62 pages • 2 hours read
Deborah HarknessA Discovery of Witches
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 26-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 26 Summary
Diana excitedly greets Matthew when he returns to Sept-Tours. The two declare their love for each other. They share a passionate kiss and Matthew states that, “We are one, from this moment forward” (330). Their kiss is a binding oath to each other. They have broken the covenant, Diana has “turned her back” on the witches, and the couple are now outlaws. Ysabeau slaps Matthew when he asks if they should leave. Matthew is her son and now Diana is her daughter, so she will stand by them. Diana needs to be a witch, use her powers, and step up and fight with the family. Matthew wants to protect Diana, but Diana agrees with Ysabeau.
Matthew reveals that the break-in at his lab was an attempt to get Diana’s DNA. Someone also broke into her rooms at New College. Fortunately, Diana always cleans her hairbrush and disposes of the hair and fingernail clippings. Ysabeau approves, knowing that these items have power for witches. Matthew explains that the Congregation is interested in Ashmole 782, but even more interested in Diana’s power, and has been observing her since her parents died. The Congregation thinks if it captures Diana, it will get the book. Matthew sleeps platonically and protectively next to Diana.
Chapter 27 Summary
Diana wants to break the pattern of Matthew’s carefully controlled daily routine and asks him to take her hunting. Matthew responds with anger, and is incensed that Ysabeau took her hunting, because Ysabeau could have hurt Diana. He’s also upset that Ysabeau told Diana about Blanca and Lucas, and the story of his making. Diana has shown Matthew her vulnerabilities, and if he can’t do the same, they should call their relationship off. Matthew worries he’ll lose control and hurt her but agrees—with ill grace—to take Diana hunting. He spends hours observing and stalking a stag while Diana waits quietly on horseback. Diana mentally talks to the stag, urging it to stop running and let go. Matthew quickly kills the stag. Diana appreciates Matthew’s method of hunting, compared to his mother’s, and believes the stag was at peace.
Matthew wonders if Diana is jealous of his life with Blanca and Lucas. She is, but is also glad that Matthew had love in the past, and now has her love. Matthew tells Diana they can’t have children, but Diana declares they can adopt, or Matthew can make one. Diana learns Marcus is Matthew’s son.
Chapter 28 Summary
Ysabeau clears the chateau grounds, making sure no other vampires are nearby. She’s especially looking for Gerbert of Aurillac, a 10th century pope and one of the Congregation’s vampire representatives. Diana assures Matthew she won’t wander outside the walls. Matthew tells Diana they got married when he told her in person that he loved her. Vampires mate like lions or wolves: The female selects a mate and, when the male agrees, they’re together for life. He prefers to think of Diana as his wife rather than mate. Diana realizes she’s stuck following Matthew’s orders, but in return he will “love, honor guard, and keep” her (355).
Matthew interrupts Diana in her bath and asks her to come to bed. They kiss, and Diana loves the alternating feelings of warmth and cold as he touches her. Diana is nervous but excited to have sex with Matthew, but he replies they are not going to have sex, despite being married. He wants to enjoy their courtship, so they practice the old Amish and English tradition of bundling, spending the night intimately together exploring each other’s bodies. Matthew is covered with fine scars from his many battles. While Matthew sleeps, Diana walks in the gardens. As she bends to look at some herbs, a witch seizes her and pulls her into the air.
Chapter 29 Summary
Diana futilely tries to block her thoughts while the platinum-blonde, blue-eyed witch tells Diana she is not her enemy. The witch takes Diana to a ruined medieval castle, where Domenico Michele and Gerbert of Aurillac await. Gerbert describes torturing another witch a thousand years ago to unlock Ashmole 782. Diana’s captor, Satu Järvinen, restrains Diana with magic. Satu says it isn’t Diana’s fault that she’s in thrall to Matthew and suggests that Matthew gave Diana some of his blood. She informs Diana that Matthew killed Gillian and that he’s been lying to her to get Ashmole 782. Diana tries not to believe Satu, but knows witches cannot lie to each other. She worries about Matthew’s secrets.
Diana asks Satu if witches killed her parents. Satu’s silence reveals the truth. Satu is angry at Diana for consorting with a vampire and calls her a disgrace like her father. Satu begins magically cutting Diana open to find her secrets. Satu tortures Diana, but Diana listens to a voice in her head telling her to be strong and brave and “keep our secrets” (372). Satu leaves Diana in the castle’s oubliette, a 60-foot deep hole filled with ghosts. Diana regresses to childhood and sees her mother Rebecca, who tells Diana a story about a little witch named Diana whose fairy godmother wrapped her magic in ribbons to protect her from the jealousy of other witches. Little Diana forgot her magic and met a shadow prince and was threatened by other witches.
