The breakfast the servants had hastily put together sat waiting, but Darcy was not yet ready to let go of Elizabeth, no matter how much his stomach rumbled. His night flight on dragonback had been exhausting, not least because Coquelicot had also been carrying a bound Lady Catherine back to the Dark Peak Nest. Even though his aunt had been unable to speak to him, her presence had kept him ill at ease.
Now, to be home at Pemberley, with Elizabeth, was a profound relief. He had been aching for her touch for weeks. Sitting here side by side, his arm around her and their fingers entwined, was a great comfort.
Even if there had been a fae spy at Pemberley. And even if it was true he was the prophesied one, which he doubted. As long as he had Elizabeth by his side, he could manage anything. Including the High King of Faerie.
“There is so much I still do not understand,” she said, her head resting on his shoulder. “Even if Ysmeina had only one child, and we have no reason to think that, she must still have hundreds of descendants. Why is the Wicked King so focused on you and Jack?”
“Not as many as you would think, at least judging by the Fitzwilliams. The family is known for producing few children, with many dying young or childless. It is not uncommon among mage families, despite all the encouragement to marry and reproduce. Some have even called the Fitzwilliams cursed for the number of early deaths.”
She stiffened. “Do you suppose the WickedKing might be responsible?”
Unease filtered into him. “It is possible, I suppose. Though my mother thinks Lady Catherine was the cause of many of the recent deaths of young mages.”
“Are you sure she cannot touch Jenny?” Worry tinged Elizabeth's voice.
“Lady Catherine is at the Dark Peak Nest now, and the dragons say she will never again leave it. Her Talents have been permanently bound. It is as safe as we can hope to be.” Though as far as he was concerned, it was better than she deserved. “I am more concerned about the Wicked King.” Especially this news that he was interested in Jenny.
“You seem surprisingly untroubled by the idea of being the prophesied one,” she said.
He bent down to kiss her lingeringly. “That is because I think it is Jack, not me.” Not that he would wish it on his brother, after all he had already been through, but it only made sense that holding the King's Bond made Jack by far the better candidate to destroy the Wicked King.
And then they would all sleep easier. If this old prophecy was even true in the first place.
“Why would it be Jack?”
Darcy looked down at his hands. “That is the other thing I need to tell you about. There have been some unexpected developments with him.”
Chapter 33
Oneoftheadvantagesof being a dragon companion, Frederica reflected, was that no one argued with her when she asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister and the king. Instead, they simply arranged it, and here she was back at Windsor Castle. And with her father by her side, which was still such a radical change of affairs that she could not quite believe it. He never agreed with her – and least not until she could offer him the glory of having a daughter who was a princess and a chance to save Britain all at once.
Now the question was whether they would listen to her – and how desperate they would be for Jack’s powers to be unlocked.
“Now, Lady Frederica, how may we be of service to you?” the Prime Minister said, only a slight bit of condescension in his voice.
“How kind you are! I assume you are aware of the matter of Mr. Jack Darcy and the King’s Bond,” she said.
He frowned slightly. “I understand that his abilities are limited by his lack of experience, but I hope he may be willing to help us as he can.”
“Oh, Jack’s eagerness to stop Napoleon is unbounded! What if I told you there is a way to unlock his Talent so he can use the full power of the King’s Bond?”
“That would be good news,” Lord Liverpool said cautiously, “assuming he has no ambitions of his own.”
“Wetrust him implicitly,” said the king. “What would we need to do?”
“That is the tricky part,” Frederica said. “The powers can only be unlocked by someone else with a King’s Bond of his own. It used to be done, so I am told, from father to son, but of course we have not had a monarch with the King’s Bond for centuries, so we would need to import one.”
“Are there any left apart from the czar of Russia? So many royal families have been overthrown in the wars.”
“I have managed to find one, a fellow dragon companion. The problem is that he is unwilling, to say the least. He perceives England as his enemy and has no desire to strengthen us. If he were to help us, we would have to make it worth the risk he is taking.”
The king frowned. “Not French, I hope.”
“No, he is British, just not English.” She smiled, waiting for the question.
“Good Lord, not an Irishman!” Lord Liverpool ejaculated.
“I do not have his permission to disclose his name at this stage.” She left it at that. “The question is what you would be willing to give for his services – and whether I can convince him to accept it, which will be a challenge.”
