Chapter 14 #2
Coquelicot said sadly, “I wish I had mutinied against my Nest. Even if I failed, at least I would have tried.”
“I am not yet ready to break with them,” Quickthorn said. “I still hope to persuade them, but it may come to that.”
Darcy looked up at the sound of Elizabeth’s particular rhythmic knock on his study door, a warm smile already blooming on his face. “Pray come in,” he said as he rose to his feet.
It had finally been calm at Pemberley in the last fortnight. Surprisingly, there had been no word from the War Office or Cattermole, much less an attempt to arrest him.
Which was just as well, with Coquelicot in mourning, and Darcy trying hard to distract himself from thinking of Jack. Elizabeth’s presence was the only thing that could truly get his mind off his brother.
Today she was frowning, and she held a sheet of paper in her hand. “I have received an odd letter from your mother,” she said. “Odder than usual, that is.”
Darcy stole a quick kiss. “What does she want?” Lady Anne never sent word unless she had a purpose.
Elizabeth glanced down at the letter, as if hoping it would say something different this time. “She asks me to have the Dower House prepared for her arrival, as she intends to take up residence there.”
“What?” Darcy exclaimed, with more shock than manners. This was not good news. There was far too much happening at Pemberley that the King’s Mage ought not know about. “But she has to remain in London for her work.”
“Not anymore, apparently. She says she has stepped down as King’s Mage.”
He took in a sharp breath. “Impossible! That position is her life! And who could possibly take her place?”
“She does not address that.” She handed him the paper.
Still unable to credit the news, he scanned the letter. It was no more than a note, saying precisely what Elizabeth had reported, and with no more polite niceties than a brief hope that they were all well. “If it were not in her hand, I would not believe it. I am still not certain I do.”
Elizabeth hesitated. “Is it possible this might have to do with Jenny? Perhaps, after losing Jack and her daughter, she wants to spend time with her granddaughter.” She sounded dubious, as well she might.
If only he could tell her about Jack! “I seriously doubt that. She had so little time for any of us, and I fail to see why that might have changed.” Even now, she had sent this business-like letter to his wife, whom she barely knew, rather than to him.
Irritatingly, it still hurt. Did she think he would not care?
Would he care at all, if not for the inconvenience of it?
His mother’s arrival was going to upset Georgiana dreadfully.
His sister might even decide to return to London rather than deal with Lady Anne – which at least would simplify the matter of the fae attacks.
Then there was the question of the dragons, including Rana Akshaya.
And what would Lady Anne say when she discovered that his illegitimate half-sister was a regular caller?
This was going to be sticky, no question about it.
Frederica poked her head inside the study door, her eyes wide. “May I interrupt? I have had some shocking news.”
Elizabeth said, “Did Lady Anne write to you, too?”
Frederica swished into the room. “Worse than that.” She closed the door behind her. “The Prime Minister.”
Very little could have caught Darcy’s attention at that moment, but this did. “Lord Liverpool? What does he want from you?”
Frederica handed her letter to Elizabeth, who was standing closest to her. “I am commanded to return to Town immediately to take up the duties of the King’s Mage – because Lady Anne has been relieved of her post!”
“Relieved?” Darcy echoed, shocked. “She told Elizabeth she was stepping down! Good God, what is going on?” He might distrust Lady Anne as a mother, but he could not believe she would betray her position.
It was the most important thing to her in the world, far beyond her children.
“I wonder if Lady Amelia has something to do with this.”
“Granny? I would not put it past her to interfere, but why?” Elizabeth said. “Frederica, what will you do?”
Frederica tossed her head. “I will refuse, of course.”
“Can you do that?” Darcy asked.
“I am sure Lord Liverpool would say I must obey, and no doubt he will even get a royal command for it, but it is simply impossible. What of my bond to the Nest? I cannot live in London with Quickthorn. Even if I could, I would not want to. My loyalties lie elsewhere now.”
That was easier said than done, when it came to the government. “Is there anyone else who can do the job?”
Frederica shrugged. “Not really. Elizabeth’s sister Mary has only been using her magery for a year, and after that it is just my completely untrained brothers.”
“But the King’s Mage is the last defense for the royal family and the government,” Darcy said slowly.
Frederica cocked her head. “True, though that is a problem of their own making. There never was a need for a King’s Mage before Parliament decided to give the throne to a branch of the family that had no Talent of their own.
I fail to see why I should have to break my vows to the Nest and give up being a dragon companion because the government did not think ahead.
” She wrinkled her nose. “I suppose they could offer it to Mortimer Percy, but ugh! Or why not Granny? She has ten times the Talent I do.”
Elizabeth gave a weak chuckle. “I pity the man who tries to convince her to take it on!”
“If she can refuse it, then so can I,” Frederica said stoutly.
She was right. What the government did was no longer Darcy’s problem, either.
The War Office had made that clear when they had disowned any responsibility for his mission, leaving him to take the blame for acting on his own.
Even if they had only done so to slow Napoleon’s invasion, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Elizabeth looked back at her own letter. “I suppose I should ask Mrs. Reynolds to prepare the Dower House. Even when we opened it for Frederica, we left some of the rooms closed. I imagine Lady Anne will want a full staff, too.”
“Indubitably,” said Darcy. His mother expected the best of everything. “We do not want to give her any excuses why she might have to stay in this house instead.”