Page 5 of The Magic of Pemberley (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mage #2)

Chapter 5

G eorgiana turned her face away as she climbed into the carriage, obviously avoiding Elizabeth’s gaze. Darcy, entering behind her, seemed lost in his own world, but that was hardly surprising after he had been communing with the dragon.

There was so much left unsaid, and Elizabeth suspected that if she left it to Darcy and Georgiana, none of it ever would be spoken. She had no intention of allowing that to happen. “Georgiana, thank you for agreeing to this. I know it was difficult for you.”

The girl kept her head lowered. “It was good to meet them,” she whispered.

Darcy blinked, as if suddenly aware of his whereabouts. “Georgiana, the dragon asked my permission to offer you training in how to protect yourself from the High King. I granted it, but it will be up to you if you wish to take advantage of it.”

Her eyes flickered up at him for a moment before lowering again. “Yes,” she said in a small voice. “I would like that.”

“He also said they could set wards at Pemberley so that he cannot come there. Does that seem like a good idea to you?”

Now she did look up, a disbelieving smile warming her face. “Could they truly do that? It would be wonderful! Then I could stay at Pemberley all the time. ”

Darcy’s brow furrowed. “But I thought you liked London.”

She shook her head. “Oh, no. I only wanted to be there to stay safe from him . The High Fae cannot come to the city because of all the iron there.”

“Then that is settled,” Elizabeth said briskly, before Darcy could think to ask the next question of why the girl was afraid of being found by the High King. That was not a conversation to have in a carriage. “I would like to know, though, about the lock of hair he used in creating you. Do you know whose it was?” If the old stories were anything to go by, this could be a matter of great importance.

Georgiana’s cheeks flushed a delicate rose. “Lady Anne gave it to him.”

“She gave it to him?” Darcy rumbled disbelievingly. “Was it her own?”

“Yes. When she bargained with him.”

Elizabeth’s chin dropped. If there was any message that had been drilled into every child in England from the tales of Faerie, it was never, ever to bargain with the fae. What had Lady Anne been thinking? A sense of foreboding filled her. “What did she bargain for?”

“She wanted a living daughter. It had been years since Fitzwilliam and Jack were born, and she had despaired of having a daughter to carry on her magical work. He kept his word; she bore a daughter. He never promised to let her keep it,” Georgiana said bitterly.

A typical fae trick. “Even so, she must have known it would be dangerous to give him her hair,” Elizabeth argued.

Georgiana sighed. “She made him promise not to use it to harm her or any of her relations, and apparently she thought that was enough.”

Elizabeth said slowly, “But if he used it to create you, was that not hurting her?”

“No, for he could have substituted any fae child for her baby.” But she dropped her gaze.

“He must have had a reason,” Elizabeth prompted. “It makes no difference to my opinion of you, but we need to understand his motives.”

Georgiana’s shoulders sagged. “It meant I can pass as mortal, that I can touch iron safely. He thought the knowledge I would gain of fashionable society and mortal magic might prove useful to him someday. ”

Elizabeth exchanged a worried glance with Darcy. “He wanted you to be a spy?” No wonder the girl hated the High King!

“I never agreed to it! I was only a helpless infant who knew nothing of his plans!” she cried. Then, with an obvious attempt to calm herself, she added, “Not a spy for information, more a resource he could use to understand the mortal world. The same reason the Welsh Nest wanted Cerridwen to live in England.”

Cold ran down Elizabeth’s spine. “I do not know what you mean.”

“The Welsh dragons wanted someone who understood the behavior of the English. She just told me that.”

That was more than Cerridwen had ever told Elizabeth! She was not about to admit to ignorance, but she would have some questions for Cerridwen later. “Lady Anne traded a lock of her hair for having a daughter and thought it would never rebound upon her?” How foolish could she be? The fae always demanded a high price.

The girl hesitated. “That was only part of the trade, but he never told me the rest. He was terribly pleased with himself about it.”

Of course he had been; the fae delighted in taking advantage of mortals. Why had Lady Anne been desperate enough to take such a risk?

Darcy’s brow furrowed. “Do you know when this bargain took place?”

Georgiana wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Nine months before my birth, if you can call it that.”

