Jack pointed to him and mimed speaking the words, “Yourmother.” Which meant both that Jack was feeling more like himself - and that he had not forgiven Lady Anne for the previous night's revelations.
Not that Darcy was sure he ever would, either. “You may enter.”
Lady Anne came in, wearing a plain morning dress and with her hair in a simple knot, as if she had hurried through her morning toilette. “Good morning, Fitzwilliam. I am told Jack is here?”
Darcy gestured across the room, where Jack rose from the sofa, made the most perfunctory possible bow, and collapsed back down, looking displeased.
“Jack, I need to speak to you. I wanted to talk to you last night after I had settled Their Majesties, but you were nowhere to be found.”
Darcy cut in before Jack had a chance to say a word. “Mother, Jack and I have been awake all night performing a much overdue land bonding which did not go particularly well. I suggest any conversations should wait until Jack's new bond has a chance to settle.” Lady Anne had never understood land Talent well; she would not realize there was something unusual about this. He was not about to tell her about the possibility of the King's Bond.
Her brow furrowed. “Why would he have a land bond?”
“Because Lady Catherine buried his afterbirth here, and the land does not care about legitimacy,” Darcy snapped.
She seemed to consider this for a moment. “It should not matter, then, I suppose. Jack, His Majesty intends to send for you after he breakfasts. He did not tell me what he has in mind, but I fear he may try to press you into taking a position within the family. Even if you cannot inherit, having a dragon companion by his side could be advantageous to him. Whether it is so for you is a different question.”
Jack raised his chin. “It is kind of you to inform me of His Majesty's plans, Lady Anne. I will handle the matter from here.”
Had his mother flinched when Jack called her by name? Did she still think of him as her son, even after telling him it was not true? Then her old distant look returned. “As you wish. Should you desire more information about what happened before you were born, Iwill be at your disposal.”
“I thank you. Now I must ask you and Lady Frederica to excuse me, since I cannot appear before the king covered in dirt.”
“Very well.” Then, as if she could not stop herself, she added, “I am concerned how the Prince Regent will respond to the news of your existence, should the king choose to inform him of your parentage.” So she was still trying to protect him.
At least now they knew why she had always kept Jack at Pemberley, where he would never meet either of his parents.
Jack's fragile control cracked. “His opinion means nothing to me. I will count myself fortunate if I never have to speak to the man.”
When Jack returned, the first thing he did was loosen his cravat and sprawl out on the bed, not even bothering to remove his boots first.
“What happened?” Darcy asked.
Jack grimaced. “That poor old man desperately wants a grandson, and instead he has me. It was excruciating. I hate this.”
“Does he want to acknowledge you, then?” Darcy still could not believe that Jack could be related to King George. It was like biting into a sweet and discovering it tasted like rotten fish.
“Impossible, whatever he thinks. I would be nothing but a wedge, waiting to be driven into the royal family. You must know how many people are searching for any figurehead who is not Prinny or an old madman? They love Princess Charlotte, but she is a girl of sixteen, and we have Europe's greatest general at our doorstep. I would make a terrible prince and a worse king, but even I can see how I look in comparison - a battle-tested soldier, a dragon companion, and now with the King's Bond? I will not be the cause of another civil war!”
Darcy caught his breath. It seemed inconceivable, but Jack was right. “Did you tell him about the King's Bond?”
“Of course. I am not goingto lie to the king.”
Darcy closed his eyes for a moment. “And?”
“He is thrilled, of course. Disbelieving at first, but now he wants me to try to develop it. Immediately. He was bemoaning that if he had known it was a possibility, he would have let Prinny marry Lady Catherine. He wants to introduce me to him, God help me. I left, pleading fatigue, before I cast up my accounts all over his velvet slippers.”
He winced. “I cannot blame you. What next?”
“Would you be willing to teach me what you know of using a land bond? Perhaps if I understand the basics, the rest will come. Unless someone is hiding a book about how to use the King's Bond, I will have to figure it out on my own.” Jack yawned so widely his jaw cracked.
“Of course. Whatever I can do,” Darcy said. “Perhaps after we both rest. It was a long night.”
Chapter 28
“Youmuststopfrettingso much,” Cerridwen told Elizabeth. “It is not good for you.”
Elizabeth struggled not to snap at her dragon. The knot in her stomach had not left her since Darcy and the others had departed for London, and she struggled to sleep at night. “I could not agree more, but that is easier said than done.”
