Chapter 14 #2
He returned the embrace and held her for a long minute. “I must go and make ready to speak to Oberon. No dawdling for weeks about this kind of thing either.”
“Godspeed,” said Elizabeth, and Frederica echoed her. They both watched after him as he walked away.
“I cannot believe it is real,” said Frederica in a small voice. “I cannot imagine a world where Oberon is not king of Faerie.”
“Nor I,” said Elizabeth. “But everything is so confusing here. Sometimes I feel as if I have double vision. With one eye I see the shocking sight of a country miss boldly embracing a peer of the realm, and with the other I see her providing natural comfort to her grieving shurinn . It makes me feel as if my head is spinning like a top.”
“It does not matter. I assume you will be marrying him.”
Elizabeth turned and stared at her. “Where did you get that astonishingly incorrect idea?”
Frederica lifted her chin. “Perhaps because you embrace him, and you are so often together. He is so protective of you, and then there is this shurinn thing.”
“I have no romantic interest in him, none at all,” Elizabeth declared with exasperation. “ Shurinn are close to each other, but it is the closeness of brother and sister, only intensified. I could embrace him precisely because I knew he would not take it the wrong way. Did you not hear what Titania said about the two of you? He would do almost anything to protect me from harm, but I am not the one he desires.”
“Oh.” Frederica looked away. “Who is the man you are always thinking of? Is it Darcy?”
“That does not matter, except that it is obviously not Eversleigh! And what is more, Eversleigh would have found a great deal more comfort if you had been the one to embrace him.”
The dryads were starting to drift back in, bringing a halt to the discussion, but Frederica looked thoughtful for some time afterwards.
TITANIA RETURNED AFTER a short time, looking somber and seeming to want little more than to stroke Elizabeth’s hair. When a sprite announced Eversleigh and Aelfric, Titania stood, rising to her full height. Silence descended on the bower.
Aelfric and Eversleigh stopped in the middle of the bower and remained there, as if they were actors awaiting their entrance. The fay around them began to whisper as they realized something was amiss.
Titania said in a clear voice, “Princes, have you news for us?”
Eversleigh bowed his head. “Prince Aelfric and I have spoken with Oberon. He has left, and there is no king in Faerie tonight.”
Gasps and sobs came from around the bower, but Titania looked utterly calm. “Had he any final words?”
“Great lady, Oberon in his wisdom knew why we were there before we said a word. He told us it was his time, and he gave each of us his blessing. Then he left King’s Hall and walked away without looking back. His name will be sung through the ages as one of the greatest of the Sidhe.”
“You have performed your duty with honor, Prince Evlan and Prince Aelfric. You are fortunate to have had such a father. Now I must be alone with the moon.” Her head held proudly high, Titania glided out of the bower.
Elizabeth whispered to Frederica, “I should go to Aelfric. I will return when I can.”
“YOU LOOK EXHAUSTED ,” Elizabeth told Eversleigh the following day when he came to the bower.
“Too many trips through the rings in a short time, and too many worries,” he said. “I hope you are not becoming ill. You sound hoarse. ”
“Do you see Marigold Meadowsweet sitting by the queen and reading to her, with a rapt audience of dryads? I brought The Mysteries of Udolpho with me yesterday to read while I was here. Titania saw it and asked me to read a passage aloud. They had never heard of a gothic novel. Every time I stopped reading she begged for more. We tried having one of the dryads read it, but Titania claims that only a mortal can bring the correct feeling to it. We have been reading for hours.”
“Is there any chance of a break in the story where I might be able to speak to Titania?”
“I will ask her.”
A few minutes later, Titania waved away her sprites and beckoned Eversleigh forward.
Eversleigh went down on one knee in front of Titania but did not sink back on his heels. “Great lady, might I beg a moment of your indulgence?”
Elizabeth watched him suspiciously. Why had he knelt? Kneeling would be for a mortal queen. It might have been a mistake, but Eversleigh did not make mistakes of that sort.
“Of course, Prince Evlan. How may I be of service to you?” Titania’s face was drawn.
