A mid-sized dragon awaited them in the vast chamber, “Welcome, Companion Elizabeth. We have been expecting you. But where is your mate?”
“Lost,” she said with a catch in her voice. “Taken by soldiers, who are hunting for this Nest. Oh, there is so much I must tell you, to warn you, but my baby is coming and I must go through the Gate as swiftly as possible.”
The dragon exchanged a glance with Cerridwen, the tingle of rapid sendings filling the air. “Will you tell me quickly?”
Another pain lanced through her, making her clutch her stomach. “There is…so much,” she gasped. “Pray, could you not read me instead?”
The Kith woman put an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder. “She is in no condition to explain, not while she is in childbirth. The need for haste is great.”
The dragon extended his forelegs. Elizabeth grasped them, turning her gaze up into his huge gold ringed eyes. She could not organize her thoughts, only put the memory of the day before him, all the agony and the fear, and everything she knew about Napoleon’s dragon lodestone.
His presence in her mind was delicate, but his shock was palpable, as was his horror. He withdrew and said, “I must take this to the Eldest instantly.”
“I beg you, may I go through the Gate first? There is no time to lose.”
“Someone is coming to help you through it. We are in your debt, Companion Elizabeth, for your warning.”
But none of that would stop her child from being born too soon.
Chapter 34
This should have beena glorious moment, riding from the Dark Peak Nest to Pemberley on dragonback, even in the full dark necessary to protect the secrecy of the Nest.
But Elizabeth wept through it all. Until then, too much had been happening for her to think. The Gate, falling into the Dark Peak Nest and the brief period of disorientation afterwards, facing the many questions from the dragons while waiting for the night to fall.
Now, sitting astride Quickthorn’s shoulders in a cleverly contrived harness, with no distractions, her predicament became all too real. Darcy, whom she would never see again. Their child, whose movements had been her steady companion these last months, would be the only part of Darcy she had left – but she knew all too well how often babies born early did not survive their first days.
And oh, how she wanted this child! How could she bear losing both of them?
We are almost there.Quickthorn’s voice in her head. Even Quickthorn, who was always irritable and never comforting, knew how distressed she was. She could hardly miss it, though, when with each pain, Elizabeth had leaned forward on the dragon’s neck and whimpered?
“You are very kind.” It was all she could manage.
Then there were lights ahead of them, and the dragon glided more slowly until a thump traveled up Elizabeth’s spine. They had landed in a circle of lanterns.
And among a crowd of people, far more than she would expect to come racing toward a very large dragon. Elizabeth brushed away her tears as the faces swam into focus. Mrs. Reynolds and Frederica in the lead. Mrs. Sanford, thank heavens! And was that Roderick? What was he doing here? Half a dozen footman, too.
Of course. Quickthorn must have told Frederica what was happening, and she had rallied the troops.
Elizabeth fumbled with the buckles on her harness. Then Roderick was there, pulling himself up beside her, snapping the links with an experienced touch.
He helped her down into the waiting hands of a tall golden-haired gentleman she did not recognize. She was too distraught even to care that she was being carried by an unknown man.
The stranger set her on her feet, and the power of Pemberley came up to meet her, as if recognizing her desperate need. The blessed strength of it, the depth of it, flowing into her and giving her new life.
Mrs. Reynolds commanded, “Bring the chair.” Two footmen came forward and set an oddly shaped wooden chair before her. “Pray sit, Mrs. Darcy. They will carry you to your room.”
“I can walk,” said Elizabeth. And it was true, especially with Talent burning into her from the land, filling the places that had been empty since she left.
“You can, but you will not,” snapped the housekeeper.
Elizabeth stared at her in shock, and then saw the fear in the older woman’s expression. She had forgotten that other people cared about her baby, too. Chastened, she sank down in the chair and let the footmen bear her to the familiar hall and up the stairs. She was back, home at last.
But Darcy should be here, too. It was his home, and he would never see it again.
She closed her eyes and let her head sink back.
Upstairs, Chandrika, her face tight, helped her into bed. Frederica and Mrs. Reynolds hovered nearby.
