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“He was my mission. Or at least his daughter was.”
“Were you able to help them?”
She shrugged. Had she? She wasn’t certain. She hadn’t solved the mystery of his wife’s death. “He plays the pianoforte. So, I was inexplicably drawn to him.” Although, now that she thought about it, the token her mother had left within her was so she could find her parents. Why did Ashley’s music affect her so heartily as well?
“The spell was to bring you to a loved one. One who has the power to love you with heart and soul, my dear,” he informed her, his eyes softening as understanding seeped into her. “Perhaps there’s more to your duke than you think.”
“There’s no such thing as predestination,” she bit out. She refused to believe that she was predestined to find Ashley and forced to love him. Forced to leave her land the way her mother had. Forced to give up any children she and Ashley created. Anger grew and grew within her.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with predestination. I think it’s a spell gone awry. I’m certain your mother didn’t think that you would find us and find a man who loved you all at once when she cast the spell.”
“The very thought is a little absurd, is it not?”
He chuckled. “Nothing is absurd when you’re dealing with the fae.”
Wasn’t it? “I have to go and see Ashley at some point. He has my garden gnome.”
Her father looked perplexed. “Ronald?” he finally asked. “I haven’t seen him in ages.”
“I suppose not,” Sophia said. If he hadn’t seen his children, he certainly wouldn’t have seen Ronald.
“Hateful little creature. Attacked me once in the garden when your mother and I were courting. Thought God had loosed the hounds of hell upon me, and then the little nuisance bit my ankle. I still have a scar.” A grin tipped the corners of his lips despite the vehemence of his tale.
“He’s loyal to a fault.”
“How did Robinsworth end up with him?”
“I’m not certain. But he bade me retrieve him.”
“I’ll accompany you, if you like.”
She smiled at him and shook her head. “I should probably do it myself. I have some things I need to say to him.” She patted his hand this time. “Don’t worry. I’ll take Margaret with me.”
“Margaret wasn’t very adept at keeping your mother out of trouble, if I remember correctly. Perhaps she has gotten more cautious as she has aged.”
“Perhaps.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a conversation with Marcus similar to the one that we just had. If I can locate him, that is.” He lumbered to his feet and smiled down at her. “Shall I escort you inside?”
“No, thank you, Lord Ramsdale,” she began. His face fell.
“Will you ever call me Father? Or did we botch things up too badly?”
“I don’t even know how long I’ll be in this world.”
“For quite some time, if your duke has anything to do with it.”
“He’s not my duke,” Sophia began.
“Certainly, he’s not,” he said with a chuckle. Then he bent and placed a chaste, comforting kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Yes.” Yes, he would.
Twenty-Three
“It would serve the little beggar right if you left him there until the end of time,” Margaret groused from where she was bent over Sophia’s valise, packing her belongings.
She absolutely could not leave Ronald with Ashley while they all went back to the land of the fae. He had to be retrieved, and it looked like Sophia would be the one who had to retrieve him. She wanted a moment alone with Lady Anne, regardless. More than a moment. She wanted to solve the puzzle that was her mother’s death for the girl and for Ashley. She couldn’t do any of those things without going to the Hall. “I will retrieve him. Then I will return and we can go back to the fae on the rising-dawn wind, just as we had planned.”
