Page 18 of The Magic of Pemberley (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage #2)

Chapter 18

E lizabeth was still reclining on the fainting couch when Rana Akshaya entered, back in the form of a veiled woman. She was alone, without any of her entourage. Elizabeth considered rising to curtsy, but her last attempt to stand had led to a fall, and one bruised hip was enough. It was enough of a challenge to keep her eyes open.

“Chandrika tells me you took ill when I placed a binding upon you,” Rana Akshaya said.

A binding? Of course, Rana Akshaya would have bound her against revealing her dragon nature. Elizabeth said, “I do not know if that caused it. I have other reasons to be unwell. And Lady Frederica does not seem troubled by it.”

Rana Akshaya stepped close and placed a palm on Elizabeth’s cheek. Magic trickled through it, a cleansing energy that scoured her before withdrawing. “I removed it. Does that change anything?”

Indeed, the dizziness had faded completely away, and Elizabeth’s body felt like her own again. She sat up and gingerly shifted her legs over the edge of the fainting couch. “Much better.” She had to bite down on the urge to thank her.

Rana Akshaya frowned. “My apologies. It was an overly broad binding, applied in haste, when I was in a disturbance of spirits. I have replaced it with a smaller specific binding, tuned to your particular condition. ”

“My…condition?” Could the dragon tell she was with child?

“Your Talent is complicated. A dragon companion, but also bonded with two lands and two Nests. And carrying an egg with the blood of fae royalty. Yes, most complex.”

Darcy’s bond to Georgiana’s fae blood was present even in their child? “What does that mean?”

“I cannot tell you, for in my country we would not permit our companions to have even a single land bond, and certainly no connection to the fae.” There was clear disapproval in her voice. “Your Talent, with its many roots, is likely to be unpredictable. But perhaps it makes you suited for the unprecedented role you must play.”

Carefully, Elizabeth said, “I do not have the honor of understanding your meaning.”

“You stand at the crossroads in a time of great change, Elizabeth Darcy. The meeting between two colonies of dragons, lost to each other for many ages, would by itself be a great event, but coming at a time of threat to your Nests and an end to their Great Concealment, it is even more. And you are at the center of all these changes, with the power to influence the course of dragon history.”

Was Rana Akshaya trying to flatter her, to win her over? “Then I am singularly unprepared for it. Until a few months ago I believed dragons were long extinct, and even now I know little of them.”

Rana Akshaya studied her. “Sometimes the outsider is the one who sees most clearly.” And with those mysterious words, she turned and walked out.

Rana Akshaya was a dragon – and staying at Pemberley. Elizabeth had thought dealing with the influx of lesser fae at Pemberley was the strangest problem she would ever run across, but this outdid them. What was she supposed to do with the Indian dragon ?

Why had Cerridwen not warned her? She must have recognized Rana Akshaya’s true nature when they met at Netherfield, but Cerridwen had told her nothing, not even when she knew Rana Akshaya was coming to Pemberley.

Her dragon, and indeed the Nest, had been playing their cards close to their chest. And Elizabeth had thought they trusted her.

Now she was expected to play hostess to her, with no idea of what was expected. Irritated, she tried sending to Cerridwen, but apparently her dragon was too busy to respond. Elizabeth grimaced.

But her dragon had not been the only one keeping secrets. Chandrika must know, too. Sudden burning anger rose in Elizabeth’s throat, fury and betrayal. The maid had helped her dress, arranged her hair, and prepared her baths – all while hiding her true purpose, and no doubt telling her mistress all Elizabeth’s secrets. True, Elizabeth had known all along Chandrika was likely spying on her, but somehow this felt worse.

It was time to put an end to that. She had liked Chandrika, but it was time to have a maid who served no one but her.

First she had to find her. Would Chandrika be in Elizabeth’s rooms, as was proper for her maid, or would she already be with Rana Akshaya’s retinue? Perhaps she had already decided to leave Elizabeth’s service. Elizabeth headed upstairs to check.

Chandrika was right where she should be, laying out Elizabeth’s evening gown, one of the new ones from Frederica’s milliner, a lovely confection in rose and gold. She looked up. “I am glad to see you looking better, Mrs. Darcy,” she said in a muted voice.

Elizabeth had no patience for polite chit-chat. “Chandrika, now that Rana Akshaya is here, do you not wish to return to her service?”

The Indian woman raised her eyes, her expression oddly blank. “Has my work been less than satisfactory, Mrs. Darcy?”

“No, or I would have sent you back to London long ago. I will be hard put to find a maid whom Cerridwen likes better. But I thought you would wish to be with your countrymen and old friends.” Somehow she managed to bite her tongue on the accusations that wanted to spill out .

“I have been happy to serve you, and would prefer to remain as I am.”

