Beauty's Mirror- Paranormal Regency Beauty and the Beast

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Bella, Mrs. Potter, and Maria gathered in the South Drawing Room. They sprinkled a mixture of salt and rose water around the windows and pianoforte but nowhere else.

"Do you really think it will work, ma'am?" Maria asked Mrs. Potter.

"It is worth a try, isn't it?"

Maria frowned. "Unless it stirs her up something awful."

"There, that's the last of it for this room," Bella said. "Now the book said to say the blessing three times while we join hands."

The ladies formed a circle and repeated the strange words written on the yellowing page of a spell book. If they expected whooshing winds and loud banging from a discontent ghost, they were disappointed.

"How do we know if it worked?" Maria asked.

"I will retrieve Lady Rosalyn. We should go about business as usual but stay close."

Bella went upstairs and found Rosie playing nicely with Jenny. "Lady Rosalyn, shall we try another music lesson?"

"Yes!" the girl raced to the door.

"Manners! Ladies do not run and gallop like horses."

Rosie laughed but obliged. Arriving in the drawing room, Bella watched her charge closely. "Join me on the piano bench."

Bella hesitated just before she reached the threshold of the salt. "Come along," Bella said and patted the space beside her. "When we finish Cook has the strawberry biscuits you like."

Rosie smiled and rushed forward, eagerly climbing up on the pianoforte bench. "Put your finger here," Bella pointed to middle C on the keyboard.

Rosie obeyed and applied herself diligently for several minutes before her eyes wandered to the large windows. "Focus, Lady Rosalyn. A few more minutes and then we may take a break for the biscuits."

"Miss Beauley," Rosie whined, "I'm tired." Rosie leapt down from the piano bench. "Can I look outside?"

Bella frowned. "You must make a choice. You can misbehave and be sent to the nursery, or come back and finish your lessons. If you show me you can listen then we can open the windows and enjoy the breeze while we eat our biscuits."

"Mother wants me to come to the window," Rosie chewed her bottom lip.

"What do you want to do?"

"Won't I be a bad girl if I do not listen to my mother?"

Bella took Rosie's hand and gave an affectionate pat. "I think you're a good girl no matter what but there are consequences for bad choices."

"What kinds of consequences?"

"No biscuits, for one. You will also not earn my trust."

Rosie looked back and forth between the window and the bench several times before taking a step toward the bench. Then she stopped and Bella could see the child was trembling.

"Lady Rosalyn, is something wrong?"

"She is very angry," Rosie whispered.

"Are you scared?"

Rosie nodded her head. "Come here," Bella held out her hands. "She cannot hurt us here. We put a protective enchantment around the pianoforte." As she said the words, Bella prayed they were true.

Rosie reached for Bella and climbed onto the bench. The temperature in the room dropped by several degrees.

"She is angry the windows will not open for her," Rosie said.