From the magical pockets in a governess's Academy uniform that will yield practically anything useful in the moment (including, but not limited to, pencils and linen plasters and sweets and Fae potions), to the spells contained within the Parasol Academy Handbook, to the Point-of-Confusion at the end of a trusty Academy-issued parasol or umbrella, every Parasol governess knows she will always have precisely what she needs at hand to care for and protect her charges from the vicissitudes of youth, and any and all threats (both human and supernatural).

Whether it's weathering the glares and retorts of a rebellious child who refuses to apply themselves to an arithmetic problem, a sullen adolescent girl in a snit because one caught her making eyes at a footman, or one's employer is particularly exacting, one must stiffen one's spine and firm one's chin and keep one's calm in difficult moments. Resilience, just like maintaining a prim and proper appearance, is paramount.

Plans are all well and good, but a Parasol Academy governess should be prepared for anything and everything. Always keep in mind that one should expect the unexpected when caring for children. Flexibility (both mental and physical) is key and allows one to rise to any occasion when one's carefully laid plans get hurled out the window faster than a tantruming charge can lob a plate of Brussels sprouts across the room. Pivoting at a moment's notice (especially when dodging said Brussels sprouts, or heaven forbid, a would-be-kidnapper's punch) is just as important as planning ahead, if not more so.

Chapter 1

Miss Mina Davenport, a proudly prim and proper Parasol Academy governess, never set out to break the rules. But oh, when she did so, it was in a truly spectacular fashion.

Yes, this is definitely an I'm-never-ever-going-to-explain-this-away sort of incident if anyone ever finds out, thought Mina as she discreetly opened her capacious Parasol Academy-issued umbrella then whispered the magic incantation, "Cloakify" to make her entire person, and her umbrella, disappear from view. Though with any luck, now she was completely invisible to anyone bustling about on Bristol's crowded quay, she might just get away with the felonious crime she was about to commit.

Of course, kidnapping a child was not customary for Mina by any means. And without a shadow of a doubt, it was strictly proscribed in the Parasol Academy Handbook, which governed all areas of a licensed graduate's practice. It was a handbook that Mina had always adhered to, to the letter. To the very T. Indeed, she knew the handbook's every regulation better than she knew the back of her own hand (or even the staunchly guarded secret yearnings of her heart). But when one's former charge—a seven-year-old viscount—was being forced to embark on a perilous sea voyage by his glory-seeking guardian (a supposed "gentleman" explorer by the name of Sir Bedivere Ponsonby)—one must go above and beyond and do what one must.

After all, a mere month ago, Mina had made a deathbed promise to the Dowager Countess Grenfell, young Lord Fitzwilliam's late godmother, that she would protect the boy's life at all costs. No matter how. No matter what. 

No matter how presently involved sneaking aboard Sir Bedivere's newly acquired survey ship—a majestic, three-masted beast of a vessel, the Valiant—and rescuing the young viscount from an inherently dangerous situation. Lady Grenfell had been convinced that the prophetic dream she'd had in the week before her death—that her godson would meet an untimely end in a frozen Arctic wasteland—was indeed correct. Not only that, but she'd very much feared that the real reason behind Sir Bedivere's callous disregard for his ward's well-being, was that the baronet had been ensorcelled by a cursed family heirloom. A silver and obsidian ring that had once belonged to the ill-fated King of England—a rumored Fae changeling —Charles I.