Chapter 10
“The dragon nursery is coming along well,” Darcy told Elizabeth when he returned late that morning.
“I did not expect many tenants would be willing to help, even for a reduction in rent. It is hard, dirty work, but they are lining up for the chance. Apparently I underestimated the attraction of having contact with the dragons. They have already dug up the old entrance and have cleared much of the chamber.” He was looking forward to seeing that ancient construction himself.
“To think it has been under there all these centuries, with no one the wiser!” Elizabeth said.
“I assumed it was a cavern. There are so many of them in these hills,” Darcy replied.
And then a draconic voice spoke in Darcy’s head. Greetings, Little One.
For a moment Darcy was confused. It sounded like Coquelicot, the French dragon who had healed him and helped him through the Gate in France by creating a temporary bond with him. But surely she could not be sending to him from the Vosges Nest in eastern France!
I am here, just beyond your wards. Will you allow me in?
Elizabeth frowned. “Is something the matter? You look pale.”
He held up a hand to stop her, unable to focus on two conversations at once. Of course. Where are you? he sent to the dragon. A sending that was unusually easy for him. Normally anything that far out of sight was nearly impossible for him.
An image formed in his mind. The road outside the Pemberley gatehouse, as viewed from above.
How could she be so far from her Nest? Was she, like Rana Akshaya, an exception to the rule?
I will come straight away, Darcy sent.
He stood. “I must go. A dragon from the Vosges Nest, the one who formed the lesser bond to me, is just outside the gatehouse. She wants to talk to me.”
Elizabeth scrutinized him. “A dragon from France, here? Is this a trick of some sort?”
“I recognized her presence in my mind. It is her.”
Elizabeth grabbed his wrist. “Stop. It may be her, but she could be under the influence of Napoleon. Or someone could be imitating her. Or any number of things. You cannot simply walk out there to a dragon whose presence we cannot explain!”
He looked down at her hand. She was right.
He had implicitly trusted the voice, but Napoleon had managed to overcome all his suspicions, too, clouding his mind with his magic.
Still, Coquelicot had helped him, more than he could explain to Elizabeth, since he was bound against revealing how she had healed his wounds.
He owed the French dragon so much – and she might have word from Jack.
“Will you come with me, then? Or should we ask Cerridwen to join us?” Even that much went against the grain.
“Both of us,” she said. “And Quickthorn, too.”
It took longer to reach Coquelicot than Darcy would have liked.
He had insisted on having the phaeton brought round to carry Elizabeth.
She had stoutly insisted she could walk the mile to the gate, but she had seemed relieved not to have to do so.
Childbirth did extract a price on the body, after all.
When they finally arrived, his eyes were caught by a hawk gliding down from a tree across the lane. It landed just beyond the gatehouse. And then it transformed into the French dragon.
It was her, without question. Darcy would have recognized her by her proud head and her bronze scales with their vivid ruby highlights, but the aura she gave off was unmistakable.
So was the distinct pleasure he felt on seeing her.
Was that a residual of their temporary bond?
Still, she had given him reason to trust her even before the bonding.
She looked bedraggled, though, her luminescent scales dimmed with dust and dirt, her wings drooping.
“We meet again, Little One,” she said. The same pet name she had used for Jack, and her accent in English had an echo of his brother, too.
Had she learned it from him? It made Darcy ache for Jack’s presence.
He glanced at Elizabeth. “An unexpected meeting, but a welcome one,” he said. Elizabeth was right to be suspicious, but he knew this dragon. “I did not expect to see you here, so far from your Nest.”
She lowered her great head. “I fear I deceived you, Little One. After we formed the lesser bond so you could pass through the Gate, I told you it was important to continue drinking the elixir for a fortnight afterwards. I knew you would assume it was necessary to you, but it was solely for my sake. It kept the lesser bond alive, so that I could leave the Nest and travel here to you.”
So Coquelicot had misled him. The lesser bond was still in place, since he had taken the tincture each day. Roderick had said it was unusual that Coquelicot had told him to use it, but Darcy had paid no attention. The Welshman had been right, as he usually was when it came to dragons.
Her deception did not trouble him, even though normally he hated being lied to, even by omission. Was that because of the bond, which made him certain she had not done so maliciously?