“Great lady, I would speak to you not as my father’s son, but as a mortal, one of some consequence in the mortal world. You will soon be making a decision of great import, and I have information which might be of some small use to you, if you will allow me the presumption of sharing it.”
“Granted.” With only the slightest expression of amusement, she said carefully, “Lord Eversleigh.”
He bowed his head. “Great lady, out of loyalty Libbet has withheld from you certain details of her return to Faerie. There was another Sidhe involved, one of several Sidhe who are unhappy over the war with mortals. He learned from her that mortals no longer remember the Great Treaty. He hoped to employ Libbet and her friend Diarcey as go-betweens to educate mortals about the importance of the groves. Not knowing of your previous connection with Libbet, he wished her to tell you how little the mortals know. That is one thing I wish to tell you: that there are Sidhe who oppose this war.” He paused. “The second matter is more delicate.”
“Continue,” said Titania.
“It is generally believed that Prince Aelfric encouraged my father in making war. I am of the opinion that Aelfric deliberately fostered this belief in order to hide our father’s increasing irritability and impulsive behavior. Aelfric would not thank me for telling you this. I honor my father and my brother, and I would happily lay down my life to protect either of them, but I also believe this war to be misguided and dangerous. Mortals need education, not a war in which both sides will lose.” He bowed his head.
“I see. Who is the Sidhe who met with Libbet?”
“Great lady, if you command it, I will tell you, but I prefer not to break a confidence.”
Titania held out her hand to Elizabeth. “Come sit with me, my Libbet.”
Elizabeth obeyed. At least Titania did not seem angered that she had never mentioned Cathael to her.
Titania stroked Elizabeth’s arm. “It was Aislinn who brought Libbet to me. What Sidhe would Aislinn ally herself with? It could be Celynon, or Fionn, or Cathael, or ... Ah, it is Cathael, I see.”
How had she guessed? Eversleigh’s expression had not altered in the slightest.
“My poor Libbet, you cannot hide your reaction from me. Do not fear; I have no intention of harming Cathael.”
It was so easy to view Titania as caring only for the pleasure of the moment that Elizabeth had forgotten she was also the woman who had ruled Faerie for centuries. The touch of her power was light, but it was there nonetheless.
“One last thing, Prince Evlan,” said Titania. “These books Libbet brought – are there more of them in your mortal world?”
Eversleigh’s lips turned up in a smile. “I believe there are.”
“You must bring us all of them,” the queen decreed.
He bowed. “I will bring you all I can carry.”
Frederica said in a sweet, if slightly scratchy, voice, “Prince Evlan, do you not wish to take a turn reading aloud? You would bring such feeling to the role of Valancourt.”
TITANIA MADE HER DECISION faster than any of them expected, calling together all the Sidhe in the great clearing. She gave no reason for it, but it was not difficult to guess.
Lady Frederica Fitzwilliam craned her neck to see what was happening. She was not accustomed to being outranked and did not enjoy being in the back of Titania’s retinue while Elizabeth stood beside the queen. She raised herself on tiptoe to get a better view of the lines of Sidhe men, each dressed in black and silver armor, Oberon’s colors. The Sidhe ladies, all in silver, sat grouped to the side. Beyond the Sidhe, the clearing was crowded with lesser fay. Only the tall dryads and elves were visible; all the others were hidden behind the Sidhe.
She wanted to be able to relate every detail of the event. It would not occur again during her lifetime, nor her children’s or grandchildren’s time. Apart from Elizabeth, and perhaps Eversleigh if he was here, she would be the only mortal who could tell this tale. It was a heavy responsibility. No matter how long the ceremony lasted, Frederica intended to remember every detail.
She felt a sense of pressure behind her. It was Eversleigh, of course. She could always tell when he was nearby.
“Good morrow, Marigold Meadowsweet.” He swept her a bow. There was something about how he said her fay name, as if he enjoyed the taste of it.
“Good morrow, Prince Evlan. I wondered if you would be here.” She could play the game of fay names as well.
He nodded towards the dais where two silver filigree thrones sat side by side. “Is it the naming, then?”
“It must be. She has not said as much, but Titania gave Libbet a crown to carry on a silken cushion.”
