Chapter 11
“You are kind to check on me, Little One. Everyone here has been very good to me,” Coquelicot said. “Quickthorn and Cerridwen have explained many things, and your Eldest granted me an audience. It went well.”
“Already?” Darcy asked in surprise. No one had mentioned Coquelicot leaving the house, but this was good news. “I had not realized you visited the Nest already.”
“I have not. I meant the Eldest downstairs, the one you call Rana Akshaya. Even if she has no Nest, it would have been terribly rude for me to stay here without paying my respects.”
Should he correct her about Rana Akshaya’s status as a guest? No, better not to assume anything about dragon protocol. “If there is anything else you would like for your comfort, I would be glad to know of it.” He could never repay what she had done for him.
Some anxiety entered her aura – shyness, perhaps? “I would like to meet your familiar, if I may. The one in the shape of a big cat. It is an unusual thing, to have both a familiar and a dragon bond, even a lesser one. His bond to you came first, and I must acknowledge that.”
“I will ask him. That would have to be outside, as he does not come into the house.” Except the one time the lynx had terrified the servants by doing so when Elizabeth was near death, but that was not an experiment Darcy was in a hurry to repeat.
She ducked her head. “And your little hatchling? May I make her acquaintance, too? I have heard so much about her already.”
For a moment he thought she must mean Agate, the nestling who watched over Jenny.
“My daughter? Of course. I would be glad of that.” Jenny had been a little fretful the last few days.
Nelly had said it was nothing, but Coquelicot would be able to tell for certain – and to fix anything that was wrong.
And how could he keep from worrying about his tiny daughter who had nearly died once already? “Shall I fetch her now?”
The French dragon beamed. “Oh, yes, that would be delightful!”
Coquelicot bent over the tiny form in his arms. “Could you free her hands for me?” the dragon asked.
Carefully Darcy reached down and unwrapped the swaddling cloth. He was growing accustomed to how small Jenny was, but those impossibly tiny fingers, with their perfect miniature nails, still made his heart skip a beat. Every single time. How could his daughter be so utterly perfect?
Cradling her against his chest sent a rush of satisfaction and pride through him. How could anyone love a child this much?
Her unfocused blue eyes blinked at him as the dragon's huge foreleg reached towards her. Good God, those talons alone were as big as she was! An impulse seized him to pull her away, but this was Coquelicot, whom he trusted. Still, he had to struggle against his instincts to stay still.
The dragon touched the side of one talon lightly against Jenny's miniature hand where it lay on her chest, carefully pointing the sharp tip away. The infant's fingers slipped around the narrow form and gripped it.
He could tell Jenny was pleased. Elizabeth and all the other women said she was far too young to smile, but he could tell she was smiling. She liked Coquelicot!
“Oh, how delightful! Her Talent has a trace of me!” the ruby dragon exclaimed.
Darcy tore his eyes away from his astonishing baby to look up at the dragon. “She does? How could that be?” And how could Jenny's Talent already be palpable, when most mage children lacked any until they reached adolescence? She was barely a fortnight old!
Coquelicot did not seem to find this question of any great interest. “Exposure to your blood, perhaps, which has a tinge of mine through the lesser bond.” She fell into silence, and a rush of familiar dragon magic filled the room.
Had she found something wrong with Jenny, something that needed healing?
The infant seemed untroubled by whatever she was doing.
If anything, she seemed fascinated by the giant head so close to her, almost as if she wished she could reach out and touch that, too.
Of course, his Jenny had been exposed to dragon magic since her conception. It would hardly feel unusual to her.
Then he felt the baby relax in his arms. Now she was definitely smiling, even if it did not show on her face.
Which was frightening in its own right, for what it might mean. “What did you do? Is something wrong with her?” Had Rana Akshaya's healing failed to fix Jenny's heart?
“Nothing dangerous, Little One, but I helped her. Her lungs are not yet fully ready for the world, so I cleaned them a bit and convinced them to grow. She had a healing before, yes? It was very well done, but she is still working hard to recover from it. I gave her some energy, so that she need not labor quite so much.”
No wonder Jenny seemed happier. He held her even closer. If only he could protect her better! He hated that she had to suffer for even a moment.