Elizabeth calculated back. Darcy would have been, what, ten or eleven then? During that brief time when his mother had been training him to be her heir. A thought struck her. “Would they have chosen her as the King’s Mage if she did not have a daughter?”

Darcy frowned. “It is not a requirement, but it would have been a strike against her. Especially since her sister had a daughter.”

His cousin – and his first wife. Elizabeth hated thinking about her, even though she knew Darcy had never cared for her nor even spent time with her, because of their magical repulsion.

Had Lady Anne truly been so ambitious that she would bargain with the fae in order to become the King’s Mage ?

Darcy made a hissing sound between his teeth, and all the color leached from his face.

“What is it?” Elizabeth asked. Not that he lacked reasons to be upset, but this reaction seemed something stronger.

“Nothing,” he said tightly.

Georgiana buried her face in her hands. “I am so sorry! I should never have said anything.”

Elizabeth slid across the bench to put her arm around the girl. “I am very glad you told us. The truth can sometimes be upsetting to hear, but it is still better to have it out in the open.” And she glared at Darcy, who was still sitting in stunned silence.

He tipped his head back and pressed his lips together for a long minute, and then said, “Pray do not blame yourself. This news has distressed me, but I am nothing but proud of how you have comported yourself.”

“For someone who is not even a real person?” she asked in a small voice. “I let you think I was a natural-born fae.”

“You are precisely the same person you have always been,” said Elizabeth. “Just as it does not change my opinion of Cerridwen, either, to know that the first dragons were constructs.” Not that she truly understood what that meant. She needed to learn more about the ways of the fae.

“It is irrelevant,” Darcy said. “You are my sister, and that is all.”

Slowly Georgiana straightened. “But if it is not me, then what is troubling you?”

Darcy sighed. “It may be merely a coincidence, but something else happened around that same time, and it raises an unhappy suspicion in my mind about the second bargain she made.”

“What?” Georgiana’s eyes were round.

“That was when Lady Catherine de Bourgh became ill.”

Georgiana gasped.

Elizabeth asked, “Your aunt?” Why would that be relevant? People became ill every day.

“The very one. It was not a normal illness. She was out of her wits for months. And her Talent never recovered. ”

Georgiana’s hand stilled over her lips. “She always said our mother had poisoned her.”

Elizabeth looked from one to the other. “This simply does not make sense. Even if your mother wanted her sister out of her way, there are far simpler ways to do it than making a deal with the King of Faerie. Heavens, people do it all the time simply by spreading malicious gossip or setting up a compromising situation! Not to mention a mortal poison or arranging a carriage accident.”

“You do not know Lady Catherine,” said Darcy heavily. “You are fortunate in that. She was both immensely powerful and completely unscrupulous.”

More secrets, just when she had thought they were done with that. Elizabeth opened her mouth to make a retort, then closed it again. This day had been difficult enough, and Georgiana was already deeply upset. If Lady Catherine was no longer a risk, questions about her could wait until later.

“Will we be able to finish the wards today?” Elizabeth asked the peregrine falcon on Roderick’s shoulder.

Rowan glided to the ground and transformed, his currant-red scales gleaming against the dark green hedges, earning a gasp from the elderly gatekeeper who was hobbling out of the gatehouse. “Yes. Once the others are here, I will be able to close the circle.”

“Good.” Elizabeth had not been too concerned about the possibility of the High King coming to Pemberley until she had gone to Georgiana to ask about her fears. The girl had seemed less frightened once she was in her bedroom, and Elizabeth could recognize why: she had filled the space with iron. Candelabras and candlesticks everywhere, not a single one silver or brass, and none of them lit. Three different iron boot scrapers far from any exterior door where a boot might need to be scraped. A collection of bird ornaments painted in bright colors, but the shape of the cast iron came through.

It was a room designed to be poisonous to fae, who could not bear the proximity of iron. How sad that poor Georgiana had to live her life in such anxiety!

When Elizabeth asked her what the High King had done, Georgiana said, “The first time he came to me was to tell me who I was and that he expected me to serve him. After that, he started asking for things. Information about Lady Anne, mostly, but I could not tell him much, since she refused to see me. That made him angry, and he told me to question Fitzwilliam and Jack about her. The last time he wanted a lock of hair from both of my brothers.” She sounded despairing. “He would not tell me why, but it would not be something good. He said he would punish me if I did not do it.”

