The king’s eyes were fixed on Jack. “You are our grandson, then.”
“Your son’s bastard, one of many,” Lady Anne snapped, with what must have been deliberately crudity. “You should never have met him. I tried to keep him away.”
Finally Jack gathered himself, and his voice was rusty. “The French dragons said I must be the son of a dragon companion, since I was immune to dragonfire. I told them that they were mistaken.”
Darcy caught his breath. The dragons of the Vosges Nest had been mystified by why Darcy could not pass through a Gate on his own, whenJack had done so with no problem. Brothers, they said, should have the same ability.
Except they were cousins, not brothers.
King George’s shoulders sagged. “It was such a good solution,” he said quietly.
“But an impossible one,” Lady Anne said briskly. “The best thing is for Jack to return to Pemberley immediately. He should not be anywhere near the Prince of Wales or his legitimate family.”
Jack’s lips were compressed. “Not Pemberley. Gentiane and I will find a Nest in a remote corner of Scotland and trouble you no more.”
The king shook his head. “Scotland? No. We need your skills, regardless of your parentage.”
“My very existence, as a dragon companion and mage, is a threat to Princess Charlotte, andI will not have it.” Jack’s hands were shaking, and the light seemed to shine more brightly on him. No, it was comingfromhim.
Darcy grabbed his arm. “Jack, your magic is running out of control,” he said urgently. “Reach out to Gentiane.Now. I have seen this with Elizabeth.” Except that Elizabeth had years of experience with dragon blood running through her veins and long practice controlling her land Talent. This was all new to Jack.
Jack turned wild eyes on him. “Can you not see? If I had known this, I would never have made the bond.”
“But the bond is made, and you have the power. Take a deep breath and let it settle.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lady Anne hurrying the king and queen out of the room. Of course; defending the royal family from magic had been her sole purpose for years.
Except that Darcy had no idea what to do.Coquelicot!He reached out in desperation, pouring out what was happening to Jack in a confused set of images.What should I do?
Her reassuring voice filled his head.Gentiane is on his way. Calm himas best you can.
As soon as the door closed behind Lady Anne and the king, Jack slammed his fist into marble chimneypiece. Then, with a cry of pain, he cradled it in his other hand, his head lowered. “Sorry, Will,” he said in a choked voice.
“Feel free to take the entire room to pieces if it makes you feel better.” Darcy would happily see Windsor Castle burn to the ground if it could make the last half hour vanish.
“How could she do this to me?” he cried. “My entire life is a lie!”
“Your army service is no lie. Nor are the trees you climbed, the cliffs you scaled, the friends you made. Your bond to Gentiane is yours alone. And you are still my brother, no matter what anyone says. No one can take that away.”
“Do you not understand? Prinny is a worthless excuse for a human being; everyone knows that. And Lady Catherine – she has always been the evil witch in the woods to me. And those are myparents! If the king had given them permission to marry – by God, Will! I would be heir to the throne!” His mouth twisted. “And instead, I am nothing but a threat to the very stability of England.”
And he was still glowing, perhaps even more so.
Jack bent forwards, his hands on his knees. “If only I did not feel so damned ill. I hate this place! This is even worse than London.”
So ill. Jack had been increasingly uncomfortable and unlike himself as they came closer to London, and now worse since arriving at Windsor. Why?
Then it struck him, and he heard his mother’s voice, only a few minutes before.She went out to perform the rites with his afterbirth.If Lady Catherine had wanted her son to be king, there was only one spot she would have done that – at St. George’s Chapel, only a few hundred feet from here, where generations of kings and queens – and their afterbirths – had been interred.
Could it be? There was only one way to know. Elizabeth had taught him how to block land Talent by standing on an iron plate. Darcy scannedthe room, but of course everything in this royal palace was silver, not iron. Except – there, at the back of the empty fireplace.
“Jack, I need your help,” he said urgently. “We need to get this fireback out.”
Jack stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “What are you talking about?”
“Trust me. This is important.” Darcy bent into the fireplace, his fingertips scrabbling around the thick fireback. A normal one he might have been able to manage, but this one was palace-sized and must weigh ten stone. “I beg you!”
With an annoyed sigh, Jack lent his weight to it, and the sculpted iron fell to the ground just outside the hearth with a loud clang, sending up a cloud of ashes.
“Now stand on it,” Darcy commanded. “No, truly! I mean it!”
