A Conspiracy of Ravens Read Free Page A

the neck of the mare and dodged as the horse made a move at her with her head. “Don’t you dare bite me, Sadie,” she said.
    Albert studied his mistress with admiration. She was wearing a black riding skirt, and underneath the tailored coat she wore a blue blouse. A small tricorne hat sat on her head, and the crisp breeze brought colour to her cheeks. Albert suddenly turned and said, “Ma’am, you mustn’t go in the south pasture today.”
    “Why not, Albert? That’s the quickest way to the riding path.”
    “I know, but the men ’ave put that new bull into the pasture, and ’e’s a bad ’un! More like a bull them Spaniards fight than one we’d like to breed to our ’erd.”
    “I’ll be careful, Albert.” Serafina started to mount when she heard her name called. She turned to see David approaching, his eyes flashing, and he was shouting, “We got two rabbits in snares, Mum, and I made one of the snares myself.”
    As David approached, she said, “Go show them to Danny. He’ll clean them for you.” She motioned toward Danny Spears, the groom, who was in front of the stable cleaning some of the gear.
    As soon as David was gone, she turned and said, “I wanted to talk to you, Dylan.”
    “Yes. What is it then?”
    Serafina saw that Dylan was expecting a lecture, and she found she was having trouble. “Walk with me along the fence.” The two walked away, leaving Givins to hold the mare, and Dylan said nothing. She knew he was casting a glance at her from time to time, and finally she stopped and turned to him. “I know you think I spoke to you rudely this morning, but you must understand, Dylan. It’s hard for a woman to raise a son without a husband. David misses a father, and he’s put you in that role.”
    “He’s a fine boy, him,” Dylan said, his speech revealing his boyhood in Wales. “Very proud of him you must be.”
    “Yes, I am, and he is a good boy. But I’m concerned about his future.”
    “You’re afraid I’ll make an actor out of him or a poet or something fanciful like that, is it?”
    Serafina knew that Dylan Tremayne had a quick mind. He had jumped immediately at the thought and spoken as if it had come from her own mind. “It’s not that exactly,” she said, “but when I was younger I had some fanciful ideas much like you do now.” She hesitated then said, “I found out that fancy doesn’t last, and it’s not real.”
    “Is it people you’re talking about now?”
    Indeed, colour rose in her cheeks, for she had been thinking of her husband, Charles. She’d had romantic notions about him as big as the Alps, and they had all come tumbling down when she had found out what kind of a man he really was. Since that time she had been afraid to trust anything that could not be verified in a laboratory or on a sheet of paper.
    “I suppose it’s partly my father who taught me to trust reason and logic and things that could be weighed and measured in a laboratory.”
    “Well, those things are necessary, but there is beauty in the world. Look at that.” Dylan waved at a skylark that was making his way across the sky above them. “What a fellow he is! I’m sure there are people who can describe the mechanics of his flight, how he does it, but, Lady Serafina, I’m more interested in the beauty of it and the songs that he sings. Listen to that.”
    Serafina followed the flight of the skylark and was trying to prepare an answer when she suddenly heard Danny Spears cry out, “David, get out of there!”
    Serafina whirled and saw that David had gone into the pasture where the bull was kept. With one quick turn of her head, she heard the sound of hooves and turned quickly to see the red bull Albert had warned her about heading straight toward David. Her heart seemed to stop, and she cried out, “David—!”
    She saw at once that there was no time. Albert was too far from the fence, and Danny was even farther. She started running, knowing it was hopeless, but she was