Page 64 of Triumph at Pemberley

There was only one reason she would ask that – if she had to report it to someone in Faerie. Most likely the High King.

The little dragon had been right not to trust her.

She was a spy now. Apparently an unwilling one, if she was warning him away from giving her information. “What about your lesser fae? Do they not tell you what they overhear?”

Georgiana expelled a long breath. “I will inform them that I do not wish to know. They will understand.”

His little sister had changed in these three weeks that had been a year for her. There was a new restraint about her, a certain distance. He ached for the loss of what little innocence she had. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“Just that I am glad to be back.” And for a moment the girl he knew peeked out of those eyes that were so much older now.

Elizabeth threw up her hands. How could Darcy not see the truth in front of him? “I know you trust Georgiana, but you also have a blood bond to her. Of course it makes me wonder if she – or the Wicked King – is somehow influencing you. If you were the only one at stake, it would be different. But this puts all of us at risk – Jenny, the dragons, everyone. We cannot simply take her word for it.”

Darcy’s mouth went into a stubborn line. “I will not send her away. This is her home. And this only happened because she exchanged herself for us.”

The sound of footsteps with the tap-tap of a cane preceded Granny’s entrance. “Ah, there you are. Do you have a moment? And if you do not, pray make one, for I have something to tell you.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth said warmly, though Darcy did not look pleased by the interruption. Still, Granny would be leaving for Wales soon, and she did not want to waste a moment of their time together. “Pray sit down.”

Granny rubbed her knotted hands together. “I just had a surprising visitor. Your sister, Darcy, asking me to truth-cast her. Not something people usually request for themselves, but she wanted me to report everything I learned to you.”

A wave of relief rushed through Elizabeth. Perhaps this could put some of her worries to rest. “What did she say?”

“She wished me to question her about whether the people here are safe from her. There were certain limits, though. She would not answer any questions about her time in Faerie or her relationship with the Wicked King.” Granny’s mouth puckered, as if her words had left a bitter taste.

“And?” Darcy asked brusquely.

“Her answers were satisfactory, as far as they went. She plans no harm to any mortal at Pemberley, including every possibility I could imagine. You may suppose I was thorough on that front! She will do nothing to any mortal on the orders of the Wicked King or other fae. Now, of course, that only speaks to her current intentions now.”

“Still, it is a relief,” Elizabeth said.

Darcy scowled. “I told you as much.”

Clearly this was a sore point. Elizabeth chose her words carefully. “It is possible she could have been forced to deceive you, but she could not have done so to a truth-caster. It was wise of her to go to Granny.”

Granny nodded. “That is not all, though. I asked about how she came to be free to return here when the Wicked King wants her in Faerie, and she says he gave his consent, but with conditions. She is assisting him in some task that involves no mortals. ‘Faerie politics,’ she called it. He also wants to know what the mortals here were planning, specifically about him and about Napoleon, but she intends to lie to his messengers who come to collect the information.”

Elizabeth rubbed her arms. “I suppose it was too much to ask that he might have let her go without a reason.”

Darcy asked, “But what could he want from her that involves no mortals? The only fae here are her lesser fae – unless the agreement is to bring High Fae here.”

Elizabeth shivered at the idea.

Granny shook her head. “I asked specifically if she would be permitting any fae to cross the wards, and she said no, only those lesser fae who escape here.”

“Then it must involve them.” Darcy frowned. “They are all in trouble with one High Fae or another. But she wants to protect them. At least she did before.”

“I do not think we are likely to get an answer on that,” Granny said briskly.

Elizabeth said, “No, I suppose not.” She rubbed her arms. All they could do was to watch Georgiana and hope for the best.

Chapter 26

Frederica narrowed her eyes. The road into Gwynedd ended abruptly at the edge of a tumbling river. There was no dock or evidence of a ferry to cross it, nor any buildings in sight.

Her newfound ability to sense directions was useless here. It had vanished abruptly as they approached Wales, leaving behind the land of Jack’s King’s Bond. She missed that strange sense of knowing where she was going.

It had been hard enough to get this far in Wales, down invisible roads that seemed to be covered with trees and across hidden bridges only Quickthorn could perceive. They would never have made it this far without her dragon’s skills.