Jack gave her a puzzled look and then laughed. “You almost had me there, Freddie! For a moment I thought you were serious. Who is it, really?”
“Not a joke, I fear,” Darcy said soberly. “We have a great deal to tell you.”
Jack went to the Dower House alone, just in case Lady Anne actually showed an emotion on discovering her youngest son was alive. Darcy agreed that she would not want anyone else to witness such a reunion.
His brother did not return until well after dinner, late enough that Darcy was beginning to fret. Not about his safety – Jack had made his way halfway across Europe on his own – but about what Lady Anne might be doing or saying to him. It did not help when his brother finally appeared, his brow furrowed and looking fatigued.
“I hope she was not too difficult,” Darcy said carefully.
“Mother? Less than usual, in fact, no doubt because of the shock. The problem was… Let me rephrase that. His Majesty wanted to speak to me. At length. Great length.”
Darcy sighed. “I should not be surprised. He did that to both Elizabeth and me. He has been making up for lost time by quizzing everyone about what has been happening, and you have a great deal of new information.”
“God, yes. He wanted to know every bit of it, from my field rations in Spain to every detail about the French dragons – what little of that is notunder binding, of course.” He yawned. “I hope it was useful to him. Does he plan to try to wrest power back from Prinny, do you know?”
“Yes, but not while Lady Catherine is at large. He has good reason to fear going near her.”
“I suppose. Oh, and Mother is completely against my involvement in the matter of Lady Catherine, but I do not intend to pay any attention to that.”
Good Lord, was Lady Anne still trying to protect Jack from the world after all he had been through? Darcy shook his head in disbelief.
“Will, could I speak to you privately?” Jack’s face was lined and his hair mussed, as if he had been raking his hand through it.
“Of course. Is something the matter? Are you having second thoughts about our plans?” They spent the last three days preparing for the journey to London and facing Lady Catherine.
“No, not that.” Jack paced around the study, spinning the globe on its stand in the corner. Abruptly he said, “Are you certain the king is in his right mind?”
That was not a happy thought. “He has seemed that way to me, and neither Mother nor Coquelicot have mentioned any concerns,” Darcy said. “But you have seen much more of him than I do.” For whatever reason, the king had taken a particular liking to Jack and had sent for him most days.
“Until today, he seemed perfectly well. But he finally revealed his plan to me, and I do not know whether to consider it an eccentric scheme, utter madness, or perhaps…something I must take seriously, no matter how strange and nightmarish it sounds.”
That sounded ominous. “Can you tell me about it, or are you sworn to secrecy?”
“He said not to tell our mother, but nothing else.” He straightened and looked up at the carved ceiling, as if there might be an answer there. “He has been speaking to me a great deal about Princess Charlotte.”
It was hardly surprising that the king would be thinking of his granddaughter, the eventual heir to his throne, especially as it was well-known that he adored the girl. And the young princess, so beloved by the people, was a far more pleasant topic than King George’s own sons, each more dissipated and useless than the last. “What about her?”
“He is concerned for her safety. There is a plan to take her out of London when Napoleon arrives, but he does not think that is good enough.”
“Given the War Office’s tendency to underestimate the French, I would be inclined to believe him,” Darcy said.
“He asked what I would do. Not realizing he was serious, I said it might be impractical, but if it was up to me, I would toss her on dragonback and take her to the most remote Nest in Scotland. I thought he would laugh, but instead he just nodded and said that was what he hoped for.” Now Jack did rake his hand through his hair. “I tried explaining the small problem of all her guards shooting at anyone who made such an attempt, but he waved that aside.”
Darcy frowned. “Does he want to have a dragon companion as her special bodyguard in case of war? I cannot see the dragons agreeing to it.”
“It gets worse. Much worse. Then he said that everything he has learned here has convinced him it was a mistake not to bring Talented blood into the royal family as soon as they took the throne.”
“That much is obvious in hindsight, but not a particularly helpful observation at this juncture.”
Jack leaned his hands on Darcy’s desk, his eyes wide. “And that is why he wants me tomarryher, so we can breed little mage princes, and I can carry her off on dragonback.”
Darcy felt his jaw drop. “That is…that is…”
“Utterly ridiculous, is what it is!”
Completely ridiculous. His little brother, marrying the heir to the throne? Impossible.
And yet, given the extremely perilous situation before the royal family right now, he could see how the advantages of a dragon companion mage could outweigh those of some European prince. Especially when they so desperately needed the dragons as their allies.
