“I am honored that you would wish it, sir, but I must decline. My dragon needs to be close to her Nest, and I should be with her. I am certain Lady Anne will be well served with Miss Mary Bennet,” Frederica said graciously.
“Indeed.” The king frowned. “Is there anything we can do to reward you?”
“Sir, if you could convince my father to stop trying to marry me off to Mr. Mortimer Percy, I would be forever in your debt,” she said.
He laughed. “We will do our best.” He turned to Jack. “And now, Mr. Jack Darcy. After these events, we are more certain than ever that our plan is the correct one. Once we are done here, we will introduce you to Princess Charlotte, with the intention that you will be her consort.” He beamed at Jack, as if he were offering the greatest prize in all England.
Which, in fact, he was - except that Jack did not want it.
Jack licked his lips. “Your Majesty, I am not worthy.”
“We are the best judge of that. May we count on you to do your duty?”
Jack, if anything, went even paler. Before he could say anything, Frederica stepped up. “Sir, Mr. Jack Darcy has been unwell. Nothing less than the honor of your invitation could have brought him here today, but truly I am surprised he is managing to keep to his feet.”
“No.” It was his mother, now stepping between Jack and the king, as if appointing herself his defender. “Such a marriage cannot take place.”
The king looked down his nose at her. “Lady Anne, we have listened to your reasons against the match, and we know you do not approve. Nevertheless, we must bring mage blood into the royal line, and marriage toa dragon companion will provide our granddaughter with the protection she requires.”
“I more than disapprove!” his mother almost shouted, which was more shocking than the idea of Jack marrying the princess. “I cannot allow it.”
“You have served me well, madam, but this decision is not yours.” The king sounded both impatient and disapproving.
Lady Anne took a ragged breath, and then seemed to come to some sort of resolution. “Lady Frederica, would you be so kind as to leave us?” It was a command, not a request.
Frederica darted a glance at the king, but he had clearly lost interest in her. She curtsied and slipped out of the room.
Lady Anne wrung her hands. “I had hoped it would not come to this. As distasteful as it is, I must now tell you why this match is impossible. Jack, my apologies. I hoped you would never need to learn this.”
Darcy stared at her. Good God, what was she going to say about Jack? Did she know some horrible secret about him?
“Our mind is made up,” the king said coldly.
“Then pray cast your mind back many years. Do you recall when your son, the Prince of Wales, tried to contract an illegal marriage with my sister, Lady Catherine? And that afterwards, she conceived a child who died shortly after birth?”
The king frowned. “I could hardly forget it.”
“She had planned to put that child on the throne. I saw the danger to our country, but I was under a binding to do no harm to her. So I told my sister how happy I was about her news, and I stayed by her side constantly, even though I led everyone to believe I was also with child.”
“And her baby died.”
“No. Once her child was born, I waited until she went out to perform the rites with his afterbirth. Using illusions, I switched her baby for a pauper’s stillborn child. When she returned, she found the child dead, and I pretended to grieve with my sister. Two days later, I took the stuffing out of my dress and presented her infant as my own. I had him christenedas Jack Darcy and sent him immediately to Pemberley with a nursemaid, where my sister would never lay eyes on him.”
Darcy felt the shock as if the earth had quaked beneath him. It could not be true. What could his mother possibly gain from this ridiculous story? Jack was his brother; he knew that as deep in his bones as his own name.
But his mother had always been odd about Jack, protecting him more than she had Darcy, refusing to let him leave Pemberley even to attend family events, not allowing him to go away to school. Her anger when she learned Darcy had purchased a commission for Jack had been immense.
An odd queasiness built in his stomach.
Jack’s knuckles were white. His mouth had fallen open slightly, but nothing came out.
The king said, “Are you saying that this man is Lady Catherine’s child?”
Lady Anne raised her chin. “He is. My nephew, raised as my own, a secret I intended to take to my grave. But I cannot let you marry him to his half-sister.”
His half-sister. Somehow that word broke through the fog in Darcy’s brain. Jack was the illegitimate son of the Prince of Wales and Lady Catherine, from their secret marriage that was not recognized by law. Half-brother to Princess Charlotte. Darcy’s cousin, not his brother.
His mind could not take that in. Just as Georgiana would always be his sister, changeling or no, Jack was his brother, regardless of his birth. Some things were written in stone.