Her simmering anger would not be repressed. “At Rana Akshaya’s behest, no doubt, so that you can continue to report to her on my doings.”

Chandrika lowered her head. “I have told her very little about you. A companion is of little interest to the great Rana. She wished to know about the Wise One.”

Elizabeth let out a sharp breath. Oh, the irony! Chandrika had not been spying on her, but on Cerridwen. “Nevertheless, I cannot have that. I need a maid who does not serve another mistress.”

The Indian woman looked crestfallen. “I understand,” she said softly. “I cannot blame you, when you have reason not to trust me. But if you would ever be willing to give me another chance, I would do everything in my power to prove my loyalty to you.”

“Why?” Elizabeth studied her, puzzled. “Are you afraid of Rana Akshaya’s displeasure if you leave my service?”

“I do not intend to return to her. If you do not want me, I will seek another position, or see if your Nest will take me on to serve their dragons.”

What was she missing here? “Is there a reason you do not wish to return to Rana Akshaya? Has she been unkind to you?”

“No, not at all. But she is a very great dragon, so far above me. I did not realize before I came here, working for you and your Wise One, that there was another way. I could never talk to her like this. Cerridwen has spoken to me more than Rana Akshaya has in my entire life. I want to choose that for myself.” She took a breath. “Until now, my entire life was preparation to serve Rana Akshaya on this journey. I did it because it was my duty and it had to be done. Now that she no longer needs me, I want to have a life of my own.”

Her words struck Elizabeth hard. Her own childhood had been carefree, but once her land Talent had emerged, her father had told her that her task was to make Longbourn profitable again. She had dedicated herself to it, until her duty had changed to helping Darcy survive his mission. Now the Nest expected her to host Rana Akshaya indefinitely, with no instructions on how to do so. Someday she would like to make some choices, too. “But surely you must wish to return to your own country, to your family.”

“I have no country.” Chandrika’s voice was low. “I was sent as a child to be raised in a household of your countrymen, so that English would be as natural to me as my own language and English customs familiar to me. Even before I came to England, I did not fit in with my family, and there was never an expectation that I would return.”

Elizabeth started at that. Had it truly been a one-way trip for Chandrika? “You will not go back with Rana Akshaya?”

“She cannot go home again. I do not know where she will decide to settle, but it will not be anywhere near India. That was part of the price.”

“The price you cannot explain?”

“I cannot…” Chandrika hesitated. “Forgive me; I keep thinking there must be bindings to stop me from saying these things. I do not know how it was done, but she had to cut all her ties with her Nest and abandon her claim to the throne.”

“Her claim to the throne? What throne?” There was so much she did not understand.

“She was the Rana of our land for five centuries, through generations of human rulers. Now her only subjects are those of us who came with her. It was a great sacrifice.”

And apparently one that had taken decades of planning. “Why? Why would she give up so much to come here?”

“To learn about her enemy, that someday her knowledge can be used to gain our freedom. She blames herself for failing to see the dangers of allowing the English into our lands, for all the suffering that has come of that.”

Her enemy? Elizabeth swallowed hard. She had believed Lady Anne, who told her Rana Akshaya had come to learn about English mages. But if the Indian mage…no, the Indian dragon saw the English as her foes, it changed everything. Did the Nest know? Were the English dragons her enemies, too, or only the people?

“Does Rana Akshaya intend to harm anyone here? ”

Chandrika stepped back. “Of course not. She cannot, no more than any other dragon. She wishes to discover how the British can be defeated by the humans in my country.”

It struck her, then, how unaware she was of what had happened in India. “I know almost nothing of the situation in your country. Have the British treated your people so badly?”

“Yes.” The single word was strong, fervent, and clearly heartfelt. “Why else would I have agreed to leave my home, to give up everything for the great Rana’s goal?”

“I see.” It was disturbing to know, and she would have to ask more about it, but it did not solve her immediate problem. “I have been pleased with your work. I do not know, though, how I can trust you not to report on me in the future. I wish I could.”

Chandrika wrung her hands. “Perhaps your Wise One would be willing to put a binding on me, so that I can tell the great Rana nothing about either of you.”

It was tempting. She had grown used to Chandrika, and she had seen a new side to her today, but she did not like the idea of using a binding for her personal convenience. “Instead, would you be willing to answer some truth-caster questions from Lady Frederica?”

Chandrika’s face brightened. “I would be happy to do that, if it means I can stay.”

“I will have to consult with Cerridwen, too. This decision is as much hers as mine,” Elizabeth cautioned.

“As it should be,” Chandrika agreed. She gestured to the dress she had laid out. “Will this suit for dinner tonight?”

