FREDERICA CAME TO ELIZABETH’Sroom several hours later. “Good, you are awake, too. Poor Darcy has been up in the boughs snapping at everyone and looking ready to explode. He has been frantic over you and attempting to deal with all the sorcery while not being able to ask for help from anyone in the Collegium. The worst is when he has to ask your cat to tell him whether someone is a sorcerer. Poor Darcy, reduced to taking orders from a cat!”
“I imagine he would not like that,” said Elizabeth as she pulled a comb through her hair. “I understand his worry, though. First Sir Lewis, then George Wickham, and now Biggins were all members of the Collegium. If the Collegium has hidden three sorcerers, how many more may be among its ranks?”
“Eversleigh is already planning an emergency meeting of the Collegium, though I cannot imagine how he will explain to them that Aelfric must look in each one’s eyes and Pepper has to sniff them. My father seems unable to sit still long enough to worry about it.”
“Is your father well? I was certain he was dying in front of me before Titania came. It was so much worse than the attack he had before, and my magic was already depleted.”
“My father?” Frederica rolled her eyes. “He is driving my mother mad. Titania apparently made his heart into something halfway between a Sidhe and a human heart. Somehow this also ended up giving him boundless energy and a mischievous sense of humor. It is a little frightening.”
“I wonder if she did anything to my heart. It was a very strange sensation. But she would probably not change anything without asking me first.” Elizabeth flexed her sore arm. “I would not have minded if she had fixed this, though. How is Anne de Bourgh?”
Frederica’s expression grew sober. “She has been helping my mother to receive the constant stream of callers from London, but it has been difficult for her to have a sorcerer in the house. It brings up toomany memories, she says.”
“Why are they calling? Simply to meet Anne?”
Frederica’s face brightened. “Our revel was a grand success. Everyone claims they were delighted with the fay from the moment they saw them, and Prinny himself praised our illusion-building and said he would like to see more of it. No one will dare call you a witch when the Prince Regent has approved your use of magic! But the reason they are coming here is that every hostess in London wants to invite the Sidhe to their own soirées. Since they do not know where to leave calling cards for them, they come here. The poortonhas no idea how to deal with beings who do not follow their rules. A few ladies have even asked how they can arrange for their daughters to learn to make illusions. Anne will be pleased about that.”
“Dare I ask what has been said about the blood right ceremony?” She suspected Darcy would have discovered its true meaning by now. He would have every reason to be angry with her.
“Not a word. Darcy has been silent as the grave on the subject. To be fair, he has had a great many distractions. I still cannot believe you did it.”
“I am shocked by it myself. Naturally, I will not hold Mr. Darcy to any commitment.”
“But you did it to save him!”
“He never asked me to save him, especially not in that way. Bluebird said the binding was why I could not keep up my part of the illusion with you and Anne. If Aelfric had not stepped in to help, I would have embarrassed us all.”
“It was very strange to feel his magic as part of it, though Anne seemed to like it. I find it disturbing, though, that a Sidhe can join a spell without having to touch the person casting it. What if we do not want their help?”
“You need not worry on that account. Aelfric could only do itbecause of his blood right to me.”
“This blood right business is very confusing. I am glad no one can claim it to me.”
“I do not blame you. And now I have three men with blood right to me – Aelfric, Eversleigh, and now Darcy.Tiarinn,shurinn, andeliarinn, though that last one was rather rash on my part, to say the least.”
“Do you regret doing it?”
“No.” Even if Darcy was angry, she was glad she had been able to offer him protection. Part of them would always be joined, even if she never saw him again. But his kiss had given her hope.
There was a knock on the door. “Enter,” said Elizabeth.
Darcy stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on her with indecipherable look. He walked slowly towards her.
Good heavens! He was in her bedroom. This was beyond improper, even with Frederica there.
Without taking his eyes from Elizabeth, he said, “Freddie, you may go now. I want to be alone with myeliarinn.”
He knew. Sometime between the revel and this moment, he had learned the meaning of claiming blood right.
“Certainly,” Frederica said brightly. She closed the door behind her.
Elizabeth’s heart began to pound as Darcy continue to advance towards her. “I know you did not understand what blood right entailed. I will not hold you to a commitment you entered into unknowingly.”
“It hardly matters whether you do, because I certainly intend to hold you to it, and the bond cannot be broken,” he said conversationally. “Have you tried to use magic since that night?” He stopped less than a foot from her.
She took half a step backwards. “Only for the illusion at the revel.”
He held up his hand and rubbed his thumb against his fingertips.Blue flame emerged from his thumb, just as it did when she made flame. “You see what has happened to me? I imagine the same has happened to you. There is water in that basin. Tell it to spill over the edge.”
