“What do you remember?” Madam Boswell countered.
“That my fear was not water. It never was, but it is what I was made to believe.”
“Your former governess thought she was helping you when she was not,” Madam Boswell started. “Once I realized what she’d done, I sent for Lady Chandos and her sister. They were at Nightshade and I thought that they could undo the damage because they were more powerful than the witches who resided in Bocka Morrow.”
“I recalled them chanting around me.”
“Yes,” Lady Chandos answered. “We couldn’t undo what had been done. The spell was…too difficult to undo as it was created with error.” She shook her head. “The only thing my sister and I managed was to add our own spell on top of the ones your governess had cast. That when you faced your fear the truth would be known.” She looked to Madam Boswell. “We were certain that it would have happened long before now and when it did, Madam Boswell would explain. I’d not realized until today that the memories were still trapped inside.”
“Could someone please explain?” Damon demanded.
“Cordelia’s grandfather hired a governess, who was a witch, intentionally, to help Cordelia calm her panic after the trauma of Adriana nearly drowning,” Madam Boswell explained.
“Except, the drowning wasn’t the trauma she suffered, but fear over that which she had no control,” Lady Chandos added.
Damon frowned as did Lynwood.
“I don’t understand,” Lynwood finally said.
“We’ll get to that,” Madam Boswell stated, then looked to Lady Chandos. “You explain.”
“The witch was to teach calm. It wasn’t working and Cordelia kept telling her that nothing would help. The witch grew frustrated and then cast a spell to make Cordelia forget that which scared and pained her the most.”
“Cordelia has never forgotten about the drowning,” Adriana insisted. “To this day, she hates for me to be near the water.”
“That’s because what happened to you was just the beginning of something worse,” Cordelia said quietly. “At least to a ten-year-old.”
“But she botched it,” Madam Boswell stated with disgust. “She didn’t understand the true cause of Cordelia’s distress.”
“She did take away the memory of what happened afterward,” Lady Chandos added. “But it was too late. The damage had been done. While you didn’t remember, the deep fear that the conversation evoked lived within you—your true deepest fear.”
“The water?” Adriana asked.
“It was never the water,” Cordelia answered.
“It became the water,” Lady Chandos explained. “When the witch failed in relieving you of your deepest fear, she cast a second spell to help you face your fear of deep water. She convinced you that if you calmed, you would have control and not to let your fear control you.”
“Shemade me believe it was water,” Cordelia said. “In time, I believed her.”
“It was simply the association,” Madam Boswell offered. “Which was a benefit, as it took you from your constant fear and panic. But what had already settled deep inside had changed you.”
Damon turned to his mother. “I didn’t think witches were allowed to alter memories or change fates.”
“They are not,” Lady Chandos answered with cold anger. “That governess broke two rules that we live by and as much as my sister and I tried to undo them, it couldn’t be done.”
“I’m not certain the governess even knew the truth in you, Cordelia,” Madam Boswell said, taking her hand. “Your grandfather certainly didn’t believe he did anything wrong.”
“He never did,” Cordelia mumbled.
Now that she’d faced Lady Chandos and Madam Boswell with her accusations and what she remembered, her anger at them dissolved. At least they had tried to help.
“What did my grandfather do?” Lynwood asked.
“I’ll show you,” Madam Boswell said.
“How?” Damon demanded.
Madam Boswell blew out a sigh. “When I witnessed Cordelia’s distress and knowing your mother hadn’t been successful, I brought forth the events of that day in my crystal. I needed to know what had happened to cause the fear in the first place and Lady Chandos needed to see what spell the witch had cast.”
