A/N: This is an AU, so there are changes to canon. There is no "Regency" during this period as King George III is quite well. His eldest son is the Prince of Wales, certainly, but that is all. The Bennets have three daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary. No Catherine or Lydia make an appearance. There will be other differences, but I hope to address them as they surface.

Thank you to everyone who is reading this story, adding it to your lists, and leaving me nice notes! It is always a delight to be able to interact with you.

Back to the Realm of Great Britain.


Chapter One

1811—Somewhere in Scarborough

"Charles, you cannot be serious," Caroline Bingley declared, snapping her fan and flipping it in obvious irritation. "I cannot find my soulmate in, in Hertfordshire!" She lifted her skirts just enough to expose the Soulmark on her left ankle, an outline of a heater shield, such as one found in many of the tapestries in which the English took great pride. "He cannot be there and shall not be, and I daresay he's been waiting for me for years in London or perhaps on the Continent!"

Charles Bingley sighed and carefully placed his pen on the blotting paper before standing behind his desk to study his sister. He, too, had a Soulmark, but was not at all inclined to search the length and breadth of Britain looking for the woman who would cause his skin to burn because of it. "You're twenty-one years old, Caroline. If your soulmate has indeed been waiting for you, he will not consider it a trial to do so, I'm sure."

"If? If?" Caroline took long strides into his office, her dark eyes flashing with indignation. "Of course he's waiting. Merlin himself has selected me for him and, of course, he is a peer and will want the very best for his family's line!"

Charles regarded her until she smoothed her sable hair and settled herself. "Now then, dear sister, hear me. Your Soulmark may not be matched by a peer, but I do trust that Merlin knows what he is about with you." He cleared his throat. "I am, as you know, intending to purchase an estate—"

"With which I concur, of course," his sister stated with a nod.

"I know. But I do not know how to effectively manage one, so I choose to take one for a time and learn. Darcy will be joining me, as will his sister, so I know you will be willing to extend us the courtesy of being hostess for my borrowed estate until the winter. You will not want to be in Town after Parliament has been released for the year, as it is possible that the peer you seek will be in the country until it reopens."

Appearing much struck by the reminder, Caroline's expression smoothed and she smiled at him. "Of course. Thank you, Charles."

"Now, if you would leave me to my business?"

Caroline nodded and left to tell Louisa and Hurst about the upcoming plans, Charles was sure. For his own part, he refused to look at the Soulmark he bore on his left wrist. He knew it appeared to be a feather or perhaps a leaf, but he refused to be directed by it. Louisa had not had a Soulmark and her marriage seemed to be doing well. Indeed, his sister and her husband Geoffrey Hurst would be keeping an eye on things as Louisa was known to be carrying and would not travel south.

Bingley sat down once more and picked up his pen. "To Mr. Phillips, Esquire," he said aloud as he began, his voice sliding into a formal tone. "The terms for Netherfield Park suit very well indeed and I am prepared to take possession by Michaelmas." There followed the necessary details, which Bingley found a bit tedious, but he did look forward to learning about the estate.

If he liked it well enough, he might even purchase. Caroline would, he supposed, cease to grumble if they had an estate of their own.


Longbourn, Hertfordshire

"Mr. Bennet! Netherfield Park has been let at last!"

John Bartholomew Bennet, Master of Longbourn, placed the book he'd been about to read on the shelf of his book room. "Yes, my dear. Our brother Phillips informed me of this over our port last week." He smiled inwardly to see the wind fall from his wife's sails as she stood dramatically at the door.

She huffed a bit before nodding so enthusiastically her white lace cap fluttered. "Well, of course. He would know. Sister Phillips is always so smug about the news!" She pressed her lips shut and stared at him.

John waited; he'd had ample practice and, frankly, got a certain amount of skewed entertainment in irritating his wife. Theirs was not a solid union, but since he blamed her as much as he blamed himself for their circumstances, he decided that "making the best of it" could be construed in his favor on occasion.

When she held her tongue for a considerable period of time, he shrugged and returned to his books, reclaiming the one he'd just replaced. Fanny huffed and he smirked as he deliberately crossed the room to the chair nearest the fire. Using a long matchstick, he was able to transfer the flame to the taper on the small table next to his favorite chair.

His wife started pacing and John began counting silently to himself. She surprised him by waiting until he reached nine.

"Mr. Bennet!"

"Yes, my dear?" he asked languidly, not looking up from his book.

"Tell me about Mr. Bingley! My sister Phillips barely said a word!"

John chuckled a little and, at length, closed the book and set it on the table before blowing out the taper. "He's a young man in his early twenties, I believe. Inherited a sum of money and is interested in learning to run an estate."

"So he doesn't have one already?"

"Alas no, my dear. But perhaps Netherfield will be to his liking."

"Oh, what a fine thing for our girls! Jane, of course, is the eldest and he'll be aware of that, naturally. And of course she's beautiful. Even you have said so, Husband."

