The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber Read Free Book Online

sporting dark blonde hair flecked with a few strands of grey. “May I introduce Miss Lucretia Marie O’Shannon Connor, our Healer?”
    The woman bounded forward. “Call me Jane, Miss Percy,” she bubbled in an Irish brogue. “The rest is such a mouthful.”
    “None of us know whether that mouthful is her true name or, rather, a more romantic offering she dreamed up when we met.” Rebecca smiled sardonically.
    Jane’s wide hazel eyes glittered. “The great mystery of our age.”
    “Last but certainly not least,” Alexi stated, “Vicar Michael Carroll.”
    Michael came forward, his face amiable and ruddy cheeked, his bushy hair disheveled as if he’d been raking it in every direction all morning. Tears wet oceanic blue eyes. “My dear Miss Percy; radiant as moonlight, kind and gentle, withsuch a fierce, loyal heart. Oh, Alexi—if I’d met her, I’d have known she was the one in the instant. I am so sorry. My God, to think we might have lost you, dear girl.”
    “Vicar Carroll here, our sentimentalist,” Alexi said. Michael reached out and clasped Percy’s hands. Alexi continued. “He is the Heart—a most valuable asset against the forces of Darkness.”
    Percy looked into the clergyman’s sorrowful gaze, unsure what to do other than offer a smile, releasing this earnest soul from any further guilt. He excused himself to wipe his face with a handkerchief.
    “That concludes our number, Percy,” Alexi murmured. “If you will have us, my dear, your family awaits.”
    Percy looked around the room, feeling her orphan’s heart swell in her chest, a giddy rush of grateful blessing. “I’ve always wanted a family,” she replied, and even the sharp Elijah could not help but be visibly moved.
    Alexi leaned close, his long, aquiline nose brushing Percy’s ear, causing her to shiver in delight. “Shall I announce our marriage in the Athens chapel tomorrow?”
    “Tomorrow?” Percy blurted. She clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing.
    “Is it too soon?” Alexi raised an eyebrow.
    “No,” Percy gasped, still incredulous at the idea of any husband, let alone this one.
    “Good.”
    A maid entered and curtseyed. Surprisingly, she did not start at the sight of Percy’s deathly pallor. Either she had been informed or, perhaps just as likely, had grown accustomed to the unusual company Lord Withersby kept.
    “Master, breakfast is ready.” She barely concealed an Irish brogue.
    “Indeed, Molly, thank you.” Elijah rose.
    The maid nodded, her red hair bobbing, and Jane winked and smiled. “Always good to see you, Molly m’lass.” Hearingher accent, the girl let loose a broad smile and swept away with additional bounce.
    The dining room, off the main foyer, was a white room whose carved ceiling rounded cavernously over a sumptuously set table upon a red silk runner. The very latest in gaslit chandeliers blazed above, making the room nearly as bright as the day outside, hazily visible through fine lace curtains and valances drawn and tied with golden cords. Percy, raised in the Spartan atmosphere of a convent, was unaccustomed to such domestic grandeur. When Elijah made an offhand comment about the estate being fitted within the year for the new electric light, she wondered if her simplicity was too evidenced by her subsequent gasp.
    As Molly and a second housekeeper cleared the warming trays and the company was bade sit, Alexi, after placing Percy to his right, smugly took the head of the table. Elijah eyed him from the other end.
    Alexi patiently waited for the staff to slide the carved wooden door closed behind them before plucking a luminescent white feather from his pocket and tapping it soundlessly against his crystal goblet. Cued by this action, a sudden symphony filled the air. Percy started, looking around her with wide eyes. Alexi turned to her, schoolboy pride glistening in his eyes as he returned the feather to his breast pocket, and said, “A bit of atmospheric noise to discourage