ANNE STORMED INTO THEdrawing room, heedless of interrupting the men’s discussion. Without any preliminaries, she said, “Darcy, you are my guardian. I told Lady Catherine to move to the Dower House. Now she claims I am not her daughter, but a by-blow of Sir Lewis’s. Can she use that to stop me from inheriting?”
Darcy stared at her in shock, so stunned by her words that he barely noticed Elizabeth and Frederica standing behind her. “I believe not. Sir Lewis acknowledged you as his daughter by Lady Catherine, and that is all that matters legally. In any case, I have no reason to think what she said is true. She may simply have been lashing out.”
“She is making it up,” said Lord Matlock with annoyance. “I recall when she was carrying you.”
Anne flung herself down in a chair. “Or pretending to. I do not care if it is true or not as long as I keep Rosings.”
Viscount Eversleigh cleared his throat. “If you wish, I might be able to tell you whether she is your mother.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could check your magic. If you have Fitzwilliam magic like your uncle, then logically she must be your mother. If you do not...” He shrugged. “We know no more than we do now. The type of magic is not always inherited. Colonel Fitzwilliam does not have Fitzwilliam magic, but his heritage is written in his face.”
Anne considered. “Would you need to take my magic as my father did?”
“No. This would be more akin to dipping my hand into a stream of water to test its temperature. I take nothing and leave nothing behind.”
She gave a single sharp nod. “Then I would like to know.”
Eversleigh reached out to touch her wrist for no more than a few seconds. “You have nothing of Fitzwilliam power. Your magic iselemental and wild. I do not know what kind of magic Sir Lewis had.”
“I would be perfectly happy if neither of them were my parents.” Anne stroked her wrist where Eversleigh had touched her.
“I think it very possible that is the case,” said Eversleigh calmly, as if questioning her legitimacy were normal drawing room conversation.
Lord Matlock stiffened. “Do not be ridiculous.”
Anne ignored him, fixing her gaze on Eversleigh. “Why do you say that?”
“I have thought so since I saw you use your magic. No mortals have magic that strong, even if they have a fay parent. Your wild magic is more like Sidhe power than mortal magic.”
“But I am not a Sidhe.”
“No, but on those rare occasions when a Sidhe man begets a child on a Sidhe woman, the child is always mortal. I believe you may be one of those children. If Sir Lewis wanted a helpless child with strong magic, he could do no better.”
Anne eyed him dubiously. “You think this simply because my magic is strong?”
Eversleigh’s teeth flashed as he smiled. “Not just that. Your temperament has a good deal in common with the Sidhe.”
Darcy stared at him. He was right. This new Anne had the same mercurial shifts in mood as the Sidhe, and her attention darted from one thing to another as theirs did. He had thought it came from spending so many years under a binding spell, but it was also much like Sidhe directness.
“Was there such a child seven-and-twenty years ago?” Anne’s voice was low.
“I do not know, and I cannot ask. It is one of the very few topics the Sidhe will not discuss.”
Anne tapped her foot as she considered this. “I would like to meet a Sidhe for longer than the brief moment I saw your brother when heremoved my spell.”
“No doubt Aelfric would be happy to speak to you again, or if you prefer, I can take you to Faerie.”
Anne shook her head decisively. “If what you say is true, Faerie sent me away once. I do not need it now. But I would be happy to meet with your brother.”
Lady Frederica asked, “Cousin Anne, forgive me, but what was that piece of paper you unmade, the one Lady Catherine was holding?”
“That? It was her favorite obedience spell. I was expecting her to try to cast it on me now that the binding spell is gone. That was why I asked you to come with me, since I thought she would not dare to use it in front of you. It seems I was wrong. Why are all of you staring at me?”
After a silence, Eversleigh spoke. “Do you claim, then, that Lady Catherine has employed an obedience spell?”
“Yes, did I not just say as much?”