"I have indeed. But I'll not be selling off any of my girls to anyone unless she is amenable." He paused as an unwelcome thought crossed his mind. "Frances."

She blinked, her fancies clearly brought back to the library by the use of her Christian name. "Yes, John?"

Leaning back in his chair, he steepled his fingers. "Were any of our daughters gifted with Soulmarks?"

It was a sore point for them both, thus he'd avoided it for several years. Still, with an eligible young man—a stranger to them all—coming to join the neighborhood, it behooved John Bennet, as a father, to know.

His wife's cheeks went scarlet and she dropped her gaze as she twisted her fingers over and over again. "No," she said, sounding a bit strangled. "Not as far as I am aware, but you know that is an indelicate topic, Mr. Bennet."

A flare of fury erupted within him, but he clenched his jaw against expressing it out loud. Instead, he chose self-control. His voice came out strained, but he reasoned that was preferable to a roar. "It may be, Mrs. Bennet, but I will not have our daughters in an unequal match. If they do not have Soulmarks, well and good. If they do, I will endeavor to guard them until their soulmate is found."

"Mr. Bennet!"

He waved a hand for silence. "He may be someone whom we would not wish to be acquainted with and that will be enough to ignore the Soulmark should our daughter wish it. Or she might choose to marry him anyway, out of a duty to the Realm. You will not push her one way or another, Wife. If any of my girls are the chosen of Merlin, we will let them have their own say in the matter."

"And if they're not?" his wife asked, lips pursed.

"Then they may still choose their own partner in life and you will support them."

"But, what about when you're dead, Mr. Bennet?" Rising from her chair, she began pacing and wringing her hands. "If our girls do not marry before then, your cousin Collins will be here before you're cold in your grave and the girls and I will be turned out to live in the hedgerows!"

"You shall not be sent to the hedgerows. You have your jointure and I've made provision for the girls."

Mrs. Bennet halted in mid-cry, turning to him with tears in her eyes. "Truly, John?"

"Yes, my dear. I've made sound investments in conjunction with Brother Gardiner, and Jane, Elizabeth, and Mary all have suitable dowries."

Her eyes were immediately dry. "Why haven't you told me?"

Returning to his book, he found the desired page before answering. "Mrs. Bennet. You have no head for finances. I give you an allowance and it is spent in half the time allotted on fribbles and furbelows. I would not trust you with the girls' funds for half a kingdom."

It must be said, Mr. Bennet spoke nothing but the truth. He had little reason to trust in his wife's good judgment on matters beyond menu planning and needlepoint. She was the Mistress of Longbourn in social matters, but that was as far as he went.

"Mr. Bennet!"

"Did you have anything else you wished to speak to me about? I believe I should speak with the girls about . . . delicate matters, as you said."

She gasped. "You wouldn't!"

He looked up from his page. "I shall."


Longbourn, the family's estate, was unfortunately entailed away from the female line. John Bennet had intended, in his more optimistic youth, to sire a son to break the entail, allowing the entirety of the estate to stay in the family and support a wife and any other children. When he'd met Frances Gardiner in London that fateful winter more than twenty years prior, and felt the heat in his hand that came from hers, he'd been sure that she was his soulmate.

He'd begged to see the Soulmark with less propriety than he should have, and cared not at all that she was eager, indeed, to share her Soulmark with him. Flush in the knowledge that Merlin had granted him a soulmate, surely to break the entail, he had proposed to Miss Gardiner in a matter of weeks. She was pretty, knew how to run a home, and came from a fairly successful family in Trade, so there were connections he could touch if needed for future investments.

John Bennet was sure he'd need to be able to invest in the future. England could not keep growing outward forever and one could not make more land to support estates!

Fanny had been sure that her first child would be a boy. He was to have been named John Bartholomew, after his father. Jane Blythe Bennet came instead and John immediately began investing. He had been quietly purchasing land as well, though his wife did complain about the lack of funds available for more gowns.

Edward John would have been next, but instead came Elizabeth Joy. John Bennet no longer believed he would have a son, but they tried once more. Dear Mary Faith Bennet arrived instead of Marcus Francis, and there were no more children to follow.


Elizabeth sat in between her elder and younger sisters, studying her father for any clue at all as to why he had called them together that evening. She tugged subconsciously on her right sleeve before folding her hands carefully together in her lap. Jane did likewise. Mary had a book in her hands and was reading quietly whilst their father did the unthinkable: he lit his pipe when there were females present.

"That does not bode well," Lizzy murmured.

Jane made some sort of odd sound that might have been a chuckle but it issued from her nose. "True. That pipe has always meant trouble."

Mary coughed delicately. "The smoke is noisome."

Agreeing, the sisters nodded in unison, which prompted their father to address them. "I have a delicate matter to put before you, my girls."

