A SHORT TIME LATER, the somber group huddled in their private corner of Titania’s bower. The failed rescue attempt had exhausted them all. Frederica had told Georgiana what little they knew, and now Georgiana sat next to Colonel Fitzwilliam while Frederica had Eversleigh’s arm around her shoulder. Neither of her brothers even raised an objection. None of them had the heart for conversation, but no one wanted to go to sleep.
Finally Jasper Fitzwilliam spoke. “What next?”
Eversleigh sighed deeply. “Debenham does not know of your involvement in this, so you can go back to London whenever you wish, although eventually he will round up anyone with magic to bolster his own. While I was in London, I told my solicitor to look for a house in an isolated part of Scotland. I will purchase it under a false name and convert some of my funds into gold. We cannot stay in Faerie forever, and we will need a safe bolthole.”
Frederica raised her head from his shoulder. “Surely you are not giving up?”
“I will never give up, but I have accepted there will be no quick victory. This is going to be a long struggle. We need time to find allies and to watch for weak points. To do that, we will need money and a safe place to retreat.”
Elizabeth could not look at him. “What about Darcy?”
“If Anne de Bourgh could not break his wards, none of us has a chance. Debenham will not kill him, not while he has the death curse. Sooner or later he will set up some sort of prison for him. Our chances of rescuing him may be better when he is no longer surrounded by sorcerers.”
“But my parents –” Frederica began.
Richard said heavily, “He is being realistic, Freddie. We need toretreat and lick our wounds until a better time.”
“But in the meantime, the sorcerers will be consolidating their power!”
“We cannot win now,” said Richard. “There is no point in throwing our lives away.”
“What would our father say?” Frederica asked.
Eversleigh made a sound that might have been a distant relative of a laugh. “He would say Scotland is not far enough, but it is as far as I am willing to go. All of you are welcome to join me there if you wish. Libbet, I hope you will consent to come with me as my sister.”
Elizabeth did not think her voice would work, so she merely nodded. It made more sense than any other option when Debenham knew she was betrothed to Darcy.
In a choked voice, Frederica said, “I suppose the Church of Scotland can perform a wedding as easily as the Church of England.”
Eversleigh squeezed her shoulders silently.
Jasper sprang to his feet and began to pace. His brother and sister paid no attention. Elizabeth supposed it was a surprise he had sat still this long.
After a few minutes of frantic pacing, Jasper brought his hands together in front of his face. “I have an idea.”
His brother said wearily, “The last thing we need is one of your crazy ideas.”
Frederica turned her face away from Jasper.
With an irritated huff, Jasper squatted down next to Eversleigh. “Sir Lewis is controlling Debenham's body from his own, right? Magic is weaker with distance, so Sir Lewis’s body must be very close. If we can find his body, we can kill him. Debenham would lose his sorcerous powers, and then...then we can decide what to do next. What do you think?”
Eversleigh said slowly, “It is an interesting thought. Even if wecannot kill him, we might learn more about how Sir Lewis operates.”
“An interesting thought?” the colonel retorted. “It’s a bloody brilliant thought. Jasper, for all your mad ideas over the years, this one makes up for quite a lot.”
“It does?” Jasper sounded surprised.
Newly invigorated, Richard said, “We need to make a list of places he could be. Sir Lewis would want to keep his body secret from the others, so it is unlikely to be in the main house or the dower house. But the outbuildings... The stables are likely too busy, but are still a possibility. The threshing barn, the dovecote, the oast houses, the gatekeeper’s lodge. We can rule out the gamekeeper's cottage since we were just there.”
“Not the dovecote,” said Georgiana in a small but steady voice. “I hid there after dark, and it was empty."
“Wait,” said Eversleigh. “How will we check all these places? I cannot keep up this pace of invisibility, even with your replenishment.”
“We can go after dark,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam.
“Too dangerous,” said Eversleigh. “They will be watching for us.”
“This one is mine,” said Jasper with a grin hardly in keeping with the circumstances. “No one there knows me. I can wear the laborer’s clothes I used for the groundskeeper, and I have the local accent down. No one will suspect me.”