Did fatherhood turn all men into such a heap of ridiculous sentiment? Or only the ones who had truly extraordinary children like Jenny?
Elizabeth would tease him for that. The idea made him smile, too. But Jenny was extraordinary, between all the magic in her making and the prophecy about her. Even her land bonding had been unusual.
“Coquelicot,” he said suddenly. “A strange thing happened when I performed the rites for Jenny's land bond, when I buried her afterbirth and shed my blood on the ground over it. A tiny poppy bloomed out of the spot where my blood fell, so quickly that we could watch it grow, and quite out of season.”
Her aura suffused with pleasure. “Even with only the lesser bond? How splendid! That is how I took my name.”
Darcy studied her. Coquelicot's English usually seemed so good, but then she spouted what seemed to be nonsense. “What do you mean?”
“A poppy appeared when my dearest companion did blood magic, too. I thought it was a sign, so I changed my use-name to Coquelicot in his honor. But it must be the bond to me, or it would not happen with you, too.”
Oh. Of course. The French word for poppy was Coquelicot. He should have made that connection. “I thought all the dragons in your Nest had flower names, like the ones from the Dark Nest have tree names.”
She beamed. “Yes, that was our generation's choice. But I was Valériane before that.”
“Coquelicot suits you better,” he said. How could the lesser bond be so strong, though, that it affected his magic? “Is that why you can sense yourself in her Talent?”
“No doubt. But it is a sign that the elixir I made creates a stronger bond than the typical lesser bond. You would not have been able to touch my magic otherwise.” She sounded very pleased.
“Is it different, then?” He shifted Jenny from one arm to the other.
“Perhaps it is a third kind of bond, at least while you drink the elixir.”
Ah, yes. And that was another question. “With the extra vials you gave me, I only have enough for two more days.”
A shade of worry swept through her usually warm, generous aura. “Would you be willing to take it a little longer, at least until your Nest comes to a decision?”
“Of course. It is an honor.” And he meant it, too. He had never truly understood why Elizabeth felt so strongly about her bond to Cerridwen, but now, even with this weaker bond, it was clear. He would miss this connection when it inevitably ended.
“I should be truthful, though. The elixir was an experiment. I am too old to make a lesser bond with an Artifact, the way a youngster could. The other way to create the lesser bond means taking in a small amount of our blood. When it leaves your body naturally, the bond is gone. But that would have killed you, since my blood is too strong for mortals. So I invented the elixir, which makes you absorb just a trace of our mingled blood. I hoped it would be enough to get you through the Gate, and for me to follow you. But I cannot say what it will do now, for these are uncharted lands. Or --” She cut herself off suddenly.
“Do you fear that it will harm me?”
“No, not that.” She heaved her massive shoulders. “Only how the other dragons will react if they find out what I did. They will not like it.”
“Must you tell them?” He did not want to give the Nest any reason to refuse to let Coquelicot stay.
“Not yet, but if the mad dragon comes closer, I must. It could give the older dragons, the ones too strong for a traditional lesser bond, a chance to escape him, as it did for me.” Her aura darkened into sadness.
“I left instructions at my own Nest, but I doubt they will take them seriously. They do not value healing gifts.”
He knew that much was true; he had heard it during the fortnight he had waited in the Vosges Nest. Coquelicot had been Jack's favorite among the dragons, but her fellow nest-mates looked down on her for enjoying the company of humans.
“I am grateful beyond measure for your skills, and I honor your courage in coming all this way for the sake of your eggs.” He glanced down at Jenny, who had fallen asleep again. He would do anything for her sake.
“I hope the Nest here will keep them safe.”
He owed her so much. “If they will not, we will find another way. They are already working to restore an old dragon nursery here at Pemberley, under our Dragon Stones. It will be for the eggs and nestlings that your Nest sent through the Gate.”
Her aspect brightened. “A nidiaire, right here?” She used a French word he had never heard before.
“If that means a dragon nursery, yes.” He tipped his head towards the window, careful not to disturb Jenny. “Near the top of that ridge.”
“It is good, that they are making room. I feared they might be already overcrowded and would have no room for my eggs.”
“Will you be needing it soon?” How did one politely ask a dragon when she expected to lay her eggs?