“Until you get distracted,” grumbled Richard.
Jasper’s eyes flashed. “You can say anything you like about me, but the one thing I can do well is to copy an accent and play a role. I did it with the gamekeeper, and how many times have I fooled guests at Matlock House into thinking I was a stable boy?”
“It’s true,” said Frederica. “Jasper is a natural mimic.”
“How will you get inside the buildings?” Richard was still far from convinced.
“I do not need to. I only have to discover which of those buildingsis being guarded. That will be the one.”
“Promise me you will not try to do anything more by yourself,” Frederica pleaded.
“I promise,” Jasper snapped. “Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean I can’t do anything at all.”
Confused, Elizabeth asked, “Why do you say you cannot use magic? You were doing it beautifully earlier.”
Jasper grimaced. “I have magic, but it is for spell-making, like my father. If I could remember the words for a spell for ten minutes it might even be useful, but my memory is like a sieve.”
“How do you suppose you were making all those magic fireballs, then?”
He shook his head. “You were making the fireballs. I just threw them for you because I could get them further.”
“What do you mean? That was how it started, but I was not making them fast enough for you, so you started making them yourself.” What was wrong with him? Did he have problems with his memory, too?
“I don’t even know how to make fireballs! I tell you, my magic is useless!”
So that was it. Elizabeth even managed a ghost of a smile. “You wanted more fireballs, so they appeared. That was wild magic, the same kind I have, and yours is very strong.”
Jasper looked taken aback. “Wild magic? What is that?”
Eversleigh said, “It is instinctive use of magic, without recourse to spells.”
“You mean I can do magic without spells?” Jasper’s voice rose on the last words. “Why did no one ever tell me?”
“I doubt anyone realized,” said Elizabeth soothingly. “Your father knew almost nothing about wild magic before he met me. He would give anything to be able to use it himself, but he has spent too many years casting spells.” She almost added that Anne had wild magic, too, beforeshe remembered Anne would never be using magic again.
“Will you show me more? Right now?”
Nothing could be done about finding Sir Lewis’s body before morning, and Elizabeth would run mad if she spent those hours brooding about Anne’s death and Darcy’s captivity. Perhaps she could even do a little good while she distracted herself. “Certainly. Let us go outside the bower, though.”
Frederica did not even ask to watch.
DARCY YAWNED, BUT ITwas pointless to even think about sleep. Even with his eyes open, he kept seeing the image of Anne’s face falling into the basin of water and hearing the thump of her limp body falling to the floor. Closing his eyes only made it more vivid.
Had he done the right thing? Should he have helped her? Could he have somehow talked her out of it? Damnation, how many times was he going to keep asking himself these same unanswerable questions! It did no good to think about what he would have wanted if he faced imminent blinding and being placed in a sorcerous binding spell. Imagining her dilemma just made his stomach churn. Instead, he said yet another prayer for her soul, asking God to forgive her for taking her own life. No point in asking for forgiveness for himself; he could not yet make himself repent of his actions. He could still do one thing for her, though, and that was to keep her name clear of the stigma of suicide. Without any other witnesses to her death, he could say it was a misplaced spell.
He had considered her liaison with Aelfric to be foolhardy and reckless, but now he was glad of it. At least she had that brief happiness.
The door opened and Debenham walked in. “Out,” he said to the guard, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder.
The guard scurried away. Debenham closed the door behind him.
It was easier to think of him as Debenham. If he thought too hard about Sir Lewis living in Debenham’s body, his stomach might rebel and bring up the remainder of his dinner. Taking over a man’s life was an unimaginable crime.
Debenham pulled up a chair and sat facing Darcy. “Your friends seemed to have a very accurate idea of where you and Prince Aelfric were.”
“Apparently so.”
Debenham narrowed his eyes. “How did they know?”
