Page 81 of Triumph at Pemberley

He tried again. “Did the cleansing harm you?”

“No, it was nothing. I am glad to be rid of the traces.”

“Then what is troubling you?”

She eyed the gardeners working nearby. “Not here. In your ballroom, perhaps?”

He nodded. “I will meet you there.” He wanted to find Elizabeth first, and ask her to call at the Dower House when Lady Anne returned. His mother might need to talk, and her only companionship otherwise would be her mysterious young ward.

Elizabeth proved to be out, though, so Darcy made his way straight to the ballroom and opened the window for Coquelicot’s bird form.

She flew in as a hawk before transforming back into the red dragon. Without preliminaries, she burst out, “Ever since we learned her mind was like a child’s, I have been blaming myself for not taking enough care when removing her Talent. That I had somehow done damage. And I knew it must be my fault because I had hurried. Her Talent was an ugly thing that made me squeamish, and I did not want to look at it closely. I thought I had damaged her because I was not careful enough. But the truth is even worse.”

“Worse?”

“I failed to see that her Talent was false, imposed on her by him. That taking it away would remove the growth that came afterwards, leaving her with the mind she had before he forced it upon her.”

“Have you ever known anyone whose Talent was not their own? Or even heard of such a thing?” he asked gently.

“No, but I still should have been more careful.”

He stroked the warm scales of her shoulder. “You were also under pressure, with very little time to act. She could not be allowed to awaken with her Talent intact.”

The dragon sighed heavily, her breath warming the air briefly. “I suppose you are right, Little One. And Hornbeam said nothing about it when I returned to him the abilities she had stolen.”

He could feel her comfort in his touch, so he leaned in to rest his side against her. “If her own dragon never noticed anything odd about her Talent, how could anyone expect you to?”

She turned her head so her huge eyes were only a few feet away. “But he did. He knew there was something wrong about it. When they bonded, he tasted the tinge of the Wicked King in her. But it was his last chance at bonding, and he is one of those dragons who longed for life outside the Nest. Had he broken the bond, he would have been trapped forever, so he said nothing. And paid the price for it.”

“Ambition can lead both dragons and humans astray.” And because he had often wondered about it, he asked, “You must have sensed the Wicked King in my blood when you made the elixir. Sycamore recognized it the first time he met me. Yet you went ahead with our bond, and your Nest welcomed me in. Why?” He feared what the answer might be. Coquelicot had been desperate to escape the fate of her Nest, and Darcy had been her only hope.

“Oh, Little One, it is not the same! You have that, yes, but you took it on out of love for your sister, not out of greed or ambition. The intention matters.”

“It is not a danger, that he could track me through it?”

“Your love counteracted the power of his blood.” She said it as if it were something so simple any child should understand it. “It is to your credit, not a flaw.”

He expelled a long, slow breath. He should have asked long ago and not wasted so much time worrying about the danger of the taint in him. Coquelicot would never have bonded with him if she thought he might be in thrall to the Wicked King, and he should have known that.

“I worry for Hornbeam,” the dragon said softly. “It was a simple matter for the Eldest to clear the contamination from me, but his has been longstanding and involved a blood bond. And he has betrayed the Nest all these years by keeping it secret. That will be difficult to forgive, even though he paid a high price.”

“My mother. She met the Wicked King. Should I be forbidding her to be alone with little Jenny?”

“No. Her taint is easily perceptible, but like you, her intentions were not evil. If she had made the bargain for her own profit, it would be different, but she was trying to stop Lady Catherine from killing more children.”

It was true; as foolish as her decision to bargain with the Wicked King had been, his mother’s motivations had been good.

“Little One, may I stay here again for a time?” Coquelicot asked. “Instead of at the Nest, I mean.”

“Of course you may,” he said instantly. “For as long as you wish, whenever you wish.” He had missed having her at Pemberley after Rana Akshaya insisted she must live in the new Nest. Coquelicot had gone reluctantly, and only after Darcy had reminded her that the villagers of Kympton needed healing, too.

“Good.” The great ruby dragon moved to settle herself in her old favorite spot near the ballroom hearth.

It was odd, though. “Is anything the matter at the Pemberley Nest?”

“It is too crowded now with the new dragons,” she said querulously. “Rana Akshaya has put them to work on expanding the Nest, but that will take time. And I would rather be here with you, Little One.”

He liked it better, too, though it was likely not prudent to point that out when it was against the wishes of her Eldest. “New dragons?”