Elizabeth had caught her breath, her stomach churning. That hair could give him control of Darcy’s body or mind. “And did you?”

Georgiana shook her head. “I cheated him. I had a mourning brooch from when my father died – my supposed father, that is – and I took the hair from that and told him it was Fitzwilliam’s, since the color was right. I thought that would be safest, as he was already dead, and the High King could do nothing to him. That could not work for Jack, but he had just left for Spain, so I said I would write to him and ask him to send me a lock.” She shivered. “Then I insisted on staying in London after that. He could not approach me there.”

The High King’s interest in Darcy’s family – her own family now – was very disturbing. So

Cerridwen asked Elizabeth the next morning if she would be willing to assist with creating the wards right away, she agreed with alacrity.

Rowan had arrived shortly thereafter, and Roderick and Georgiana joined them. Then they had walked nearly ten miles around the borders of Pemberley to begin the process. Georgiana was flagging by the end, and so was Elizabeth. The child within her must be sapping her usual energy, for her legs ached more than she would have expected. But it was worth it. This way the wards would protect the entire estate.

The dragon had stopped them at uneven intervals. At each one Rowan would scrabble in the dirt and tell Elizabeth to call on her land Talent.

Then something would happen. Something powerful. A shining golden symbol, like a letter in an alphabet she could not read, would form over the ground before sinking in and vanishing. Elizabeth could feel each of them link with the last, forming a ring around Pemberley, a new power in the land.

“Are you certain that will keep the fae out?” Georgiana asked.

“The High Fae, yes. Stopping a lesser fae is nigh impossible, but they are no danger to you,” said Rowan.

Roderick laughed. “Unless you mind having your boot laces tied together. We had a hob who loved to make us trip over our own feet.”

Rowan’s chest trembled with amusement. “Pranks, yes, against mortals. But they are blood-bonded not to harm any High Fae, so Georgiana is safe.” The dragon swung his head towards the Welshman. “Friend Roderick, you have made this much easier by being an excellent anchor. Have you done this before?”

Roderick shook his head. “I have not been so honored.”

Elizabeth interrupted, curious. “An anchor?”

“In this mortal world, dragons must stay near an anchor. For an older dragon, it must be a powerful one – the Nest, essentially. Younger ones can use smaller anchors. Permanent ones, like your Dragon Stones, or mobile ones, like companions. You are Cerridwen’s anchor.”

Elizabeth frowned. “But Roderick is not a companion.”

“Friend Roderick took on being a temporary anchor for me by wearing an Artifact and giving it a drop of his blood. We call it the lesser bond. Ah, here are the others.”

Elizabeth squinted, but it was still a moment before she could make out a pair of shapes winging towards them. Was a dragon’s eyesight especially sharp? Then the falcons landed and transformed into Cerridwen and Sycamore, crowding the small space just beyond the gatehouse.

The gatekeeper blanched, clutching his withered hand in his good one, as if that would offer him some protection.

Elizabeth glanced up and down the thankfully empty road. Hopefully no one would come by before they were done, but… “Could we do this part elsewhere where there is less of a chance of being spotted by a passer-by?” Darcy would not be pleased if they had to put a binding on an innocent traveler.

“It is better here,” Rowan said. “The traditional entrance to the estate has an important resonance. It will strengthen the wards to close a circle here.”

The dragons, without any obvious instruction, shuffled to form the points of a triangle, slightly askew from the line of the road.

“Now, the rest of you, one each between us.” Rowan turned to the gatekeeper. “You, sir, should stand at the center. You have resonance as well, as the keeper of the gate.”

Elizabeth stepped between Cerridwen and Rowan. Who could blame the poor old gatekeeper for looking as if he were about to faint? This was an assembly such as she could never have imagined. Three dragons were enough of an impossibility, and here she stood with a fae changeling of royal blood, a disinherited Welsh mage-prince, and an old loyal retainer whose long service to Pemberley had been rewarded with the simple duty of opening and closing the gate. All performing powerful magic together.

