Page 34 of A Sense of Fate
Flora was obliged to withhold a gasp when Melanie stood, lifted her skirts and she observed the extent of the welts across Melanie’s buttocks and the backs of her thighs. Several were still weeping and required more of Flora’s healing ointments before infection set in. When she had finished her ministrations, she sat beside Melanie and took her uninjured hand in her own.
‘Now, start from the beginning and tell me everything. How long has Papa been beating you?’
Melanie sniffed. ‘Since you left.’
‘Dear God in heaven!’ Flora clutched her cheeks, appalled to learn that Melanie, the youngest and kindest of her sisters, had borne the brunt of their father’s temper. ‘Why did you not say?’
‘He made me feel that I deserved to be punished. That I had disappointed him. And you were no longer there to talk to.’
Flora tamped down her rising anger. ‘He is very good at deflecting blame away from his own inadequacies.’
Zeus, who had been in the kitchen, returned to the sitting room and jumped up on Melanie’s knee without hesitation.
‘Oh!’ Melanie looked alarmed.
‘That’s Zeus. I told you about him. He was the countess’s cat and I inherited him. You are very honoured. He obviously likes you, and he doesn’t like many people.’
Melanie freed her hand from Flora’s and stroked Zeus’s back, making him purr. Flora often thought that the cat was more attuned to human distress than humans themselves tended to be. He sensed only good in Melanie, but he also sensed her deep unhappiness. Zeus seemed to calm her, which was probably his intention.
‘Tell me what you did to anger Papa. Not that one needs to do anything to invoke one of his moods.’
‘He kept accusing me of looking too much like you and behaving in the same manner.’ Melanie tossed her head, reviving quickly. Flora recognised the same quick temper in her sister that she herself possessed. ‘I was proud of that accolade, but Papa didn’t seem to think that I should be. He said there was no place for disobedient daughters in his household. He had been too lenient with you, allowing you to develop independent ideas, and had no intention of making the same mistake again.’
‘Papanevermakes mistakes,’ Flora replied, her voice edged with a sarcasm that elicited a smile of understanding from Melanie. ‘He is beyond compare in the eyes of the Lord, or so he likes to think. Even so, there has to be more of a reason for his cruelty than your appearance, for which you cannot be held responsible.’
Melanie turned her wide eyes upon Flora. ‘Promise not to laugh. This will sound fanciful, so I haven’t ever confided in anyone else before.’
‘Of course I will not laugh. Whatever it is, it clearly matters to you and is therefore important to me.’
Flora glanced up as Remus materialised. Realisation struck when Melanie looked up too and brushed at her ear, her expression quizzical, as though she couldn’t think what had caused the draught. Well she might, since there was no draught other than the usual waft of air that preceded Remus’s arrival. A waft that only Flora could ordinarily detect.
That is where you have been these past days.She reached out to scold her spirit guide with her mind.Why did you not warn me that Melanie was in trouble?
Not allowed to. I got her to come to you though, didn’t I?
Thank you.
And missed spending the day with your handsome marquess as a consequence. You are in my debt.
‘Flora?’ Melanie sent her an odd look. ‘What is it? You were miles away.’
Now was not the time to explain Remus’s function, especially since Flora barely understood it herself. ‘Let me see if I can guess why Papa lost patience with you.’
‘You never will.’
‘You hear voices telling you what to do, sometimes perhaps you see people guiding you.’
Melanie’s mouth fell open. ‘How did you know?’
‘You think you are losing your mind, but let me assure you that you are not. Our grandmother, Papa’s mother, you are too young to remember her—’
Melanie nodded. ‘We are not permitted to mention her name. Mama says it makes Papa angry.’
‘For a reason. You see, Grandmamma had the gift of second sight.’
Melanie took the revelation far more calmly than Flora had anticipated. There were no shocked exclamations, no denials. ‘She did?’ she asked, blinking.
Flora smiled. ‘Most assuredly, as well as an affinity with herbs. Papa disapproved of both. I suppose it must have been hard for him as a boy,’ she added, momentarily attempting to be fair to her father when he deserved no such concession. ‘People misunderstood Grandmamma’s gift and taunted her, calling her a witch.’
