her brother, Victor barged in unannounced and found her sitting on the ceiling.

  “What the devil, Renny?”

  “Go away,” she spat, “before I turn you into a monkey and make you swing from the bed canopy.”

  “Papa needs your help with the babies,” he said quickly and slammed the door shut.

  As it turned out, the twins were warlocks, and at fifteen their magic was stronger than hers. But then
, they never had a mother to discourage them. And it became her job to raise them because around the age of five, like herself, they discovered that they could do strange things by snapping their fingers.

  Their first nanny ran out of the house screaming that the place was possessed. And after that, every woman that her poor father hired never lasted more that a few days. As soon as a nanny scolded one or the other, strange things happened to them. Her brothers either put a large wart on the end of their nose, or turned their hair green, or without warning, their lunch would come a live. It was either a chicken or a pig running amok around the kitchen. After a while, the rumors spread that Victor Rayleigh, The eight Duke of Asbury Estate was possessed and no one would dare answer his want adds.

  So, Renny raised them as best she could, but she soon learned what her poor deceased mother had faced with her. I guess what goes around comes around, and she didn’t doubt that her sweet mother was having a good laugh in the hereafter.

  Once home and in the barn, she climbed off her mount and heard giggling. “All right you two.” She turned and placed her hands on her hips. “Why aren’t you both in bed?”

  The scallywags jumped out of a pile of hay. “And miss teasing you,” they said in unison. Yale and York had this terrible habit of mimicking one another. “Did you catch a cheating husband this time?” they asked.

  “It’s none of your bees wax, but I did. Well, not exactly physically caught him, but I saw where he went. But it wasn‘t a husband this time, it was a fiancé.”

  “I still cannot understand why you want to be a lady detective?” asked Yale. Sometimes they did speak for themselves, but not often.

  “Just because,” she turned and removed Sorcy’s saddle. “Now you two go to bed or I’ll tell papa that---”

  Her horse swished its tail in her face and she knew the animal had help. Sorcy would never do that on her own. Spitting out a piece of hair, Renny turned, trying to control her temper. Her magic seemed to work better when she was mad but she didn’t want to spar with her brothers because neither of them ever really won. Well, maybe she lost sometimes, or most of the time seeing that there were two against one. Renny snapped her fingers and a bale of hay fell from the loftier.

  She giggled hearing their muffled curses and walked out of the barn.

  It was a clear night but a cloud appeared and drenched her. “Ohhh!” Now she was really mad. Turning, she snapped her wet fingers but she couldn’t produce much friction and the whirlwind she tried to conjure up came only as a strong breeze. They stood they and hooted at her.

  “All right,” she shouted. “You win, but I’ll not forget. And you both have to sleep sometime.” She grinned making them look at one another with worried expressions. She turned and yelled over her shoulder, “Remember the morning you both woke up and they were stuck together like Siamese twins for a whole hour.” She got the last laugh, but it turned out to be a bittersweet moment when a tree root tripped her and she fell face first into a mud puddle.

  “Yuck!” She spat out dirt. “You two imps better sleep with one eye open,” she warned over her shoulder and than snapped her fingers wearing all clean clothes. She only had a few hours to sleep before she had to see Miss Sissy Vanderbilt to tell the young lady that she found her fiancé cheating with an another woman.

  She simply loved her job, and the pounds she earned weren’t too bad either.

  “Morning, papa,” she kissed the top of his head noticing how his once thick hair was thinning. At sixty-five he was still handsome, but he never smiled much after her mother had died. The twins were already seated at the tale, scoffing down their coddled eggs and bacon. She didn’t miss the fact that they once again piled the fruit jam on top of the bread as if they thought it was their last meal.

  “Morning, sweet pea,” her father squeezed her hand. “Heard you come in late again last night.”

  Renny sighed. “Aye, papa, I wished you’d not worry about me, so much.”

  “You’re my only daughter, and you know I cannot sleep soundly since your---”

  “Aye, papa, I know. We all miss her too,” she said pouring herself a cup of tea from the cart and sitting next to him. “But, you’re still young, and papa, you must find a lady friend to spend time with. There are many widows out there who would enjoy your company. I know no one could ever take mama’s place, but you do not have to marry again. Enjoy going to galas, the theatre, dinning out. Do not waste what life you have left, papa.” She knew she was wasting her breath; this was something she had been telling him for the past ten years.

  “Ow, sis, leave papa alone. We do not want a stepmother,” they grumbled together. Her father reached over and rubbed a thumb across her hand.

  “Now, boys your sister is only looking out for my interest.”

