“Coquelicot?” Darcy asked disbelievingly. “She is the most agreeable dragon I know.”
“Not today,” she said. “I assume you have already heard the news?”
Roderick nodded. “Rowan told me that they bound Lady Catherine against using her Talent.”
“That part went smoothly,” Frederica said grumpily. “So did sending for Lady Anne. Coquelicot arrived in her hawk form just as planned. Getting Prinny out of the room was a challenge - my, but that man can be trouble! - and then the fun started. Coquelicot was perfectly happy to remove Lady Catherine's stolen dragon powers, but she absolutely refused to take away the Talent she was born with.”
“What? Is she at least still bound?” Darcy exclaimed.
“Coquelicot did not like it, but she agreed to leave Quickthorn’s bindings in place. She said there is something wrong with Lady Catherine, something broken in her.” Frederica frowned. “Any of us could have told her that, but she was upset about it.”
Trust Coquelicot to have sympathy with one of the worst villains of their generation! But it was not surprising in a way. She wanted so badly to heal people, not to break them.
“Then Lady Anne asked her to take Prinny's bindings off, which seemed like an excellent idea given how utterly frantic he was over Lady Catherine's condition. And Coquelicot refused.”
“Why?” Roderick asked. “She was happy to remove bindings before, for Lady Anne and the king and queen.”
“Theywantedtheir bindings removed. Prinny does not believe he has them, and is certain his beloved Lady Catherine would never harm him in any way. Coquelicot would not do it unless he agreed to it.” She threw her arms up in despair. “Then she convinced the other dragons they should not, either.”
Roderick said thoughtfully, “Perhaps not ideal, but you did succeed at your goal. Lady Catherine is defanged. I look forward to hearing how you did it, since no doubt you ignored all of our advice.”
Frederica grinned. “Of course I did. It was much more amusing my way. Where is Jack? I thought he would be here, too.”
“He is resting.” Which was a polite way of saying Jack was utterly miserable and wanted to be left alone. “The London air disagrees with him. Apparently the same thing happened the only other time he was here, when he took up his commission, but it is worse this time.”
“Do you suppose it could be repulsion? But he should not feel that, now that he is a dragon companion. Unless it is different with French dragons, though I do not know why that would be.”
“I wondered about that, too, but Gentiane says it is not. Perhaps it is the crowding and the chaos of London. The only city he visited when we were growing up was Paris, and that just once, because our parents insisted he had to remain at Pemberley.”
Frederica shook her head. “I never understood why they were so much more protective of him than of you. After all, you were the heir.”
Darcy shrugged. “He was the baby for many years, and their favorite. I never thought much about it, since I preferred to stay at Pemberley.” He had hated that time his mother had taken the two of them to France. Jack had loved it, though, the adventure and the discoveries.
And once again, Darcy was more than ready to go back to Pemberley now - and to his beloved Elizabeth. How he ached to be back with her! “Now that Lady Catherine is under control again, perhaps we should return to Derbyshire.”
“Not quite yet, I think,” Frederica said. “Lady Anne said something about the king wishing to speak to us before we go, which I suspect means that he wants to see you and Coquelicot. And perhaps Jack; he seems to like Jack's company.”
Darcy groaned. Not more royalty! How could he sneak in to see the king at Windsor Castle when he was in disguise? And King George would not find Jack good company now.
“It will not be so bad,” Frederica said. “He has called the Prime Minister to meet with him tomorrow to prove his sanity is back, and once that is done, we should be able to leave quickly. I do not need another fight with my father about marriage.”
Roderick winced, as if the subject of Frederica’s potential marriage was a painful one. “And I will enjoy seeing the sights while the rest of you deal with King George. Sometimes it is pleasant to be no one of importance.”
Chapter 25
“Welcome!”KingGeorgedeclared.“And pray accept our deepest thanks, both to you and your dragons, for freeing us from the scourge of Lady Catherine.”
Even as Darcy was making his best court bow, still in his valet's clothing, he kept one eye on Jack. His brother was managing to stand upright, but his face was ashen.
Fortunately Frederica did not hesitate to speak for all of them. “It was our honor to do so, Your Majesty.”
Queen Charlotte sat beside him in the receiving room. Lady Anne was on her other side, having taken up residence at Windsor again in keeping with her duties as the newly re-appointed King's Mage. King George had wasted no time in convincing Parliament to end the Regency. Now he was the ruling monarch again.
“Mr. Darcy,” the king continued, “we cannot yet reward you as you deserve for saving our life and our kingdom, but you will know our gratitude. For the moment, we can offer one small thing. Instructions have gone to the War Office that you are not to be arrested or harassed in any way. They will know our displeasure at how you have been treated. We would advise continuing to be cautious for a few days until the word has gone out, but everyone will soon know that your family stands high in our favor.”
“I thank Your Majesty.” Not that it would make a great deal of practical difference, since he would still need to keep to the sanctuary of Pemberley while the French assassins were nearby unless he was willing to risk traveling in disguise again.
The king nodded. “It should never have happened. The least we can do is to fix it. Now, Lady Frederica. As you are a dragon companion, we suppose it is too much to hope that you would return to your old position as apprentice to the King's Mage.”