“Companion Elizabeth, will you prepare the earth to receive the rune?” asked Rowan.

She let her Talent sink deep into the land once more. The soil under the gravel lane was tightly packed, but the roots of the lime trees lining it formed tendrils of life, while creatures too small to be seen and earthworms burrowed through it. She could sense the weight of the magic moving from the dragons around her, spiraling into the land. Accept this Talent , she told the land, which will protect those who live here.

Her Talent tingled as it raced through her feet. Keeping her attention in the earth, she nodded to Rowan .

The red dragon spread his wings, and the other two followed suit, creating a dome of gleaming scaled leather that surrounded their circle. Elizabeth’s skin prickled as a vortex of power formed in the center, resolving into a glowing golden rune floating in midair. Slowly it sank down and touched the earth.

Elizabeth staggered. It was as if a giant bell had tolled, sending reverberations through the land. The links Rowan had created earlier were all joined now, full of power, a ring around Pemberley.

It was done, and surely such strong magic would keep them safe from the High King. Elizabeth reached out again with her Talent. The land was still the same, full of life, of dormice nesting beneath the grass, a rabbit racing through the shrubs, the deep roots of the lime trees undisturbed. The earth radiated its usual busy contentedness, not troubled by this massive work of dragon magic.

Georgiana’s timid voice spoke up. “Is it true? He cannot come here now?”

“Not unless you or Companion Elizabeth grant him access. Not the Wicked King nor any of his minions.” Rowan’s tone held a reassuring rumble, his aura shining with pride.

“It is well done, youngling,” said Sycamore judiciously. “It is not easy to set a ward on such a large area.”

The red dragon ducked his head. “I never anticipated having to do such a working beyond the Nest, but I am glad of the opportunity.”

“Indeed,” said Sycamore. “It is a fine thing for the young to have a place where they need not be in hiding.”

Elizabeth studied Granny’s dragon, the one who had left the Dark Peak Nest for another where dragons were more accepted among the villagers. What was it like for dragons to be forced to hide their true natures except in the Nest? The Great Concealment had kept them safe, but at what price?

If Pemberley could be a refuge for them, that would be a fine thing. Just like it was now a safe haven for Georgiana – and for Elizabeth herself.

The dragons transformed and took flight. Georgiana chattered happily as they walked backed back to the house, as if the wards had set free a new side of her. Elizabeth shared an astonished glance with Roderick at the girl’s changed behavior. She must have been truly terrified that the High King would come to her.

Inside, Georgiana went off to the music room to practice while Roderick accompanied Elizabeth to the drawing room, an unusual spring in his step.

“What was it like, serving as an anchor?” Elizabeth asked him.

“Energizing,” he said. “Fulfilling. Despite a lifetime among dragons, I have never been so entwined with one before.”

“Were you ever considered as a possible dragon companion?” It was something she had wondered about often, but been afraid to ask.

“To my everlasting regret, no. Dragons prefer female companions. Less warlike, you see. My sister almost became one, but the bonding did not work.”

“It would be a difficult thing for a dragon, I suppose, if their companion went off to war,” she said thoughtfully.

“They will not take the risk of bonding to a potential killer, even if it has been several generations since we have had to fight. Still, I would have loved to be a companion,” he said wistfully.

“I am glad you had the opportunity to experience the lesser bond, then.”

“It is a memory I will treasure. And to see another Nest, to meet with dragons who have not known me since infancy – it is a privilege I never hoped for. Much less expected, when I was sent here to fetch you back to Wales.”

And Rowan thought it a treat to be able to come to Pemberley and be among humans. “Perhaps someday, when all our crises are past, you might come to visit again, both Pemberley and the dragons.” It would be odd to bid farewell to him; he had become such a part of her life in the last few months.

“I would like that.” He gave a rueful smile. “Though perhaps not when Lady Frederica is here. I thought she might burst with fury when she learned I would be included in the ward setting and she would not. ”

Elizabeth eyed him with sympathy. “I cannot believe she blamed you for that, though she does envy our connection with the dragons. Perhaps if you told her about what we did, it might ease matters.”

His lips tightened. Clearly this was a painful subject. “Though I wish her well, it is unlikely I will ever see her again after I depart.”