To Bewitch A Beast

I. One Everardly Afternoon

Anyone would agree that to be employed by one of the richest families in Wickhurst was a much desired opportunity, most exceedingly so if the said family were the Everards.

The family came not from humble beginnings. They were born into privilege, or rather, came down with it. Their confusing family history would say that they were among the first to arrive with the Founders to put up the Town centuries ago.

Apart from countless titles and estates, the Everards also owned the mines outside Wickhurst, and their exquisite jewelry line adorned many of the Town's elites. Their wealth and status were a birthright meticulously preserved for centuries. Their name invoked a dream of riches and splendor. Everyone wanted to be friends with them and everyone wanted to sire their heirs.

But the present Everard line was on the brink of slow death. The children, all eight of them, seemed to be in no hurry to give their living mother, Lady Alice Everard, a grandchild. And worse, the children believed that the future of the governess was far more important than finding their own prospects.

"You are both coming out this season. You will no longer need Agatha," Lady Alice said.

The two youngest Everard children, Emma and Ysabella, snapped their heads at their mother, eyes wide with horror. "But, Mother!" they chorused. "Agatha has merely been with us for a year and seven months!" cried Emma.

"She barely taught us anything thus far!" Ysabella added.

"You've learned enough from the many years and the many governesses who came and went. You will both do well if you stop acting like children," their mother said with ease and calmness, as though her two daughters' latest mischief did not cost her a carriage, its wheel, and one missing horse.

Agatha remained silent in one corner, her lips curving into a hidden smile. She would not have had wanted to be referred to as a governess. Governesses were typically ladies born into the gentry who found themselves in need of earning money. Agatha needed money, but she was no gentry. She was but a mere servant until her former mistress, Mary Haverston, taught her how to read and provided her with tutors to help her pursue a higher education.

She preferred to be called a tutor rather than a governess, and she knew the Everards were very much aware of that as well. She rarely gave her wards lessons on proper etiquette or decorum, because if they put their heart into it, they were better at it than her. Her expertise lay on arithmetic and science, but the twins, although with great potential, showed little interest in the subjects. In fact, they liked stories more—romance, specifically.

Emma and Ysabella Everard were not really twins. They were born merely nine months apart, with Emma being the younger of the two. Born premature, everyone thought she wouldn't survive. But alas, the ever adventurous and witty Emma thrived and soon started causing havoc alongside her older sister, Ysabella.

Everyone referred to them as twins, and they seemed not to mind. Both had black hair and emerald eyes as all Everard children, but Emma had a slimmer face while Ysabella's was fuller around the edges.

"The two of you need to find a husband by your second or third season," Lady Alice's voice was saying, drawing Agatha's attention back inside the large Everard parlor.

"She needs to find a husband first," Ysabella pointedly said, gesturing towards their eldest sister, Margaret, who had been sitting quietly in a chair with a book in hand.

Margaret, like Agatha, was past the marrying age at twenty-seven. Agatha had always wondered why the woman showed no interest in marriage. It wasn't as though she lacked suitors because the fifth Everard sibling was among the sought-after in Wickhurst. With the signature Everard look of black hair and emerald eyes, her delicate nose and radiant skin added a touch of perfection to her beauty. But it was her brilliant mind that amazed Agatha the most. Margaret could have had anyone she wished to marry.