NEW RELEASE! SPELLS AND SHADOWS BY VICTORIA KINCAID

Welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club! We're delighted to have the talented author Victoria Kincaid as our guest again! Today, we're diving into the magical world of Pride & Prejudice with her latest release, Spells and Shadows. In this captivating fantasy variation, Mr. Darcy finds himself entangled in a dangerous mission as a secret agent for the Mages' Council. Fleeing from an evil necromancer, Darcy's path crosses with Elizabeth Bennet, a skilled mage at Longbourn estate. As secrets, spells, and shadows enshroud their budding relationship, they must navigate a treacherous web of danger and deception. Scroll down for an exciting excerpt from Spells and Shadows as we discover how Elizabeth and Jane stumble upon Darcy in the most unexpected circumstances. Will they be able to protect themselves and their loved ones from the malevolent necromancer's sinister plots? Dive into this enchanting Pride & Prejudice variation, where love is entwined with magic and mystery. You won't want to miss this thrilling adventure! Spells and Shadows is now available on Amazon. Let the journey into Regency fantasy begin! MG 💕

A word from the author 

Hello Maria Grazia, thank you for welcoming me back to your blog! Below is an excerpt from the beginning of Spells and Shadows, my new Pride & Prejudice fantasy variation. Fleeing an evil necromancer and his followers, Darcy had ended up in the river. Elizabeth and Jane happen upon him when they are wandering along Longbourn’s riverside property.

 Victoria Kincaid

Book Blurb

As a secret agent for the Mages’ Council, Mr. Darcy investigates a necromancer who is leading his followers down a dark path. When they discover him, a fight and a chase drive Darcy—injured and close to death—into the river. He is rescued and healed by Elizabeth, a talented mage at the Longbourn estate. Darcy cannot help developing feelings for her, but he dares not reveal his true identity while the necromancer’s creatures search for him.

Elizabeth Bennet is intrigued by the family’s new guest as he recovers at Longbourn. But mystery surrounds the man, and strange happenings plague the neighborhood while he visits. Elizabeth herself harbors a secret that she cannot share with the handsome stranger.

When Darcy’s enemies come calling, the Bennet family is caught in the crossfire. Worse, Elizabeth’s magic draws the necromancer’s particular interest. Darcy is falling in love with her and believes she returns his feelings, but the secret of his true identity could destroy their budding relationship—if they survive the upcoming danger.

Can Elizabeth and Darcy protect themselves and their families from the necromancer’s plots? What will happen when learn each other’s secrets? Can Elizabeth and Darcy’s love survive when it is entangled in a web of secrets, spells, and shadows?

Read an excerpt 

“Lizzy, be careful!” Jane Bennet called as her sister Elizabeth shimmied up the pine tree. Today Elizabeth was wearing trousers and intended to take advantage of the freedom they afforded her. She wished she could wear them more often but had promised her mother that she would only wear them around the Bennet family’s Longbourn estate.

Elizabeth climbed as high as she could before taking in the view. Most of the land belonged to her family, including a section of the riverbank along the River Lea. A few small fishing boats were visible downstream, but there were no barges or large boats close to Longbourn.

She was about to climb down when she glimpsed a flash of blue mixed in with greens and browns at the edge of the river. Trees and plants always grew in an unruly mess on the riverbank, so it was difficult to distinguish anything clearly. Was it a scrap of fabric? Heavens! It was more than a scrap; it was a sleeve, attached to an arm and a head. Oh no! A dead body. 

Then the man’s head moved infinitesimally. He was alive!

Elizabeth climbed down as quickly as she dared, unconcerned with sap on her hands or twigs in her hair. As she neared the ground, she called out to her sister. “Jane! Jane! There is a man in the river!”

By the time Elizabeth’s feet hit the ground, Jane was already running for the bank, but she was hampered by her long skirts; her younger sister soon overtook her. Elizabeth pushed through the shrubs and brambles that clustered along the river, and Jane followed in her wake. “I believe he was this way.” Elizabeth gestured to where she had observed the man. “There he is!”

His head and arms rested on a rotting log while the rest of his body was submerged in the river. Wet hair was plastered to his head, and his eyes were closed. Mud caked his clothing and face. But one of the man’s fingers twitched. He was alive.

For now.

If I can retrieve him from the river, I might be able to keep him alive. She burned with the desire to help him. But he was still a good six feet away and undoubtedly weighed more than either woman. Elizabeth turned to her sister, who was yanking on her skirt, which had caught on a branch. “Jane? Can you extract him from the river?” Jane was an aquamancer, a mage gifted with power over water in all its forms.

Jane studied the situation for a moment. “I cannot move him, but I can cause the water to recede.” She reached out her hands, extending her magic to the river. Slowly the water drew away from the man, revealing more of his torso lying in the river mud. He was wearing a coat, waistcoat, and breeches. A gentleman then! How curious. Elizabeth had assumed he was a fisherman who had fallen from a boat.

Elizabeth clambered down the muddy bank, thankful she had worn boots, and endeavored to reach the log the man was clinging to, but it was too far. She risked slipping and falling into the river—which would not help anyone.

“Is there any way you can bring him closer?” she asked her sister.

Jane gestured, and a wave formed in the middle of the river, a gentle swell that pushed the man further up the bank. 

Hooking her leg around a bush, Elizabeth pulled on the end of the rotting log, attempting to bring him closer. But when the log moved, the man lost his grip, slid backward in the mud, and immediately sank into the river. “Oh no!” Without hesitating, Elizabeth jumped after him. He would not drown if she could save him. Fortunately, the water was shallow this close to the bank and she could stand.