“It has only been two days. She has not wasted any time.” Eversleigh sounded as calm as ever, but his eyes betrayed his worry. “Has she given any hints whom she may choose? So much depends upon it.”
“Not a word. She has spoken privately to four Sidhe men, including your Lord Cathael.”
“She likely only wished to speak to him about the war. He would be an improbable candidate for King; he is not of sufficient stature among the Sidhe.”
“Titania also interviewed both Libbet and me separately, not at all in her usual manner, asking in great detail about mortal knowledge of the fay. I was also quizzed on the magic of mages and the history of magery. Can you imagine how the Collegium would receive the news that Titania learned everything she knows of magery from a mere woman?”
He smiled slightly. “Your father would be proud of you.”
Frederica was less certain of that. “I hope so. Last night Titania went alone to the clearing to consult with the moon. She did not tell us what the moon may have said.” As if the moon could say anything at all.
“It is a good sign that she asked Libbet to bear the crown. She would be unlikely to show so much public favor to a mortal if she intended to allow the war to continue.”
“Is Aelfric here? ”
“In line with the other Sidhe. I think he would have preferred to be with us.”
Frederica wondered just whom he meant by “us.” She glanced up at the overcast sky. “How will Titania know when it is noon? The Sidhe do not have timepieces, do they?”
“No. They eschew metal devices, apart from those made of silver and gold. Perhaps she just knows.”
Silence fell over the clearing as Titania mounted the dais, followed by Elizabeth bearing a silken pillow with a gem-studded circlet resting on it. The queen’s own delicate crown sparkled with diamonds as she stood in front of the thrones. As if she were unaware of the crowd before her, she took the circlet from the pillow and held it high in the air, her face turned up to the sky.
The expectant silence continued. Titania stood perfectly still, her raven tresses swaying gently in the breeze. A narrow shaft of sunlight burst through the clouds, setting the circlet in Titania’s hands ablaze, and cut a line through the clearing.
Titania looked out over the lines of the Sidhe. “Lord Cathael, come forward.”
Frederica could barely see Lord Cathael’s form with the sunlight reflecting off his armor. He stepped out of line and strode to the dais, mounting the steps to stand before Titania. His face was pale, even for a Sidhe, and a muscle beside his mouth twitched. Despite his interview with Titania, he clearly had not expected this.
Without a word, Titania reached up and placed the diadem on his head. They both turned to face the crowd. Titania took his hand and raised it with hers. “Behold your King!” she said in a voice that carried throughout the clearing.
Cheers and stamping of feet met her announcement. The armor of each of the Sidhe shifted from black and silver to Cathael’s colors of gold and sea green .
A shiver went down Frederica’s spine. It was the end of the age of Oberon and the beginning of something new.
Titania and the new king sat in the thrones and conversed quietly as their subjects began to leave the clearing.
“That is all?” Frederica demanded of Eversleigh. “Choosing a king for the next few centuries, and that is all? Our coronations go on for half a day.”
“The Sidhe do not like to waste time,” said Eversleigh. He was smiling broadly and looked years younger.
“You are pleased with her choice?”
“I barely know Cathael, but the outlook for relations between mortals and fay has brightened substantially. Titania could hardly have made it clearer that she intends an end to the war. I am delighted.” He shook his head as if unable to credit it. “Not only that, I finally have an answer as to how the moon picks a new queen.”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you not see her name Cathael moments after the sunbeam struck him?”
“Surely you do not think she would have named whatever Sidhe the sunbeam happened to fall on?”
“I do not think it was that random. Last night Titania communed with the moon, and today at midday the sunbeam struck one of the four Sidhe she was considering. I have not the least idea how it could be possible nor what it means, but it is real. And I thought nothing about Faerie could astonish me now!”
His smile made him seem even more appealing than usual, and she was standing too close to him. Elizabeth had said he wanted her, but could she believe it? Abruptly she asked, “Why did you offer for me? You had never paid me the least attention before.”
He tore his eyes away from the spectacle on the dais. Looking at her searchingly, he said slowly, “I had always dreaded marrying because I thought I would have to hide my Faerie connections from any woman high-born enough to be a suitable match. I thought any society lady would be horrified by fay behavior if I ever brought her here. Then I walked into Titania’s bower and found an enchanting creature who fit into Faerie as naturally as she did in a London drawing room. I wanted you.” He paused. “Dare I hope this means you have reconsidered?”