Elizabeth tickled her cheek with the plume of her quill pen. How could she warn Granny about Rana Akshaya’s secret without giving it away to the government spies in London who were no doubt reading any mail addressed to Lady Amelia? Placing the tip of her tongue in the corner of her lips, she wrote, Rana Akshaya has proved even more interesting than I had anticipated. She was interested in my falcon, but now that I know her better, I would say she has the very spirit of a falcon, somehow contained in a human body. I have never known anyone like that, but perhaps it is common among people in India.

How desperately she missed Granny! Now, more than ever, she wished her great-grandmother were here to advise her, but there had still been no news from her in London. Were it not for the occasional mentions of her in the newspapers, Elizabeth might have feared for her life, but Sycamore would have returned if there had been some terrible problem. But the question remained – why had Granny been so silent?

She finished the letter and pushed it aside, saving it to show to Cerridwen before sending in case the dragon would find it too revealing of their secrets.

As if she had somehow heard the thought, the kestrel appeared at the window. Chandrika opened it for her, and Cerridwen took her true form by the hearth, visibly larger than she had been even a fortnight ago. Clearly she was catching up on her growth now that she was part of a Nest again. Perhaps that was why she was spending so many of her nights there rather than at Pemberley.

Elizabeth longed to ask her what had happened with Rana Akshaya, but she knew better than to pester her dragon with questions immediately. Instead she said, “Cerridwen dearest! I have missed you.”

Cerridwen tossed her head. “You will see a great deal of me now, and Quickthorn, too. The Eldest has decreed that one of us must always be here while Rana Akshaya is in residence. Though what she thinks I could do if any problems arose is quite beyond me!” She sent an image of herself next to the Indian dragon, who was at least four times her size.

“You could tell the Eldest about it, I suppose,” Elizabeth said. “Chandrika, will you excuse us?”

Expressionless, the maid nodded and left the room.

“Is something the matter?” Cerridwen asked .

Elizabeth said carefully, “Did you recognize that Rana Akshaya was a dragon when we met her in Hertfordshire?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you never tell me?”

Cerridwen turned to gaze into the fire. “You did not even know I was a dragon at the time.”

“But later, especially when you knew she was coming here, you still said nothing.”

The scales on the dragon’s neck rose. “I was under Silence when we met. Rana Akshaya was the first dragon to speak to me in two years, and she asked me politely not to mention her presence unless I thought it needful.”

Elizabeth caught her breath. Poor lonely Cerridwen! “No wonder you kept it to yourself.”

“I did tell the Eldest, when Rana Akshaya asked for an invitation to the Nest.” Cerridwen ducked her head. “She was not pleased with me. She said my first loyalty must be to the Nest.”

“I am sorry. That must have been unpleasant.” Elizabeth crossed to sit on the floor beside her dragon and stroked Cerridwen’s flank.

“I am still learning how to be part of a Nest. It has been so long, and I was only a small nestling then.” The dragon laid her head on Elizabeth’s lap.

It was likely safe to ask a question now. “How did the meeting with Rana Akshaya go?”

Cerridwen’s chest rippled with amusement. “Not at all as planned. The Eldest had given us gifts and a speech of welcome to give, but Rana Akshaya insisted on hearing about the Silent Nests and the attacks instead. The news about the Wicked King’s involvement with Napoleon distressed her greatly. We never got to our inquiries about the Nests in India, though I did learn one thing. They do not have Gates; we had to explain how we communicated with the other Nests. Though I suppose it makes sense, since the Gates were only created when the Nests went into hiding.”

That was news to Elizabeth. “I thought Gates had always existed. ”

“No. It was one of my forebears who built them, along with his companion.” She preened a little.

Elizabeth could not help smiling. “You must be proud of that. Will there be more meetings with Rana Akshaya, then?”

Cerridwen sighed. “Many more, apparently. She is clearly displeased to be met only by our youngest dragons, but the Eldest will not budge on that, not until she is certain Rana Akshaya has nothing to do with the attacks on the Nests. Only Quickthorn, Rowan, and I, and we must report only to Juniper, who will tell the Eldest, in case Rana Akshaya uses some magical influence on us. It feels very strange, since Rana Akshaya is such an ancient dragon, older even than our Eldest, and we are mere hatchlings in comparison.”

It was unusual for Cerridwen to speak so openly about dragon politics. Elizabeth decided to take advantage of it. “If she is so old, how could she travel away from her own Nest? I thought older dragons could not take companions.”

Cerridwen raised her gold-ringed eyes to her. “The Eldest is very eager to learn that, too. If there is a way to travel without a companion, it would change everything.”

Elizabeth wrinkled her brow. “Chandrika said something about it, about how she cut her ties to her Nest. But there is more I must tell you.” She briefly summarized her earlier discussion with the maid. “What do you think?”

“She has always seemed to feel kindly disposed towards me,” Cerridwen said slowly. “And if I want to find out more about how Rana Akshaya left her Nest, it is better to have her here.”

She stroked the dragon’s side thoughtfully. Her nestling was growing up.