Darcy smiled sympathetically. “I do not think that would qualify as discreet usage. If other people knew how easily we could travel around the country, they would all be demanding the ability and would overwhelm the rings.”
“I suppose so. I hope Jane will be able to accept my invitation to visit us in London. I hardly had any opportunity to speak to her, and my mother kept bringing the conversation around to Faerie, Aelfric and magic, leaving poor Jane out. So much has happened since I last spoke with her alone that I feel like we are practically strangers. How did it go with my father?”
“Well enough. He could see I was not feeling friendly towards him. He was not happy that I was also involved with Faerie, and he seems to feel misunderstood by us.”
“By me, you mean.”
“I told him he should explain himself to you, not to me, but I think I did start to see something of his position. What he did cannot be justified, but I can see better how his situation could have led him to make a poor decision. I am sorry. I do not mean to pain you.”
Her throat tightened. “What did he say?” She was not sure she wished to hear the answer.
“He asked me what I thought other men would have done in his position, and...”
“And what?”
“I saw myself in his place. A young man, very much in love with his wife, just as I am, and excited to become a father. If, at the very moment I expected to have my child placed in my arms, I instead learned you had been unfaithful to me, had likely only married me to give your baby a name, and that the true father was a godlike being I could never compare to – I cannot even imagine how devastated I would be. And if you were proud and excited about this infant who just destroyed everything for me...” He shook his head. “Not to mention worrying about the scandal should anyone discover it was not just an odd-looking baby. He might have killed the infant. He could have sent your mother away to live alone in poverty, or even to an asylum. But he loved her enough to keep her with him, and he did what he had been taught to do when a woman meddled with magic. I would not have done that, but my father and my uncle told me all my life that binding spells were wrong.”
Tears rolled down Elizabeth’s cheeks.
Darcy quickly put his arms around her. “I am so sorry, dearest love! I should have said nothing. I beg you to forgive my clumsiness.”
She buried her face in his shoulder, choking back sobs. “No, you were right to tell me.”
“Even so, he should have asked another mage to cast the spell. It is forbidden to use spells within one’s family.”
“Eversleigh said my father had tried to remove the spell later, but failed. If so, why did he not seek out another mage to help him?”
“I can guess at that. He would have been too embarrassed to admit that not only had he cast the spell against the rules, but then he could not even remove it.”
“It was easier just to drift away from the Collegium and do nothing,” said Elizabeth bitterly. “He always chooses the easiest way.”
“If the spell were removed, he would have had to explain to people why she was suddenly changed.”
“Still, I have been unfair to him. I saw only what his actions had done to Aelfric, to my mother, and to me. Mama even said I was unfair to him. It was her actions that brought it all on.”
“And his actions that kept it from ending,” said Darcy. “If his embarrassment had not been greater than his desire to right his errors, this would have been over years ago.”
“True. Neither of them is without fault. I suppose I should speak with him when we come for Jane’s wedding.” She snuggled closer to Darcy and slid her hand inside his coat to rest on his waistcoat.
“You seemed to do well with your mother.”
“Tolerably so. I think she will be easier to deal with now that she is no longer so silly, but we may never have much in common. Even when it comes to Faerie, she idealizes it in a way I do not.”
“You need see your parents no more than you wish. It seems we shall be busy between Pemberley, London, and Faerie. I am looking forward to showing you Pemberley. I think you will like it.”
“As long as I am with you, I will be happy. I look forward to seeing Charlotte at Pemberley, too. I have so much more family now than I used to – your relatives, Eversleigh, and Aelfric. To think I disliked both of you so much when I first met you!”
He gave her an edgewise look. “You still get annoyed at Aelfric regularly.”
“He often deserves it! But his heart is good.”
The carriage slowed to a stop. Elizabeth peered out the window to see fields of grazing sheep. “Is something wrong with the carriage?”
“I do not know.”
The footman opened the door and flipped down the steps. His expression impressively inscrutable, he said, “Mrs. Darcy’s brother and her raven.”
Pepper swooped past him into the carriage, transformed into a cat, and curled up on Elizabeth’s lap.
