“Relieved?” Darcy echoed, shocked. “She told Elizabeth she was stepping down! Good God, what is going on?” He might distrust Lady Anne as a mother, but he could not believe she would betray her position. It was the most important thing to her in the world, far beyond her children. “I wonder if Lady Amelia has something to do with this.”
“Granny? I would not put it past her to interfere, but why?” Elizabeth said. “Frederica, what will you do?”
Frederica tossed her head. “I will refuse, of course.”
“Can you do that?” Darcy asked.
“I am sure Lord Liverpool would say I must obey, and no doubt he will even get a royal command for it, but it is simply impossible. What of my bond to the Nest? I cannot live in London with Quickthorn. Even if I could, I would not want to. My loyalties lie elsewhere now.”
That was easier said than done, when it came to the government. “Is there anyone else who can do the job?”
Frederica shrugged. “Not really. Elizabeth’s sister Mary has only been using her magery for a year, and after that it is just my completely untrained brothers.”
“But the King’s Mage is the last defense for the royal family and the government,” Darcy said slowly.
Frederica cocked her head. “True, though that is a problem of their own making. There never was a need for a King’s Mage before Parliament decided to give the throne to a branch of the family that had no Talent of their own. I fail to see why I should have to break my vows to the Nest and give up being a dragon companion because the government did not thinkahead.” She wrinkled her nose. “I suppose they could offer it to Mortimer Percy, but ugh! Or why not Granny? She has ten times the Talent I do.”
Elizabeth gave a weak chuckle. “I pity the man who tries to convince her to take it on!”
“If she can refuse it, then so can I,” Frederica said stoutly.
She was right. What the government did was no longer Darcy’s problem, either. The War Office had made that clear when they had disowned any responsibility for his mission, leaving him to take the blame for acting on his own. Even if they had only done so to slow Napoleon’s invasion, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Elizabeth looked back at her own letter. “I suppose I should ask Mrs. Reynolds to prepare the Dower House. Even when we opened it for Frederica, we left some of the rooms closed. I imagine Lady Anne will want a full staff, too.”
“Indubitably,” said Darcy. His mother expected the best of everything. “We do not want to give her any excuses why she might have to stay in this house instead.”
Chapter 15
Fredericapickedupherhead at the sound of the bell from the gatehouse, the one Darcy had ordered installed to prevent the long delays when word had to be sent about a new visitor. Three peals, which meant it was urgent. And she was the only one here – Elizabeth was at the far end of the estate, training with Cerridwen, and Darcy off somewhere with his steward. It was up to her. With a sigh, she headed for the door.
The butler was already holding her bonnet and gloves. “They are saddling a horse for your ladyship.”
She glanced down at her dress, which was a far cry from a riding habit. “I can walk quickly enough.”
“Mr. Darcy’s orders, your ladyship, for three peals.”
Well, that settled it, then. Hobbes would never break a rule set by Darcy. She tied her bonnet under her chin and stepped out onto the portico to wait for her mount.
It was a pleasant ride, if brief. Spring was not far off; the first snowdrops were starting to peek through the ground. Frederica shaded her eyes against the afternoon sun as she approached the gate, trying to catch a glimpse of the visitor.
Surely she must be mistaken. The carriage beyond the wards was one she knew well, that she had ridden in many times during her London days. But why on earth had anyone needed advice on whether to admit Lady Anne Darcy?
She dismounted outside the gatehouse where the gatekeeper rubbed his gnarled hands together nervously. “What is the matter, Thompson?” she asked. “Lady Anne has every right to enter Pemberley.”
“I know,” he said unhappily. “But she can’t. The wards won’t let her in. When she tries to cross them, she gets knocked backwards.”
“I beg your pardon?” she exclaimed.
He lifted his hands helplessly. “All the others - the coachman, the footman, and the lady’s maid – can go past them, but not her ladyship. What should I do?”
This was shocking news – and disturbing. She frowned. Could this be another fae trick, with a High Fae disguising himself as Lady Anne Darcy? If only she knew more about how the wards worked!
Approaching the boundary of the wards, she studied the carriage. Yes, that was John Coachman, nodding to her in recognition, and the woman who stepped out of the carriage certainly looked like Lady Anne.
“Lady Frederica, thank you for coming,” the King’s Mage said briskly. “Perhaps you can help with this foolish problem.”
Oh, yes, that sounded like Lady Anne, and she had recognized Frederica. Could a High Fae do those things? Well, there was no help for it. “I am sorry for the difficulty. The wards stop the High Fae, so I must beg your patience while I try to determine if it is really you.”