Chapter 30 Summary
Matthew searches frantically for Diana. Matthew’s older stepbrother, Baldwin, flies in from London to help. Baldwin is Philippe’s middle son, created in Roman times. Matthew doesn’t like or trust Baldwin, worried Baldwin will kill Diana. Baldwin is appalled to learn Diana is Matthew’s wife, after what witches did to Philippe. He refuses to accept Diana and announces he will kill her if the witches don’t. Matthew bites him. Ysabeau intervenes, declaring they need to rescue Diana. As head of household, Baldwin threatens to disown Matthew to protect the family. Matthew responds things have gone beyond family and the Knights of Lazarus will safeguard Diana. Matthew orders Baldwin to surrender his knight’s seal, leave the house, and forfeit his lands, or uphold his knightly oath and follow Matthew’s orders. Baldwin grudgingly agrees.
Baldwin searches the garden where Diana was kidnapped. He wonders why Diana can’t defend herself. Marthe and Ysabeau suspect she has been spellbound. Sarah senses that Diana is in pain and calls Matthew for information. Em reveals that Rebecca had a vision of danger and bound Diana’s magic to keep her safe before Rebecca and Stephen went to Africa. Diana’s magic was set to emerge when she found her “shadowed man” (387). Matthew remembers La Pierre, a ruined castle close to Gerbert’s territory, so he and Baldwin fly there by helicopter. Inside, Matthew rushes to the oubliette.
Chapters 26-30 Analysis
In these chapters, Diana reaches a breakthrough towards accepting her magical powers. Diana realizes that she has been acting “like a pathetic human” (331) and agrees with Ysabeau that she needs to stop being protected. Ysabeau applauds Diana’s bravado, but knows that Diana is still weak. She will need to help in the fight to come and needs to fully embrace her heritage. Diana’s bravery stems from her strength of mind and her stubbornness. But even though she has the courage to hunt with Matthew and Ysabeau, she doesn’t have the courage to understand her magic. She cannot call on her powers, even in a desperate situation like defending herself against Satu.
Diana’s relationship with Matthew grows more serious. Diana believes that their union is worth fighting for, and rejects the idea that their love is unnatural, saying “What we feel for each other is not—cannot—be wrong” (343). Matthew has tried to suppress his feelings for Diana (330) but is willing to risk everything to be with her—a big deal because of his prior experience with the Congregation. Ysabeau, Matthew, and Baldwin understand that Matthew’s relationship with Diana affects all creatures and jeopardizes the structure they have lived by for centuries. Ysabeau calls the lovers “outcasts,” and that they “have broken every rule that holds our world together and keeps us safe” (331, 330). By marrying Matthew, Diana becomes a traitor to witches. Satu would rather Diana was truly enthralled by Matthew, rather than have consciously chosen to align with a vampire.
The Congregation breaks its own rules about creatures mixing. Despite long-standing prohibitions and prejudices, witches and vampires ally to discover Diana’s secrets and those of Ashmole 782. They also commit species-specific “unforgiveable” acts (386), like vampires trespassing, and witches using opening spells on a living being. The Congregation is willing to do whatever it takes to learn Diana’s secrets and those of Ashmole 782.
Diana is concerned about trusting Matthew fully because of his secrecy. She accompanies him hunting so he understands that she accepts all parts of him and trusts her. If he can’t handle this, perhaps they should call the relationship off. Satu’s accusations about Matthew are effective because they play on Diana’s own underlying distrust, and witches cannot lie to one another. Diana herself is the product of her parents’ secrets. Her ghostly mother reveals that she taught Diana to keep secrets from “everybody” (372), and that Diana and her bound magic are the “greatest secret” (377).
Old family secrets, which still have power in the present, inform the hostility between Matthew and Baldwin. Baldwin holds a grudge against Matthew about his lack of action following the witches’ murder of Philippe in 1944. Matthew refused to use the Knights of Lazarus to pursue revenge, preferring to keep the “family’s secrets” safe, and fearing the Congregation. Matthew admits he was mistaken, and Baldwin resentfully accepts his leadership.
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