Frederica froze. He wanted her. Was that enough?
“Never mind,” he said. “If you will excuse me, I must have a word with Aelfric before he leaves.”
“Of course,” she said hollowly. Was she glad or disappointed he had not waited for her to answer?
“YOU HAVE A CALLER, sir. A Miss Darcy,” said Eversleigh’s butler.
Eversleigh lifted his head. “Are you certain it is Miss Darcy and not Mr. Darcy?” He had been expecting Darcy ever since receiving that odd letter of resignation from the Collegium. Not that it was completely unexpected, but he would have expected Darcy to tell him of it in person. But what would his sister be doing here? The girl was not even out yet, if he recalled correctly. She should not be making calls, especially not on single men.
“Sir, it is a young lady,” the butler said disapprovingly. “She wishes to speak to you privately.”
Most odd. What reason could she possibly have? Perhaps she was concerned about her brother. “Send her in. And station a maid at the far end of the drawing room where she can watch me.” He could not see her for long in any case. He should already be on his way to Rosings for the revel.
“Very good, sir.”
Eversleigh straightened his cuffs. If any other young woman made a request like this, he would assume it was an attempt at entrapping him into marriage. He could not believe it of Darcy’s sister, though. Darcy had said she was timid.
“Miss Darcy,” the butler announced.
She did not look as young as he had expected; her figure was fully formed. Perhaps he should not have dismissed the idea of entrapment so quickly. She curtsied stiffly, her face ashen.
“Miss Darcy, how may I be of service to you?” He tried to sound fatherly.
“I... I know I should not be here, but... I have a question.” She stared at the floor.
“Is this concerning your brother?” he prompted.
“No. Yes. Mostly no.”
If it was not about Darcy, what could it possibly be? “What is your question?”
“Is there a way you can tell if someone is under a sorcerer’s spell?” The words rushed out quickly, as if she had prepared them.
Had Darcy told her of their suspicions that sorcerers might still be among them? “Are you afraid your brother is under a spell?”
“No, not him. Can you do it?” Her eyes were huge.
“It is possible, but I have never done it. We have no sorcerers in England.” Apart from Lady Catherine de Bourgh, of course, but she was safely imprisoned and warded. “If you are worried that Sir Lewis de Bourgh might have put a spell on you, even if he had, it would have died with him.”
“You do not know of any other sorcerers in England,” she said quietly.
Why did young girls have to beat around the bush so much? “Perhaps you could tell me what you are so worried about.”
She chewed her lip and opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. Her hands clenched. “Oh!” It was a cry of frustration .
He had been missing the obvious. Young girls were imaginative. She must have read too many gothic novels about sorcerers. “I truly believe you have nothing to worry about. Girls often have these fancies. I think it would be best to send for your brother –”
“No! Can you not simply do it?” she begged.
“It is not a spell that can be done casually, and you will not even tell me why you think you need it.”
She drew a handkerchief from her reticule.
Oh, no. Not tears. Anything but tears.
But she did not cry. She folded her handkerchief in half with trembling fingers, and then folded it over itself lengthwise. Grasping the resultant strip of fabric by the ends, she laid it across her face.
Across her mouth, to be specific. Like a gag.
“Are you saying the spell will not allow you to speak about it?” But she had just told him about it! No, she had not – she had asked if he could determine whether someone was under spell, not if she was. Clever girl. He should have expected as much from Frederica’s cousin.
She nodded fiercely.
Now what was he supposed to do? He still had no evidence of sorcery, and he was reluctant to use the spell which could expose her innermost thoughts to him. “Can you write the answers?”
“No. I have tried.”
Blood wards had worked to block sorcery at Rosings Park. He had no blood wards here, but perhaps... “I have an idea. There is a set of wards I use when practicing a new spell. They keep magic from escaping in case the spell goes out of control. Perhaps they can also block magic getting in. That might release you from the spell temporarily.”
