Upon A Midnight Dream (London Fairy Tales #1)(30)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

"Of course I’m not well! My daughter hasn’t lifted the curse, I have no servants to speak of considering we are only left with a pittance from the new earl and you brought him into our house!"

Rosalind flinched as the word him flew out of her mother’s mouth like an expletive. Stefan didn’t move, nor did he curse. He merely took a step closer to Rosalind and placed his hands on her shoulders. Pulling strength from his presence — my how she had been doing a lot of that lately — she looked into her mother’s cold eyes.

"It isn’t up to you when we marry mother. Besides, he hasn’t yet asked." She lied hoping Stefan would go along with it. She felt his hands clench her shoulders, was he trembling? The cad was trying not to laugh!

"Yes, well." Stefan’s silky voice said behind her. "My apologies, madam. It seems I simply haven’t been able to get the words right. Each time I begin my proposal it’s as if it isn’t good enough and I must try again. I must admit to being a coward when it comes to redheads."

Her mother glared even more looking between the two of them as if she was missing something. "Yes, well." She put down her book and sighed. "The curse will take us all if neither of you are quick about this business."

"You have a cold, mother. I hardly think that is the work of the some sort of ancient spell." Rosalind said as kind as she could without smiling.

"You think this funny, my gel? Have you no respect for the dead!" The room went silent. "If you cannot marry to save me or your sister, at least marry to honor your father’s last wish, or did he mean nothing to you?"

"Watch yourself, my lady." Stefan tensed behind Rosalind. She willed him to back down, hoping he would not make things more difficult.

A man cleared his throat, breaking the tense silence after Stefan’s announcement.

Rosalind looked to the door and smiled. "Willard! It is so good to see you after such a long time!" Her father’s old valet had apparently stayed on staff. The familiar look of his old face made Rosalind want to weep all over again. The man nodded at her and then looked to Stefan with a calculating glare.

"I see that congratulations are in order," he said, not taking his eyes from Stefan’s.

"Well actually, we did not have need to marry just yet Willard."

The valet’s mouth pursed into a thin hard line. "So you are not married yet, my lady? Well, this changes things, now doesn’t it? I imagine the rest of your family will continue to die, as well as the servants." He backed out of the room, but stopped when Stefan’s voice boomed after him.

"What do you mean the rest of the servants?"

Willard looked to Rosalind’s mother for permission. At her nod, he looked back to Stefan. "Two of the young chamber maids have been ill. Both have symptoms of a sleeping disease. It takes them at inopportune times during the day, making it difficult for them to complete tasks. We’ve seen doctors. It is inexplicable. We imagine death will take them as it took my master."

Rosalind’s heart stopped beating. The girls had her sickness? Did that mean it was contagious? Then the doctor was correct. She would surely die. Was it because of the curse? Or was it merely a coincidence?

"Daughter, you look quite ill. Are you well?" Her mother gave a cruel smile in her direction. "You must be tired. Why don’t you take a nap? Willard has some lovely tea he can give you. You remember the type? You used to drink it daily as a child."

Rosalind’s feet were glued to the floor. Unable to do anything except look into her mother’s cruel eyes. A face filled with pain and bitterness. How had her family come to this?

"Where’s Isabelle?" Rosalind’s voice was weak.

"Around. The girl is such a disappointment, crying in her room daily because of her father’s death, while I’m sitting here lamenting the selfish daughter I raised who refuses to do this one thing! But of course, I’m sure Isabelle would love to hear your important reasons for not marrying, my dear."

"Excuse me." Rosalind swept out of the room; blindly she walked down the hall not knowing in which direction to go. Warm salty tears streamed down her face. Strong arms pulled her out of the hallway.

"Tsk, tsk, Rose. We can’t have you crying anymore. You don’t want me thinking I can use your sadness to my advantage by seducing you out of the doldrums."

Even as Stefan spoke the words, his hands were gentle as he pushed fallen hair from her face and tilted her chin upwards with his warm hand.

"A moment of weakness." Rosalind managed a smile. "She seems to be getting more horrid with age."

"Your mother?"

She nodded.

"Yes well, I thought she was lovely. Only twice did I contemplate choking that neck of hers, and I had half a mind to pat myself on the back for my restraint."

Rosalind laughed, covering her mouth with her hands at Stefan’s obvious attempt to pull her out of the melancholy she was in.

"What?" he asked, looking offended. "Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking the exact same thing, little minx. Now, let us straighten you up." His thumbs wiped the tears from her eyes. "There we go, now you look like the same redhead that told me my sonnet was stupid and my proposals lacking."

Rosalind bit her lip against the hammering of her heart.

Stefan’s hand reached up. Taking her by surprise he pulled at the back of her head and kissed her so hard she thought she may expire on the spot. His tongue dove into her mouth without restraint. Large hands twisted into her hair and tugged her entire body forward.

He pulled back with a smug grin. "Aw, there’s that fire I’m so used to. Glad to see you set to rights again. Shall we?" He opened the door and offered his arm.

Insufferable man! She didn’t know whether to pull him back into the room and beg of him to kiss her again or slap him for his advances. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how her wobbly legs managed to move in a straight line. The man was an emotional complexity! How was it that he was able to offer her sound advice in the same breath he used to kiss her senseless?

Cursing the man for his seduction abilities that she earlier mocked, she made her way with Stefan in tow towards her younger sister’s room.

"Aghhhhh!" A scream erupted from her mother’s rooms.

Panicking, Rosalind turned on her heel and ran. Stefan was ahead of her and in the room before she was able.

"What the devil happened here?" he roared.

Rosalind gasped when she came into the room. Her mother was lying on her side motionless and pale.

"Is she…" Rosalind shuddered.

Willard was next to her side, his face contorted with rage. "She seems to have developed similar symptoms to the other maids. She said she was in pain so I brought her some tea, then she complained of stomach cramps and fell into a deep sleep it seems."