Page 17 of Magic in the Music (Magic and Mysteries #4)

When Cassian entered the manor, he nearly left again. Everyone at Nightshade Manor was crowded around the dining room table and talking loudly and over one another as they broke their fast.

He crossed to the sideboard and filled his plate then took the only empty seat, which was beside Samantha.

No doubt it had been left that way intentionally because his family was likely still playing at matchmaking.

“Have you been given your list?” Samantha asked after he had taken his seat.

“List? What list?”

“Ladies St. Alban, Wharton and Norcott have prepared a list of everything that must be accomplished today and each of us have received our own assignments.”

“Should I remind them that you are a guest in this house?”

Samantha laughed. “I do not mind and it is far better than sitting around while everyone is busy.”

He supposed she was correct.

“Did you notice the sunrise this morning?”

“I did,” he answered slowly.

“Were the oranges not spectacular?”

“They were,” he agreed then smiled. “Are you always this happy in the morning?”

“She is happy all the time, rarely does her light blue darken,” Antonia announced from her seat on the other side of Samantha.

“Light blue?” Cassian questioned. “As in her aura?”

“Yes, it means happiness and peaceful.”

Such a declaration was not at all surprising.

“However, I shall not tell you her second one because those are private. The auras that hold the secrets.” She grinned. “You would be surprised at how many people project a mood or personality that is not at all the truth because their aura speaks differently.”

They had discussed auras before and it was Antonia reading Chedworth’s that made her aware that he was distressed which led to his being in danger.

“What does my aura reveal?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Are you certain that you want to know?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain you want me to tell you where so many people could hear?”

On second thought, he did not. “No.”

Antonia just grinned at him.

“Between music and auras, a person cannot have any secrets between you two.”

“I cannot hear your music so only Antonia knows your secrets,” Samantha laughed.

Silence fell around them and Cassian glanced about, wondering why they were suddenly interested in what they were discussing.

“It happens,” Samantha’s mother announced from her seat further away. “I have encountered people that I cannot hear. It simply happens.”

With that explanation, everyone seemed to relax and he was rather thankful that Samantha could not or she may begin to suspect that he was falling in love with her.

* * *

No feast could be eaten to celebrate Christmas tomorrow because the kitchens were busy preparing the foodstuffs for the celebration of Haloa the following day, and the wedding feast to take place on the twenty-seventh.

The family was also strongly encouraged to be elsewhere so that the servants could clean, polish silver, launder linens and arrange flowers and as the housekeeper had stated frankly to the Countess of Wharton, “We do not need you all underfoot.”

She had shaken her head and walked away muttering, “It is easier when there are few. When they all arrive, there is not a place a person can go without tripping over a Drakos, Norcott, Cardwell or guest.”

Samantha had at first been shocked to hear a servant speak so, but when she listened to the music, she only heard some tension that came from wanting everything to be perfect for the different celebrations and happiness that everyone was at Nightshade Manor.

However, Samantha took the housekeeper at her word and avoided any room where a servant may be and spent much of her time out of doors.

“Is it true?” Maia asked when she found Samantha in the Witches’ Garden.

“Is what true?” Samantha returned.

“That you cannot hear Cassian’s music.”

“I never have,” she admitted. “At first, I feared that he did not have a soul.” She laughed. “But when Mother explained that the same had happened to her, I grew less concerned.”

“There must be a reason,” Maia insisted.

“I am just as certain there is not.”

“We should search the vault,” she offered with excitement. “We might find something there. Maybe his music has been hidden and if so, then it must be freed.”

“We read every journal in the vault not long ago and if there was a spell, we would have read it.”

“Yes, but none of us knew that you couldn’t hear his music.”

“It does not matter,” Samantha insisted, though she would like to be able to know if his words and expressions were truthful.

“It does to me,” Maia insisted and pulled her from the garden. “Let us go to the vault.”

“I am not certain that we should.” Samantha hesitated. Yes, she had wanted to know if what Cassian said and his expressions were true but at the same time, what if he really did not care for her, then all hope would be dashed.

