The corners of her mouth turned up. “That will not be necessary. I believe you.”
Now he did want to kiss her.
“Pepper!” Elizabeth stretched out her arms to the cat. “I am so glad to see you!” She tried to hug Pepper, but the cat was more interested in chasing some invisible object. Looking up at Darcy, Elizabeth added, “I was afraid Lord Matlock might have caught her.”
“Or that I might have told him about her?” He could not keep all the bitterness from his voice.
She flushed and looked away. “I did not know what to think, after learning you had told Lord Matlock about me.”
“Richard was the one who told him. I warned him you would be upset.”
“I wish you had told me.” Elizabeth looked around her. “So I did make it to Faerie. I thought I might not have. How did you come here?”
“Pepper helped me.” Somehow it no longer sounded like a silly idea.
“Then I do not need to fear Lord Matlock will appear next?”
“Not unless Pepper helps him, and that seems unlikely after she did her utmost to scratch his face off.”
She gave a delighted laugh. “What a clever cat she is! Although I suppose I should not say that to you. He is your uncle, after all.” Her smile faded away.
“He deserved it. But he would not put a binding spell on you. I do not defend his decision to put one on Anne, but her situation was very different from yours. She had killed a man with her untrained magic.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “I think you believe he would not bind me, but I have my doubts. He was very free with his attempts to bespell me. I felt it as soon as he touched my hand.”
“I do not know what he was doing, but it was badly done on his part. Still, if nothing else, he has selfish reasons not to bind you. He wants to study you, and he cannot do that if you are bound.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I suppose I cannot disbelieve selfish motives.”
“In any case, he left Rosings yesterday morning.” If it had been yesterday morning. He had no idea how long he had walked through the glamour.
Her brow screwed together in puzzlement. “Yesterday morning?”
“You have been gone two nights and a day. Mrs. Collins has beenfrantic.”
“Poor Charlotte! I could not tell day from night in the glamour. I suppose I must return quickly, then. It did not seem quite that long although it was very long indeed, enough to leave me exhausted and famished.”
After all that time with no food, she must be ravenous, far hungrier than he was. Thank God he had not eaten what little he had! Darcy rummaged in his pockets and produced a waxed fabric pouch with two ginger biscuits, a piece of cheese, and a twisted paper filled with dried fruit. “It is but poor fare, but if you would like it, it is yours.”
She snatched it from his hands and began to eat. Between bites of ginger biscuit, she managed to say, “Pray forgive my manners. I was afraid I would die of starvation in that awful mist.”
“And so you would have, like those who came before you. We do not like uninvited guests here.” The speaker was a squat fellow who came only to Darcy’s shoulder. His wide mouth, tilted eyes, and leathery skin marked him as fay. His clothes were of a nondescript color in a style that might have been worn in the Middle Ages.
Elizabeth swallowed a bite of cheese and drew a stone out of her reticule. She held it out to him on her open palm. “But I was invited.”
The small man examined the rounded grey stone. “So you were,” he said grudgingly. He grabbed Darcy’s chin and turned his face to the side. “And you. I see the mark of the phouka here, so I suppose you will be allowed to live, at least for now.”
Darcy forced himself not to react. He was an invader in a strange country here, not the Master of Pemberley, and only allowed to live because Elizabeth’s cat had scratched him.
“We do not wish to trespass,” said Elizabeth apologetically. “We will leave immediately.”
“I think not,” said the gnome. “You must go before the laird and be judged by him first.”
“Very well,” Darcy said, trying to establish a balance between confidence and submission. “Can you direct us to the laird?”
“There are many roads a man may walk, but none of them are for you.”
Elizabeth looked as bewildered as he felt. “Should we wait here for your laird?”
