Lady Anne tapped her foot. “If you must. Be quick about it, I pray you. It has been a long journey.”
What would only Lady Anne know? “Once, you made me practice my weakest skill until I almost exhausted my life force. What was that skill, and where was I practicing it?”
“Sending, and you were in the breakfast room at Darcy House,” she said with a hint of impatience. “What is all this nonsense about wards? No one has used wards for centuries!”
Apparently this truly was Lady Anne. What now? Fortunately, Frederica’s ability to send was much better since becoming a companion, and she reached out to Quickthorn.The wards are refusing to admit Darcy’s mother. What should I do?
That is most odd. I will come, her dragon replied.
Thank goodness for that! “Yes, wards are unusual these days, are they not?” she said to Lady Anne in a bright social tone designed to disarm her before breaking the shocking news. “I do not understand them myself. Darcy had some help creating them from the dragons. One of them will be joining us shortly to see what the difficulty is.” She was not going to reveal her new companion status, not when the wards disapproved of Lady Anne. Nor that it had been Elizabeth, not Darcy, who had been part of the creation of the barrier.
“A dragon?” Lady Anne evinced an air of well-bred surprise. “My son neglected to mention that to me, too.”
And that was only the beginning of the secrets they had been keeping from the King’s Mage! Darcy and Elizabeth had hoped to break the news of the dragons to Lady Anne more gradually, but clearly that would be impossible. “Odd, but he has been very preoccupied since his return from France. Look, here comes the dragon!” She pointed towards the giant winged creature flying towards them. It was still a surprise to see Quickthorn in the air in her true form, but there was no longer any need for the dragons to disguise themselves at Pemberley.
She smiled involuntarily as she gazed up at her beautiful sea-green dragon. How elegant she was in flight, as she circled before coming in for a smooth landing beside Frederica! Smooth for Quickthorn, at least; Frederica’s skirts and bonnet strings flapped wildly in the wind from the dragon’s extended wings.
Frederica did a quick sending of what had transpired so far, and then said aloud, “Lady Anne, may I present the Honored Quickthorn to your acquaintance? Quickthorn, this is Lady Anne Darcy, the King’s Mage and Mr. Darcy’s mother.”
What silly introduction rules you have. You already told me who she is,Quickthorn grumbled.
Lady Anne curtsied. “I am pleased to meet you, Honored Quickthorn.” At least she had kept her composure at the sight of the dragon. Then again, she must have seen Sycamore in London, so it should not be a complete shock.
Quickthorn, of course, had no patience for niceties. “You seem human enough.” She walked across the wards straight up to Lady Anne, who held her ground admirably. “Hmm, but there is something…” Then the dragon recoiled, as if at some horrible smell, and backed away. “What is thatthing, there on your left hand?”
It took a great deal to discompose Quickthorn, but her horror was apparent in her aura. Horror – and fear.
Lady Anne looked confused. “My glove?” She peeled it off to expose a delicate but otherwise normal hand.
“No. That ring, the plain one.” Quickthorn pointed a razor-sharp talon at it, still keeping her distance. “It has a spell on it. One with the mark of the Wicked King, may all the agony he has caused be returned to him threefold.” And then she hastened backwards until she was safely behind the wards.
“This? Are you certain?” Lady Anne stared at her fingers in horror.
“I do not know what the spell does, but it is there, and of his making.”
In a single motion, Lady Anne ripped off her wedding band and dropped it to the ground. “Is it gone now?” Her voice was high-pitched.
“If it is, the wards will let you cross.”
Frederica held her breath as Lady Anne moved forward, her steps tentative. She hesitated just before the gate, and then she squared her shoulders and strode through.
The ring remained in the dusty road.
“I must check that none of the taint remains on you.” Quickthorn reached out her foreleg to touch Lady Anne’s finger, the skin where her wedding ring had lain indented and paler than the rest. The dragon’s gold-ringed eyes seemed to blur as the membrane came over them. “Itseems to be gone, but….” Her aura changed abruptly from her usual irritability to sudden horror. “Whodidthat to you?”
Lady Anne opened her mouth to speak, but she was overtaken by a choking fit. Her knees crumpled beneath her, and her head rolled back.
Only Quickthorn’s quick movements kept her from hitting the ground.
Darcy had raced back to Pemberley when he heard the news, and his heart was still pounding as he strode into the sitting room. His mother lay unconscious on the settee, her chest moving raggedly. He had never seen her look so frail.
It was true, then, what the servant had told him, that Lady Anne had collapsed. “What happened?” Darcy demanded. And why did he suddenly care?
Frederica said, “Nothing. Quickthorn discovered that your mother is under many bindings, and when she asked her about them, your mother swooned.”
He took a step back, his breath still coming quickly from his haste. “Bindings? From the High King?” How had she been so foolish as to deal with the fae? But that was a question he had asked himself hundreds of times.
Quickthorn snorted. “Hardly. If they were the work of the Wicked King, may his liver rot and putrefy, they would be subtle and well made. These are very badly done, all tangled together. Whatever dragon did this should be exiled. I am surprised she can even speak coherently under them.”