“It is about the only place we can be, if not outside, or the servants will scold us,” Maia reminded her. “It is why my brothers and male cousins are in the billiards room. It is where they have been given permission to go and stay out of the way.”

“Do not the women have a room where they could gather?” Samantha asked.

“Yes. The vault.”

The vault was beneath Nightshade Manor and held magical items and journals explaining the uses and warnings.

There were also spell books that dated back to before the Drakos family had arrived in England, as they were taken from Greece when the family sailed.

Each completed book had been added to the shelves over the years.

“Where is Petra? I assume Antonia is with her mother, or parents.”

“Petra is in the stillroom working on her spells.”

Samantha had never really cast her own spell.

There had never been any reason to do so.

She assumed that since one of her gifts was passive, in that she heard music, she was warned if danger was near and could simply leave.

Not that she had ever experienced real danger to herself, or anyone close to her.

She had taken part in spells and read the books, just never created her own.

“Maybe I should help Petra.”

She should learn more about spells in how to cast them, or the ingredients needed. One never knew when it might be necessary.

“No, we should go to the vault,” Maia insisted. “If not for me, then the others.”

“What others?”

“Gretchen, Larisa and Selene, my younger cousins, have been down there making a list of every item on the shelves and the spells in books with short descriptions of what each is used for.”

“Why?”

“So that there is one reference for a witch in need,” Petra answered as if it explained everything. “Remember how we had to search everything in that vault when Antonia needed her two spells because we did not know all that it contained or what many of the items were used for?”

Samantha nodded. It had not been so long ago, and something that she was likely never to forget.

“We would not have needed to do so if there had been one guide that we could have reviewed for reference. After they are finished, there will be a list of spells, its purpose and in which book it can be found. As for the items, there will be a list of what it is, what it does, and upon which shelf it is located.”

“That certainly would be more practical and save time,” Samantha agreed having remembered the days and nights they had all searched for answers before it was too late to help Chedworth.

“If you are not going to seek an answer to why Cassian is blocked from you, then we can at least help my cousins. It is not as if we have anything better to do.”

As Samantha could think of no further argument to remain in the garden, she allowed Maia to take her down to the vault and soon was given parchment and a pencil with instructions to list the item, a short summary of what it did, and each warning so a witch did not unleash magic that could not be undone.

The day passed quickly and she was able to document two rows of items before it was time to go upstairs to dine.

The candles in the sconces on the wall and in the chandeliers above extinguished themselves behind the women as they walked toward the exit to the vault.

It had been Samantha’s mother, after her arrival and viewing the vault, who had cast a spell so that the candles would light when someone walked in then snuff out when all had left to protect itself from fire instead of a witch making certain that a candle or lamp had not accidently been left burning.

As they stepped into the corridor and Maia closed the vault door, Samantha tilted her head and listened.

Music had drifted into the vault while she documented items, but she assumed that someone was playing the piano upstairs and the notes had simply drifted down to the vault.

When she asked, nobody else had heard it, which was not unusual since she was much more sensitive to music than others.

Except, now that she was in the corridor, it seemed to be coming from behind.

“You still do not hear the music?” she asked Maia.

“No, I do not, though I am certain you could hear if someone was playing in the village.”

She could not hear from so far away, but music did travel to her from a distance.

As the women started to go up the stairs, the music from behind pulled at Samantha and she turned to investigate.

As she walked further and further away, the darker the corridors became. Other than the vault, a wine cellar and a cell to keep criminals locked away, though likely created for magical purposes, Samantha did not know what else was down here.

Except, it was dark and unlike the vault, the torches on the wall did not light themselves when a witch was near.

She turned to look back but the others had already gone upstairs.

A shiver swept down her spine and goosepimples rose on her arms.

Be careful where you wander , Iza had warned, and with that memory, Samantha turned away and hurried back to the stairs, then practically raced up them and firmly shut the door behind her.