The Lost Bride Trilogy, #3
The Seven Rings
by Nora Roberts
Contents
Chapter Seventeen
Overview
Returning late, Sonya and Owen are drawn through the mirror to a turn-of-the-century lawn party where Sonya glimpses her father, Andrew, arriving via mirror and mistaking it for a dream. Dobbs, flaunting four rings, fails to touch the mirror and conjures a storm.
Back home, the group concludes the rings actively power Dobbs and that reclaiming them could break the curse, strengthening their resolve and deepening Sonya’s emotional stakes.
Summary
After a disappointing concert, the group returns to the manor. A mirror suddenly appears on the lawn, its surface alive with dark colors and faint sounds only Sonya and Owen perceive. Compelled, Sonya and Owen step through while Trey and Cleo wait helplessly.
They emerge into an early-1900s summer lawn party at the manor under a full moon. Sonya recognizes Moira and Owen Poole; Moira, lightly touching her belly, seems newly pregnant—likely with Jack. As they debate following the couple inside, a young man in modern clothes appears by the mirror. Sonya realizes it is not Collin but her father, Andrew MacTavish, about thirty and believing he is dreaming.
Sonya rushes to Andrew, but her arms pass through; he senses something yet cannot see her. Dobbs notices Andrew and approaches, recognizing he is not one of the party. Before she can act, Andrew hears child-Sonya calling from the mirror, says it is time to wake, and steps through, escaping her.
Enraged, Dobbs tries to strike the mirror, recoils in pain, and bloodies her knuckles. She boasts of wearing four rings, with a fifth “tucked in bed” (Lisbeth), promises a bride’s death “soon enough,” then raises a storm—wind, lightning, thunder, and torrential rain—before vanishing. Owen notes the rings glittered and sparked as Dobbs summoned power.
Sonya and Owen return soaked; Trey and Cleo help Sonya recover from the shock and grief of seeing her father yet being unable to touch him. Together they analyze the encounter: the mirror admits only Pooles and repels Dobbs; Astrid’s first-blood may have awakened its power; and Dobbs’s rings are not mere trophies but an energy source—perhaps essential to her existence. They resolve that reclaiming the rings could unplug her power and break the curse, bolstered by their combined strengths.
Who Appears
- Sonya MacTavishDrawn through the mirror; witnesses a past party; sees her father; escapes Dobbs; deduces the rings power the curse.
- Owen Poole (present)Accompanies Sonya through the mirror; observes Dobbs’s ring-sparks; supports analysis and resolve to reclaim rings.
- TreyWaits anxiously; comforts Sonya; logically argues the rings are Dobbs’s power source and must be reclaimed.
- CleoComforts and steadies Sonya; frames the mirror as protective magic; urges destroying Dobbs by removing ring power.
- DobbsAntagonist; bloodies her hand on the mirror; boasts four rings and targets Lisbeth; conjures a violent storm.
- Andrew (Drew) MacTavishSonya’s father; enters via mirror, thinks he’s dreaming; senses Sonya, then exits when he hears child-Sonya.
- Moira PooleAncestor at the lawn party, seemingly newly pregnant; her era helps date the scene’s timeframe.
- Owen Poole (ancestor)Moira’s husband at the party; their presence situates the vision in the early 1900s.
- MollyPrepares fire, towels, and clothes; quietly tends to Sonya after her return.
- CloverHouse presence; plays songs that echo themes, underscoring Sonya’s bond with her father.
- YodaDog; greets and comforts Sonya on return.
- JonesCat; stands guard by Owen, refuses the mirror’s pull like other non-Pooles.