Why had she wanted to come here? Dragons did not like direct questions, though, so he said carefully, “You must have had a strong reason to make such a long journey.”
“My Nest cannot stand for long against the might of the dragon emperor,” she said sadly. “This was my only chance to flee, since I am too old to form a companion bond. When you needed my help, I saw my chance and took it.”
He could not blame her for that, though he wished she had told him at the time. He would have happily volunteered to help her.
Elizabeth nudged his elbow. “William, pray introduce me,” she said in a low voice.
“Forgive me,” he whispered back. Then he said aloud, “Honored Coquelicot, may I present my wife, Companion Elizabeth of the Dark Peak Nest? She is the one who passed through your Nest a few days before my arrival. Elizabeth, Coquelicot is the…” He stumbled over his words.
Apparently the binding against speaking of his healing still stood. “She formed the lesser bond with me.”
Coquelicot dipped her head. “Greetings, Companion Elizabeth. I would consider it a kindness if you informed your Nest of my arrival.”
“My dragon is overhead, watching from a distance, and the Nest’s truth-caster is on her way,” Elizabeth said. “I would wish to welcome you in, but in these days of traitor dragons, we must take every precaution.”
“That is wise, although I wish it were not so,” the French dragon said sadly.
“I never thought to live in such dark times. I owe you this much honesty, though. You can easily dispose of the risk I pose. Should your mate not drink the elixir tomorrow, I will not live beyond a day or two. I cannot survive this far from my Nest.”
Her grief hit him like a hammer. “I only have enough for another day, but if you can provide me with more, I will continue to take it as long as you like,” he said instantly.
And he would, even if the Nest said he should not.
If it were not for Coquelicot he would still be in constant pain – and trapped in France.
Her aura lightened, and Darcy breathed easier. But he could feel the annoyance radiating from Elizabeth. Likely he should have asked her opinion first. After all, she knew more about dragons than he.
She spoke directly to the dragon. “Honored Coquelicot, I cannot imagine that you would hope to keep a lesser bond to my husband indefinitely.”
“Of course not. I wish to appeal to your Nest for refuge. If they cannot grant that, I will ask them to allow me to remain here long enough to lay my eggs in their breeding grounds, where they will be safe.”
Elizabeth frowned. “But if they do not give you refuge, then…”
“Then I will die,” she said, her voice wavering. “It is a fair price to pay, though, for my hatchlings to grow up free of the burden of enslavement to the Wicked King.”
Her eggs. Yes, now that he knew to look, Darcy could tell that her belly was distended.
How had she flown all the way from France in that condition?
No wonder she looked tired! Just like Elizabeth, who had traipsed half-way across France while increasing, and he had hated that, too.
“Is there anything I can get you for your comfort? Food or drink?” he asked.
Before she could answer, Cerridwen and Quickthorn appeared, flying down to land behind them in the lane.
The hairs on Darcy’s arms rose as magic flew past him. Sendings, no doubt. Was Elizabeth reporting what she had learned so far? Then she took his hand and tugged him back in the direction of the house, out of the way of the dragons.
“This is up to them now,” she whispered. “Pray do not interfere.”
That stung. “I am the only one here who knows Coquelicot, who can vouch for what she was like when she was not seeking our help. She was very generous to me, and…” Damn these bindings!
How could he say it, when he could not mention his healing or anything about his supposedly dead brother?
“And someone I trust very much was fond of her.”
Elizabeth’s brows furrowed. “How much could you trust someone you had only known for what, a week? Ten days?”
Devil take it! There he was, trapped again by that damnable binding.
Cerridwen saved him. “Darcy, pray come back here. Coquelicot will be more comfortable if you are closer to her.”
“With pleasure.” Darcy strode to them, taking up a position as close to the French dragon as possible without crossing the wards. Not that he was afraid of her, but there were still High Fae and French assassins out there looking for him. Would he ever be free to leave Pemberley again?
Coquelicot brightened visibly at his approach, standing straighter. It was a disturbing sensation, that a powerful dragon could be so affected by his mere presence.
The old gatekeeper hobbled up next to him, as if he could somehow defend his employer from this strange dragon. Darcy had given Thompson this position after age and an accident had made farm work impossible for him, and he was unswervingly loyal.