Elizabeth could feel Darcy’s call more clearly now. She picked up her skirts and set off at a run through the grove, clambering past downed branches, around the Italian Garden and the west wing of the house. She skidded to a halt at the sight on the Great Lawn. Frightened servants huddled together on the steps of the house. The bodies of two men lay ignored in front of them. Were they dead? At the far end of the lawn, figures knelt in a ring around a sapling standing in a cloud of mist. Titania and Aelfric sat back on their heels in the fay manner. Eversleigh knelt in the human way beside Darcy. Brownies, dryads, gnomes, and even a few redcaps began to appear, joining those who knelt. Only Lady Matlock stood, her posture rigid.
Darcy, apparently sensing Elizabeth’s presence, looked over his shoulder. He said something to Eversleigh before standing and striding towards Elizabeth.
“What in God’s name is that?” Colonel Fitzwilliam demanded ashe caught up to her.
“Mama looks unhappy,” said Frederica warily.
Elizabeth had eyes only for Darcy. She ran to him, unable to control herself any longer. His arms closed around her, warming the frozen void within her.
Darcy pressed his cheek against the top of her head for all too brief a moment. Without releasing her, he said, “Richard, Freddie, wait. There is something I must tell you.” Tension coiled in his body.
Elizabeth stepped back. Only a little, and she kept her hand on his arm because she could not quite bear to let go.
“Your father and Oberon performed a Great Spell to put an end to sorcery.” Darcy’s voice was rough.
“A Great Spell?” Frederica said haltingly. “But that means...”
“Yes,” said Darcy. “They are both dead. They gave their lives to banish sorcery from our world. We are honoring their sacrifice.”
Frederica gave a gasping cry. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s face froze.
A Great Spell. Elizabeth dropped her hand from Darcy’s arm. His first duty now was to his bereaved cousins.
Slowly they walked down the lawn together, Frederica choking back tears. When they reached the circle, Colonel Fitzwilliam silently knelt beside Lady Matlock. Frederica hesitated before going to her mother’s other side and kneeling in the fay manner. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs. If Lady Matlock noted the arrival of her children, it was not obvious.
Elizabeth looked back over her shoulder at the house and froze, a shiver running down her spine. Could she be seeing correctly? She whispered to Darcy, “Eversleigh told us your cousin Anne was dead.”
He gazed down at her with a sober expression. “It is true.”
“But look!” She pointed at the portico where Anne stood in the doorway.
Darcy’s eyes widened, and he took off at a run. Elizabeth followedhim at a slightly more sedate pace, reaching them just as Anne pushed herself out of Darcy’s embrace. “Good Lord, Darcy, what is wrong with you?”
“I thought you were dead!”
“I thought so, too,” said Anne testily. “But then I woke up a little while ago. I hid until I realized the house was empty, and...what in heaven’s name is going on out here?”
Elizabeth left Darcy to make the explanations as she hurried down the hill to tell Frederica and Richard the news. And there, kneeling beside Richard, was Jasper, looking completely disreputable in his laborer’s clothes and reeking of ale, but alive.
“HE MUST HAVE BROUGHTme back somehow and used a spell to keep me unconscious,” Anne told Darcy. “The last thing I remember is getting dizzy as the whirlwind stole my breath.”
The image of Anne’s head falling into the bowl of water wrenched at Darcy’s chest. “Then you must have awakened when Debenham died, and his spell along with him.”
Anne frowned. “Debenham is dead, but what of Sir Lewis? Could he have survived the death of Debenham’s body?”
“Good God! I had not thought of that. Where would his body be?”
“How would I know?”
“Pardon me.” How could he have missed that possibility? Darcy strode down to the spell circle and grasped Richard’s shoulder. “I am sorry to disturb you. Did Eversleigh tell you Sir Lewis was in Debenham’s body? We need to find Sir Lewis’s body and make certain he is dead. Can you help me?”
Richard’s eyes widened, and he scrambled to his feet. “We hadbeen trying to do that already. Jasper, did you find him?”
“In the old oast house, with half a dozen guards. They wanted me to bring them ale, so I did. They would not talk about what they were guarding, but it has to be him.”
Lady Matlock turned her head to them, her expression frozen. “Did you say Sir Lewis?”
“Freddie can explain,” Richard said distractedly. “We must go.”
