She threw her arms around the dragon, or at least the tiny amount she could reach, and burst into sobs.
Darcy froze. He had never seen Georgiana respond this way to anyone except him. How had this dragon whom she had just met earned her trust so quickly, when others could not do so even after years?
The other dragons drew close to Georgiana and began a low humming, lines of melody intertwining, the air around them seeming to vibrate.
They seemed to have lost any interest in Darcy. He sidled over to Elizabeth, who stood some feet away. “What are they doing?” he asked in a low voice.
“Nothing,” she said. “Nothing magical, at least. I think they are trying to comfort her.”
“But she is a threat to them.”
“That does not mean they wish her to suffer,” she snapped. “Can you not feel their auras, their desire to help her?”
The damnable thing was that he could.
This was not how dragons were supposed to behave. They were supposed to destroy anyone who was a threat, not encourage them to sit together and share a flask, even if he could see exactly that happening before his eyes. This made no sense.
Unless Elizabeth had been right all along, and he had been wrong. These dragons were like Cerridwen, not the monstrous ones in Spain.
In which case, they might be the answer to preventing future massacres like Salamanca.
His mind whirled as he took in the possibilities. Was it too late to make allies of them? He had rejected them, just as he had destroyed Elizabeth’s trust in him. It had made sense to him when Sycamore turned on him, but now new evidence stood before him.
It was up to him to mend his own mistakes, to save his marriage, and perhaps his country as well.
“Elizabeth,” he began, but she did not even look at him. He tried again. “I was wrong to judge all dragons by Sycamore’s reaction. This shows me a different side of them.”
Her chest rose in a deep breath, but she paused before looking at him, and even then it was only a glance. “I am glad you can see the truth when it stands before you.” It was grudging, but at least it was an acknowledgment.
“I want to learn more about them. Will you teach me, you and Lady Amelia?” Would she be able to hear his apology in that?
She sighed, but there was no warmth in it, only resignation. “I will have to ask Cerridwen what I can tell you. They have secrets, too, and they know your loyalties lie elsewhere.”
He winced. “My duty is to my country, but my loyalty is to you. I deeply regret causing you to believe otherwise. You deserve trust and honesty from me, and I must learn to reassess my former beliefs.”
Now she turned to look at him, her dark eyes searching his. “Do you actually mean that?”
“I do. I wish I had told you about Georgiana. I should have trusted you not to reject her.”
Her jaw dropped. “Reject her?” Her voice rose in disbelief. “Is that why you kept it a secret?”
He blinked. “Well, yes. Most people would want nothing to do with a changeling.”
“If you judge most people by your mother, perhaps so. But I am not like that.”
“I know,” he said humbly. “I ought to have realized that.”
Beyond them, Georgiana’s voice rose in a song, one in a minor key. The words were carried away on the wind, but he could hear a clicking as the red dragon kept time with his talons. The greenish dragon named Hawthorn produced a little pan pipe from nowhere and played a harmony. Wait – a dragon playing an instrument? In harmony to a tune the dragon could never have heard before?
His understanding of dragons clearly lacked a great deal.
Elizabeth said quietly, “It is good to see her with them. I think she needed this.”
God above, what a relief it was to hear her words, not so much for their meaning but for the sense that once more she saw him as being on the same side, that she might forgive him! Her distance since yesterday had felt like a nightmare, the kind where something precious was forever out of reach, no matter how much he chased after it.
Unable to stop himself, he reached out his hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. When she squeezed them in return, his heart swelled.
Tightening his grip, he said, “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