Elizabeth darted a look to Jane, who shrugged minutely. So, no marriage proposals had been mentioned. That was a relief; Jane had spent time in London recently and, at twenty-two years of age, could reasonably expect to be entertaining a suitor.

"What is it, Papa?" Lizzy finally asked.

Their father took another puff of his pipe before holding it thoughtfully before him. "Soulmarks, my dears." He grimaced but set his pipe into its designated pipe stand and proceeded to push up his left cuff. Elizabeth's heart leapt into her throat to see that her father had a small spade, such as gardeners used, on his wrist just under his thumb.

Mary pushed herself to her feet. "I, I didn't know you had a Soulmark, Papa!"

"Indeed I do, Mary. Here, near the fire, all of you. I want you all to take a good look at it, yes? It is a little faded, but it's there."

Elizabeth joined Mary and Jane reluctantly, mouth dry in trepidation. If her father had shown his, he was likely going to ask if Elizabeth and her sisters had been so gifted.

She couldn't lie to her father. But she didn't want to share it, either. Why? She couldn't have said. It was personal and invasive and something she wished had never happened and yet—

Jane was entirely practical. "Father, I'm not as well read as my sisters. What is that and what does it mean?"

Lizzy watched as her father dropped a gentle caress to Jane's shiny, sunbeam-curls. "As your sister said, it's a Soulmark and it means Merlin gifted me with a soulmate, long years ago."

"I'd read, Father, that soulmates were meant to, well, to bless England with wonderful children, or something very like." Lizzy felt a self-deprecatory laugh was in order so she made one. "I don't feel very wonderful."

"Ah, well, who understands the mind of Merlin?"

Jane was holding Papa's hand, studying the Soulmark. "Father?" she asked in a low, cautious manner. "Our mother doesn't have such a mark on her wrist. Is it, is it elsewhere?"

"First, let me ask you, Jane. Do you have a Soulmark? It could be anywhere, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head," he added with a playful air, plucking a curl from Jane's coiffure and dropping it lightly.

"No, Papa, I do not. Lizzy?" Turning, Jane asked the same question, taking Lizzy's hand and turning it to lay as their father's had.

Unable to halt herself, Elizabeth jerked her arm from Jane's clasp. "Stop!"

Tension seemed to vibrate in the room as Mary moved to take Elizabeth's other arm. "You have one?"

Elizabeth would have backed away, but the fire was behind her and she wasn't about to ruin a gown. Swallowing back irritation, worry, and painfully reluctant curiosity, she straightened her shoulders and met her father's calm, serious gaze. "Aunt Gardiner told me about Soulmarks. I vowed I would not return to London until I was happily wed to someone of my own choosing, not Merlin's."

Jane gasped. Mary made an inquisitive sound, not letting go of Elizabeth's arm. Papa nodded slowly. "Well, then, child. Is it in a place your papa might see it?"

Lizzy felt herself blush. "Yes, Papa." She untied the right cuff of her day gown and pushed the sleeve up. "It's herb bennet."

Her father and sisters pressed in tightly, nearly cutting off all light available for viewing the gray-brown drawing of the herb. "Well, well. Imagine that."

Mary made a humming sound. "Herb bennet. I wonder if that was chosen due to qualities of the herb or due to our name?"

"What?" Lizzy and Jane both asked at once.

Mary cleared her throat, as she was wont to do before expositing. "The first one of the soulmates who, well, goes through puberty first is marked first. My father has a gardener's spade, so he clearly went through—oh, sorry, Papa." Mary's blush could have lit up a ballroom.

Their father, though, only smiled. "Indeed, so it would seem, my dears. Well, Mary, as you have read about them, do you have one of your own?"

"No, Papa," Mary murmured, moving back to her chair. "This used to upset me, but then neither of my sisters mentioned having one, so I felt that we were not in Merlin's sphere of interest."

Elizabeth quickly turned to take her younger sister's hand. "I don't wish to be in that sphere, I assure you. I want to marry for love."

Jane draped an arm around each of her sisters. "And so you shall."

"I do have a question, though, Father," Elizabeth said after disentangling herself from Jane and Mary. "How can we know we've met our soulmate? Not that I want to meet mine, but if I did, how would I know? A lady doesn't see a gentleman's forearm unless—well—they are intimate. Though a gentleman might see a lady's if she is wearing shorter sleeves. Yours in on your wrist," she continued, frowning, "but that isn't always the case for men, is it?"

"No, indeed. Merlin seems to have matched image for image and location for location."

Jane bit her lip thoughtfully. "You never answered my question, Papa."

"What question is that, Jane?" Their father did not meet their eyes as he fussed over both cuffs of his shirt and jacket.

"About Mama's Soulmark."

"Yes, he did," Elizabeth said slowly, the realization sending a slight chill over her skin. "Image for image and location for location. Our mother doesn't have a Soulmark."


E/N: Dun dun dunnn! More on Mrs. Bennet's machinations later, I assure you. I bid you good day 'til next we meet! Which will be in a couple of days. :)