“I assumed it was a cavern. There are so many of them in these hills,” Darcy replied.
And then a draconic voice spoke in Darcy’s head.Greetings, Little One.
For a moment Darcy was confused. It sounded like Coquelicot, the French dragon who had healed him and helped him through the Gate in France by creating a temporary bond with him. But surely she could not be sending to him from the Vosges Nest in eastern France!
I am here, just beyond your wards. Will you allow me in?
Elizabeth frowned. “Is something the matter? You look pale.”
He held up a hand to stop her, unable to focus on two conversations at once.Of course. Where are you?he sent to the dragon. A sending that wasunusually easy for him. Normally anything that far out of sight was nearly impossible for him.
An image formed in his mind. The road outside the Pemberley gatehouse, as viewed from above.
How could she be so far from her Nest? Was she, like Rana Akshaya, an exception to the rule?
I will come straight away,Darcy sent.
He stood. “I must go. A dragon from the Vosges Nest, the one who formed the lesser bond to me, is just outside the gatehouse. She wants to talk to me.”
Elizabeth scrutinized him. “A dragon from France, here? Is this a trick of some sort?”
“I recognized her presence in my mind. It is her.”
Elizabeth grabbed his wrist. “Stop. It may be her, but she could be under the influence of Napoleon. Or someone could be imitating her. Or any number of things. You cannot simply walk out there to a dragon whose presence we cannot explain!”
He looked down at her hand. She was right. He had implicitly trusted the voice, but Napoleon had managed to overcome all his suspicions, too, clouding his mind with his magic. Still, Coquelicot had helped him, more than he could explain to Elizabeth, since he was bound against revealing how she had healed his wounds. He owed the French dragon so much – and she might have word from Jack. “Will you come with me, then? Or should we ask Cerridwen to join us?” Even that much went against the grain.
“Both of us,” she said. “And Quickthorn, too.”
It took longer to reach Coquelicot than Darcy would have liked. He had insisted on having the phaeton brought round to carry Elizabeth. She had stoutly insisted she could walk the mile to the gate, but she had seemedrelieved not to have to do so. Childbirth did extract a price on the body, after all.
When they finally arrived, his eyes were caught by a hawk gliding down from a tree across the lane. It landed just beyond the gatehouse. And then it transformed into the French dragon.
It was her, without question. Darcy would have recognized her by her proud head and her bronze scales with their vivid ruby highlights, but the aura she gave off was unmistakable. So was the distinct pleasure he felt on seeing her. Was that a residual of their temporary bond? Still, she had given him reason to trust her even before the bonding.
She looked bedraggled, though, her luminescent scales dimmed with dust and dirt, her wings drooping. “We meet again, Little One,” she said. The same pet name she had used for Jack, and her accent in English had an echo of his brother, too. Had she learned it from him? It made Darcy ache for Jack’s presence.
He glanced at Elizabeth. “An unexpected meeting, but a welcome one,” he said. Elizabeth was right to be suspicious, but he knew this dragon. “I did not expect to see you here, so far from your Nest.”
She lowered her great head. “I fear I deceived you, Little One. After we formed the lesser bond so you could pass through the Gate, I told you it was important to continue drinking the elixir for a fortnight afterwards. I knew you would assume it was necessary to you, but it was solely for my sake. It kept the lesser bond alive, so that I could leave the Nest and travel here to you.”
So Coquelicot had misled him. The lesser bond was still in place, since he had taken the tincture each day. Roderick had said it was unusual that Coquelicot had told him to use it, but Darcy had paid no attention. The Welshman had been right, as he usually was when it came to dragons.
Her deception did not trouble him, even though normally he hated being lied to, even by omission. Was that because of the bond, which made him certain she had not done so maliciously?
Why had she wanted to come here? Dragons did not like direct questions, though, so he said carefully, “You must have had a strong reason to make such a long journey.”
“My Nest cannot stand for long against the might of the dragon emperor,” she said sadly. “This was my only chance to flee, since I am too old to form a companion bond. When you needed my help, I saw my chance and took it.”
He could not blame her for that, though he wished she had told him at the time. He would have happily volunteered to help her.
Elizabeth nudged his elbow. “William, pray introduce me,” she said in a low voice.
“Forgive me,” he whispered back. Then he said aloud, “Honored Coquelicot, may I present my wife, Companion Elizabeth of the Dark Peak Nest? She is the one who passed through your Nest a few days before my arrival. Elizabeth, Coquelicot is the…” He stumbled over his words. Apparently the binding against speaking of his healing still stood. “She formed the lesser bond with me.”
Coquelicot dipped her head. “Greetings, Companion Elizabeth. I would consider it a kindness if you informed your Nest of my arrival.”
“My dragon is overhead, watching from a distance, and the Nest’s truth-caster is on her way,” Elizabeth said. “I would wish to welcome you in, but in these days of traitor dragons, we must take every precaution.”