  She gave him a warm smile and sipped her tea, then turned to her brothers. “Hurry and finish your breakfast, your tutor will be here shortly. And behave yourself because if papa has to hire another to take Mr. Finch’s place, you’ll be going to boarding school instead of getting your education at home. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Aye,” they mumbled.

  Her poor father heaved a heavy sigh, he could never understand why all the help only worked here for a short spell. But, he had mentioned to her once that he suspected the boys played pranks on the servants, but dismissed their bad behavior by saying, boys will be boys. Oh, if he only knew what pranks they were capable of doing. Thankfully, lately they have been behaving because she warned them of the consequences they’d face otherwise. The one thing that seemed to have worked was telling the twins that the duke was getting too old to put up with their shenanigans. And if they didn’t want to be the cause of him having heart failure they better straighten out.

  After eating her buttered toast, and what little jam was left, and few pieces of bacon, she kissed her father goodbye. She headed for Sissy Vanderbilt’s estate on Sorcy. The butler let her in and escorted her into the parlor where the young woman was pacing, biting her thumbnail. As soon as Sissy saw her, she grabbed her hand and quickly asked, “What did you find?”

  Sissy did not take the news well and threw a hissy fit. Renny tried to calm the hysterical girl down, especially after a vase sailed past her head. Now, she was getting a bit peeved and she was tempted to snap her fingers and put a rag in the irate young woman’s mouth. She had given bad news to women before, but never had she encountered someone acting in such a snit, especially a daughter of a count. Oh of course, her clients were angry, but they acted like ladies, handed her the money she earned when she left. She winced, hearing the crash of an object behind the door. Well, money in this case was not so important for her to loss her head over. She left bumping into a servant.

  ”I’d not go in there now,” she warned and the maid’s eyes grew wide with under-standing. The servant nodded and scurried away. The butler came around the corner, and seeing the maid rush past him, shaking her head, he did a quick turnabout and Renny had to laugh. Apparently, they were subjected to the girl’s tantrums on a regular basis.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” she heard the curse through the closed parlor doors. She snapped her fingers and all she heard was, “Mfffmmffmmff!”

  Now that muffled sound was music to her ears!

  Chapter Two

  Anwar Rainer Radcliffe the Third, son of Count Anwar Rainer Radcliffe, the Second, but answered to War, cantered up the pebbled driveway of the Winthrop’s estate to see his fiancée. Dismounting his steed, Goldie, he removed his riding gloves and walked up the steps to the porch. Knocking on large oak doors, he waited a few minutes, then rapped louder. A big, over fed cat leaped off the rocker and rubbed, purring up against his highly polished Hessen shoe. He sneezed and tried to shove the feline away with his foot but the cat refused to budge.

  “Get, you mangy critter, I’m… Aaachoo! allergic to…Aaachoo!”

  The door opened. “Oh, master Radcliffe, are you all right, sir?” asked the stiff-neck butler.

  “
Yes, Gaston, I’m… Aaachoo, fine. Is Mistress Vanderbilt in?”

  “Well, yes but you might want to come back another time she’s---”

  “Gaston, who was that knocking at the door?” A voce barked from another room., making the butter flinch.

  As War scooted past the servant, he thought he heard the man mutter something about, you’ll be sorry. He had been sorry since the day he learned that he was betrothed to Sissy Vanderbilt. The spoiled daughter of Count Oliver Percy Vanderbilt. But, he needed the count’s wealth to help his father pay off his gabling debts. He had argued with his old man saying he had no intentions of marrying anyone, at least not that stuck-up chit. But, his father was threatened with imprisonment if the man didn’t pay his debt. So, War had to throw himself on the gauntlet, so to speak.

  He glimpsed at the hall mirror with a smile that looked more like the prelude to a snarl, and he braced himself for what was to come. He expected Sissy had another tiff with her dressmaker, or her piano teacher, or her hot coco was too hot, or this or that, something minor that she made into a mountain. He plastered a false smile on his face as he walked into the parlor and said, “M’dear your looking lovely today.”

  “Do not my dear, me! You two timing polecat. You bastard! You, you---”

  “Sissy, what the hell are you raving about? Would you care to elucidate!”

  Her expression grew vengeful. “I know about your mistress!” she cried and came at his face with her claws drawn.

  War grabbed her wrists and shook her. “Calm down and talk to me like an adult, not a child!” He realized too late, calling her a child was not the wisest thing to say. “Now, sit here,” he forced her to sit and he folded his arms standing before her. “What are you babbling about?”

  Sissy sucked in a breath, sniffled then wiping the tears and her nose on the hem of her dress, she gave him a look of magnificent scorn. “You prick!” she screamed. “I know about your mistress, the whore!”