Perhaps she might be able to give Roderick a little extra motivation, though. He did not want to see her in danger. “Richard, my weather powers are much stronger than they used to be, thanks to my dragon bond. Could you use me at the landing site? I can create whirlwinds, big enough to knock men over - a few of them, at least. And I can create wind to push boats away.” Roderick would not like her being in battle, not one little bit. She smirked to herself.
“Freddie, we may be desperate, but we are not putting young ladies on the front lines.”
“Richard, I am not a young lady anymore. I am a dragon companion and a Truth-caster, and you need to remember that.”
Her brother rubbed his hand over the bridge of his nose. “I suppose we have nothing to lose.” It was a remarkable concession. And he would not have made it so easily if he were not truly worried.
“Good. Do let me know when I can be useful. In the meantime, I will leave you gentlemen to talk about the war.”
She had another engagement she wanted to keep, this one with the man she usually avoided beyond all others - her father. What better ally in her scheme than an inveterate schemer?
Chapter 32
Thenursery!Danger!
Elizabeth sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. It must have been a nightmare, this sense of Cerridwen screaming at her.
But then it came again, the sending clear as day.Jenny needs you! Now!
She tumbled out of bed, fear tearing at her throat. It was full dark, still the middle of the night, but her feet knew the way. Not even stopping to put on her slippers or a dressing gown, she raced out the door in her nightrail.On my way.
Jenny was in danger.
Elizabeth ran her hand lightly against the wall until it gave way to the open space of the staircase. A faint light at the top guided her way as she dashed up, her mouth dry.
It was coming from the nursery, along with the sound of Jenny crying.
Her bare feet could not move fast enough. Then she was inside - and rebounding off an invisible shape. One that should not be there.
But she did not care about that now. There was Jenny, crying against Nelly's shoulder, and that was the only important thing. Elizabeth hurried forward and pressed her hand against Jenny's tiny back. “Is she hurt?” she asked huskily.
Nelly looked like a ghost in her shift, her thin, steel-grey hair in a loose plait, her expression anxious. “I do not believe so, madam. Just upset to be awakened so roughly. There, there, little sweetheart, it will all be well now. Your mama is here.” She lifted the baby and put her against Elizabeth's chest.
Elizabeth had to fight to hold her gently, not to clutch her tightly. “What happened?” She glanced back at whatever had blocked her way.
“The dragon can tell you better.” Nelly dabbed at her eyes. Clearly she had been badly frightened.
“It was that fae,” Agate said in his reedy voice, pointing towards the invisible thing. “He was trying to do something to Jenny, tugging at her hair. It woke me up. When I asked what he was doing, he grabbed her and ran. I sprayed his legs with some fire, but it was not enough to stop him. I am not very good with dragonfire yet.” He sounded ashamed.
A fae. Trying to steal Jenny. Her greatest fear. “Why is he still here?” And should she be taking her baby and running far from him?
The nestling hung his head. “That was Jenny, not me. I called for Nurse, but I knew she could not waken quickly enough, so I told Jenny she had to stop him, that he was a bad fae. And she did, though I do not know how.”
Her tiny infant had somehow stopped a fae in his tracks? “What is he doing?”
“Nothing,” the dragon said. “Just frozen in place. I do not think he can talk. So I called Cerridwen for help.”
Just then a familiar rapping came at the window, sending a wave of relief through Elizabeth. Cerridwen had the magic and the power to defend them, far more than an elderly nursemaid and a young nestling just coming into his abilities. “Will you open that, Nelly? The bird outside is my dragon, here to help.” Elizabeth rubbed her hand along Jenny's back as the baby quieted into hiccoughing gasps.
Nelly obeyed with an alacrity that belied her age, and Cerridwen's kestrel form stepped daintily in, shaking the rain off her wings. “Agate has told me what happened,” she said in her squeaky bird-form voice. She hopped tothe ground and waddled to the apparently empty space where the fae must be.
Elizabeth leaned down to Nelly and whispered, “Could you go rouse a servant? I want Mr. Jasper Fitzwilliam here as quickly as may be, and no need to be formally dressed. And Miss Darcy, too.”
“Right away,” she murmured. “Shall I take the little one away from here, too?”
She wanted to say no. She ached to keep Jenny in her arms - but she would be safer farther away. “Take her to Lady Amelia,” she said slowly. She hated to wake the old lady, who found sleeping difficult these days, but there was no one better to protect Jenny. “Bring Agate, too. And pray stay there to help care for her.” Reluctantly she handed her Jenny.
Nelly slipped out the door with the baby while the kestrel was still sniffing and tapping the air with a talon.
