“VISCOUNT EVERSLEIGHto see you, sir.” Darcy’s butler held out a silver salver.
“Eversleigh? Send him in.” It was a timely distraction from counting the hours until he could see Elizabeth when he dined at Matlock House tonight. It could not come soon enough.
Eversleigh strode in, his eyes shadowed. “Darcy, thank you for seeing me.”
“It is my pleasure. Some port?”
“That would be most welcome.”
Darcy poured two glasses and brought one to Eversleigh. “Have you heard anything further regarding the plans for Lady Catherine?” That seemed the most likely reason for his visit.
“Not yet. There is to be a meeting of senior mages about it tomorrow, which will be a pleasant change from working on Lady Matlock’s charge to me of finding a few handsome young mages and poets to take part in her Midsummer Night’s Revel.”
“Have you had any success?”
“I have, which is somewhat surprising since I could not tell them anything about the role they are to play. Even FitzClarence has agreed. Titania will be pleased to have a swain with royal blood.” Eversleigh loosened his cravat.
Something about that niggled in the back of Darcy’s mind. Eversleigh always kept his appearance immaculate. He did not do things like loosening his cravat.
“Is something wrong?” asked Darcy abruptly.
Eversleigh set down his glass. “Unfortunately, yes. The three gentlemen on your Board of Inquiry called on me earlier to inform me that they were reopening your case, and to delicately warn me that if I tried to interfere, they would put up their own candidate for Master.”
Not again! Bile rose in Darcy’s throat. “But they declared me innocent of the charges.”
“With some pressure from Lord Matlock. Now they see their opportunity.”
“What did you say to them?”
Eversleigh’s lip curled. “I told them you did not do it, but I could not stop them from wasting their time if they chose. And that if they had a better candidate for Master, they should put him forward in any case. It was an empty threat; none of them hold much sway in the Collegium. Troublemakers, every one of them.”
Darcy had not eaten since breakfast, but his stomach felt full of lead. “What would you advise me to do?”
“Nothing at present. They plan to ask you to come to a hearing again, and I suggest you decline the invitation. They will twist everything you say. Put anything you want them to know in a letter and give me a copy for the archives. I do not know why they have such malice towards you, Darcy. You may not be gregarious, but you have done nothing to earn this sort of hatred.”
If only the port could wash away the bitter taste in his mouth. “Do you recall the case of George Wickham? He was expelled for using his magic to cheat at cards.”
“Vaguely. It was an easy decision, as I recall.”
“He did not even try to defend himself. He knew he had been caught. I was the one who brought the charges against him. He was very popular among a certain circle of malcontents in the Collegium. Oddly enough, three of them offered to be on the Board of Inquiry for me.”
“Revenge, then? Does Wickham have elemental magic? Could he be behind some of this?”
“He has no skill with water. I have thought about that often. The only skill he ever bothered to practice was illusion, but I have checked and there were no illusions involved in the droughts I am charged with causing.” He had wanted so badly to prove Wickham was behind his problems, but there was not a scrap of evidence.
“I cannot blame you for being bitter. I wish there were more I could do. I thought perhaps of adding other members to the panel, but the Collegium charter does not permit it. If they do find against you, your best chance will be to put the matter to a vote of the entire Collegium.”
“Where I have very few friends.”
“Lord Matlock, though, has many friends among the members, and his powers of persuasion will help you.”
“If it were just a matter of expulsion from the Collegium, as it was for Wickham, I would not care. But since my powers are elemental, I would face binding as well,” said Darcy bitterly.
“I know. I have not forgotten that for a moment. I hope it will not come to that, but do remember that you have the freedom of Faerie, and the Collegium cannot pursue you there.”
“You could.”
“Grant me some credit, Darcy. I would take expulsion from the Collegium myself before I would put a binding spell on an innocent man. Or guilty one, for that matter. Placing binding spells should be a crimelike any other sorcery.”