It was murky, and she had to root around with her hands to find the man’s body. She brushed against an arm. Wrapping her fingers around it, she reached around for the other arm and pulled his torso from the water. The man’s head hung slack, and he did not appear to be breathing. Elizabeth was panting, her muscles protesting the unaccustomed exercise. How can I possibly remove him from the river?

Suddenly he was buoyed from underneath, floating quite lightly on the surface. Elizabeth did not know how Jane had managed such a feat. “Oh! Well done!” she called to her sister. Now it was just a matter of tugging the man to the riverbank.

She propped him up, noticing the grayish pallor of his skin. “Oh no,” she told the strange man. “I did not undergo all this trouble for you to perish now.” She sent her awareness into his body, willing his lungs to fulfill the function they were designed to do. The barest hint of breath trickled out of his mouth. She sent more energy into the man’s lungs. He inhaled, a slight flaring of his nostrils. Good. That would do for the moment.

Getting her feet underneath her in the mud of the riverbank, she held the man around his waist and called up to Jane. “Can you help us to land?”

“Yes. I think I understand this now.”  

A wave, almost like a giant hand, pushed the man gently upward until Jane could grab under his arms. She pulled while Elizabeth pushed the man’s legs. She attempted to ignore the impropriety of the situation; her mother would be appalled. Thank heavens the man was insensible! Together they lifted him onto dry land. Elizabeth pulled herself out after him, dripping water and covered in mud.

Jane held him under his arms, and Elizabeth held his feet as they carried him through the brambles at the river’s edge to a patch of grass just beyond. Even with two of them, it was a struggle. He was tall and sodden, a dead weight in their arms.

As they laid him gently on the grass, Jane inquired, “Can you save him?”

“I hope so.” Elizabeth had managed to restore his breathing, but the truth was she had never attempted to heal anyone this far gone. When she was summoned for a healing, it was usually for a broken bone or similar accident. She could ease pain for naturally occurring illnesses, but she could not heal them. Assisting a drowning victim was something she had never faced. And God knew what else might be troubling him.

But surely the first task was to help him breathe without her assistance.

She extended her magic, sensing the spark of life in his body. “He lives – at least at the moment,” she told Jane. “But his lungs are full of water. Can you expel the water from his body?”

Jane’s lips thinned into a white line. “I have never commanded water inside a human body. But I can make the attempt.” She stared fiercely at the man, no doubt using her magical senses to identify the river water in the man’s lungs. 

“Turn him on his side,” Jane ordered. Elizabeth tugged on the man’s shoulders until he was lying on his side.

Jane gestured with quick, sharp strokes. Water started trickling out of the man’s mouth and then gushed as the man coughed. When it was all expelled, the man coughed wetly and started breathing with terrible rasping breaths.

Elizabeth rolled him to his back and skimmed her hands a few inches above his body, searching for those places where his life energies were not flowing freely. In fact, energy was leaking out of his body in two different places. She pulled aside his shirt and the bottom edge of his waistcoat to reveal a deep gash along his ribs. Jane gasped at the blood oozing from the wound. “He was stabbed?”

“Yes. This is not a matter of someone who simply fell out of a boat.”

Sensing more trouble, she found a rip along the left leg of his breeches, revealing a long, shallow knife cut. Jane gasped. 

“Someone did not care for this fellow.” Elizabeth endeavored to keep her voice level, but the evidence of violence was disturbing.

Energy was knotted at the back of his head. When she probed the area with her fingers, he winced. “A contusion from a blow to the head,” she reported to Jane. “He also sustained some damage to his ankle, but he will not be needing to walk for a while yet.” 

“He is fortunate to still be alive,” Jane remarked. “Can you help him?”

Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I think so. I cannot heal everything today, but I believe I can repair the worst damage.”

She pushed her hand through layers of coat and shirt so she could touch his flesh. This sort of deep healing would not work without direct contact with his skin. At least he was unconscious; it would be mortifying to touch a man who was awake! The muscle and tissue longed to be whole again. She could almost hear the flesh crying out at the violation created by the two slices of the knife. She sank her awareness into the layers of muscle, fat, and tissue, carefully encouraging it to knit back together.

Fortunately, the ribs had prevented the knife from penetrating further into the chest. And the slice on the leg was shallow.  However, she did not know how much blood the man had lost or if he might contract an infection.

Next, she healed the lung tissues damaged by water and eased the swelling at the back of his head. Customarily she drew on the patient’s body to fuel such healing, but the man’s energy was already vastly depleted. She was forced to draw on her own, and even so, she could not fix everything. The stab wounds would be well on their way to healing, but she could not cause them to disappear.

Exhausted, she slumped backward, landing on her bottom in the grass.

Spells and Shadows is available on Amazon.

About the author

The author of more than sixteen best-selling Regency and modern Pride and Prejudice variations, Victoria Kincaid has a Ph.D. in English literature and runs a small business, er, household with two children, a hyperactive dog, an overly affectionate cat, and a husband who is not threatened by Mr. Darcy. They live near Washington DC, where the inhabitants occasionally stop talking about politics long enough to complain about the traffic.

On weekdays Victoria is a writer who specializes in IT marketing (it’s more interesting than it sounds). She is a member of the Magical Austen authors group and is the host of the annual Jane Austen Fan Fiction Reader/Writer Get Together.