A long hesitation this time. “Yes.”
The prince’s eyes narrowed. “Did you cast a spell on her to prevent her from going to Faerie?”
Elizabeth held her breath as she waited for his answer. When he finally spoke, Mr. Bennet sounded defeated. “Yes.”
Prince Aelfric’s eyes flashed. “That is all.” He spun on his heel.
“Wait! I have a question for you as well,” called Mr. Bennet.
“I owe you no answers.”
“Then you need not answer. But here is the question. Beautiful young mortal women seek out Faerie, where they are admired and treated as pets. What happens to them a few years later, when the bloom begins to fade from their cheeks, lines appear on their forehead, and their flesh begins to sag? Have you ever seen a mortal woman like that in Faerie? Or are they cast away like old rubbish?”
“Since there are no longer mortal women in Faerie, I cannot say.”He cloaked himself once more in illusion and left the room, leaving Elizabeth alone with her father.
Mr. Bennet removed his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I suppose you know who that creature is.”
Elizabeth could hardly speak for the nausea roiling her stomach. “I found out when I met him last night.”
“I am sorry you had to discover it. I had hoped none of you would ever know about your mother’s infidelity.”
He thought she would blame her mother? Now she wanted to cry. “Do you know what my greatest fear has always been?”
He sighed. “No, but I assume you are about to tell me.”
“I am terrified of being put under a binding spell and having my mind no longer be my own. You placed my mother under just such a spell. Now I must leave before anyone discovers my presence here.” She could not bear being in the same room with him any longer.
His bitter smile told her he knew she wanted to leave. “Very well. If you see your so-called prince, tell him he is fortunate I left him in a faerie ring. Any other man would simply have strangled him in his cradle.”
Elizabeth shrugged. She would tell him if she saw him. He was most likely back in Faerie by now, and she would have to skulk back to the ring to avoid being seen.
At the end of the garden, Elizabeth paused to look back at Longbourn. Familiar, beloved Longbourn where she and Jane had pretended to be princesses and pirates, the forbidden chestnut tree she had climbed, her bedroom window, the panes glinting in the sunlight, behind which she had shared so many confidences with Jane. Would she ever see it again? If she did, it would only be for a brief visit. It could never again be her home.
She gritted her teeth, trying to hold back tears. Her father’s role could no longer be denied. In some deep part of her, Elizabeth had nurseda hope that somehow he might have had an explanation for his behavior. Now she no longer had even that tiny consolation.
She trudged back to the faerie ring, not bothering to try to avoid the brambles on each side of the trail. At first she thought Aelfric must have left because she did not see his tall form in the glade, but as she pushed past the last bushes, she saw him crouching by an old oak, his long fingers scratching under the ears of a tabby cat with white paws.
“Gus!” she exclaimed, hurrying to the cat’s side. “I am so glad to see you.” Her voice caught.
“He came looking for you,” said Aelfric. “He followed your scent.”
She scooped Gus up in her arms and hugged him, a tear or two leaking into his thick fur. “He is a cat, not a phouka.”
“That is obvious.” He sounded insulted.
“Oh, Gus, I wish I could take you with me. Pepper misses you, too. But you would hate the long carriage ride so much,” she whispered to the cat.
“You could take him through Faerie.” Aelfric’s hearing was apparently acute.
She blinked hard to keep the tears back. “I thought only mortals with magic could travel to Faerie.”
“He is a cat,” said Aelfric, as if that explained everything.
Had they not already been through this discussion? “Yes, I know.”
“All cats have magic. Phoukas can only take the shape of animals with magic – horses, cats, dogs, ravens, and foxes.”
“Then I want to take him.” No one would miss him at Longbourn. “It was kind of you to wait for me. I did not expect it.”