He took four black pawns from the desk drawer and waved her to a chair. He set one pawn to the north of her, one to the south, and then east and west. Crouching down, he touched his forefinger to the north pawn and spoke the words of the warding spell, feeling it flicker to life. “ Miss Darcy, does that change anything?”
The girl clasped her hands to her face and the words began to pour out of her. “Oh, God forgive me! A man wanted to elope with me. He put his hands on my neck and started speaking Latin. He said it was Latin love poetry, but it did not sound like poetry. After that I agreed to the elopement even though I did not want to. I could not say no. My brother discovered us before we left, and he frightened the man away, but later he started sending me notes whenever my brother was out of town asking me where he had gone and what he was doing, and I had to answer them. I tried so hard not to, but my hands would not obey me.” Tears began to run down her cheeks.
For once he did not mind the tears. They were nothing compared to the reality of knowing there truly was an active sorcerer living in their midst. “Who is the man?”
She dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. “His name is Wickham.”
“George Wickham?” he asked sharply.
She nodded. “Do you know him?” she asked anxiously.
Eversleigh sat down hard. The pieces fit together all too well. Wickham wanting to know Darcy’s whereabouts so he could choose the locations for his dry wells. Wickham possessing the sorcery to force his friends to persecute Darcy to the point of unreason. There was still the matter of the missing water mage, but that could wait.
A living sorcerer. Why had he ever wished to be Master of the Collegium?
He had to do this properly. “He was once a member of the Collegium. Thank you for telling me. You are very brave. I believe you, but now I do need to check you for the presence of sorcery. I will need to touch your...” He almost said neck, but that was what Wickham had done to her. “Your wrist.” He would have to use wild magic that way, but after all the other rules he had broken in the last few weeks, what was one more?
Silently she pulled off her glove and held out her wrist.
With his fingers on her pulse, Eversleigh closed his eyes and saw himself sailing through an ocean, a bright red ocean, in an ancient trireme. The current pulled his boat forward, and the wind was at his back. A green island loomed ahead. He landed the boat on a rocky beach and disembarked into a garden. Some of it was neatly planted, some of it grew riotously, and some parts were shrouded in mist.
There it was, a snake slithering between two rosebushes. With a lightning speed he did not possess in real life, Eversleigh grabbed it behind the head and drew its fangs. The snake screamed and slithered away. Eversleigh stared after it for a moment before returning to his ship. He pushed off into the ocean... and was sitting in his study with his fingers on Miss Darcy’s wrist.
... and holding dripping snake fangs in his other hand. Sorcerous snake fangs. With an oath, he jumped up, ran to his desk and dropped the fangs in the top drawer, slammed it shut and turned the key. He wiped the remaining venom off his hand with his handkerchief and poured half a bottle of brandy over his palm for good measure, heedless of the mess. His housekeeper was going to kill him.
He had not expected any of that. There was a reason they called it wild magic.
“What was that?” Miss Darcy’s voice quavered.
“That would be rather complicated to explain, but I did something that may weaken the spell.”
“Can you not remove it?”
He chose his words with care. “I could, but it might damage your mind. There are better ways of dealing with that.” Like asking Aelfric to help, or killing George Wickham. He was not usually a bloodthirsty man, but the latter sounded quite appealing at the moment.
“I do not mind the risk. I cannot stand having it in me. ”
“I mind the risk very much indeed. We will keep you safe until it can be removed. First, I am going to take you home, and we will explain this to your brother. He can set up wards like this for you.”
“He is not there,” she said in a small voice. “He left this morning for Portugal to serve with Wellington.”
“He did what? Never mind; I heard you.” He could hardly leave a young girl under a sorcerer’s spell without protection, especially with the sorcerer still free. Lord Matlock was her uncle and could defend her better than anyone, but he was at Rosings preparing for the revel. “Whose care did Darcy leave you in?”
“He made my cousin, Richard Fitzwilliam, my guardian, but he is at Rosings.”
As were Frederica and almost everyone he could trust with the situation. Except Aelfric, who would remain in Faerie until the revel actually began.
“Miss Darcy, I think I had best take you on a journey. Has your brother spoken to you about his trips to Faerie?”