Cold ran down Elizabeth’s spine. “I do not know what you mean.”
“The Welsh dragons wanted someone who understood the behavior of the English. She just told me that.”
That was more than Cerridwen had ever told Elizabeth! She was not about to admit to ignorance, but she would have some questions for Cerridwen later. “Lady Anne traded a lock of her hair for having a daughter and thought it would never rebound upon her?” How foolish could she be? The fae always demanded a high price.
The girl hesitated. “That was only part of the trade, but he never told me the rest. He was terribly pleased with himself about it.”
Of course he had been; the fae delighted in taking advantage of mortals. Why had Lady Anne been desperate enough to take such a risk?
Darcy’s brow furrowed. “Do you know when this bargain took place?”
Georgiana wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Nine months before my birth, if you can call it that.”
Elizabeth calculated back. Darcy would have been, what, ten or eleven then? During that brief time when his mother had been training him to be her heir. A thought struck her. “Would they have chosen her as the King’s Mage if she did not have a daughter?”
Darcy frowned. “It is not a requirement, but it would have been a strike against her. Especially since her sister had a daughter.”
His cousin – and his first wife. Elizabeth hated thinking about her, even though she knew Darcy had never cared for her nor even spent time with her, because of their magical repulsion.
Had Lady Anne truly been so ambitious that she would bargain with the fae in order to become the King’s Mage?
Darcy made a hissing sound between his teeth, and all the color leached from his face.
“What is it?” Elizabeth asked. Not that he lacked reasons to be upset, but this reaction seemed something stronger.
“Nothing,” he said tightly.
Georgiana buried her face in her hands. “I am so sorry! I should never have said anything.”
Elizabeth slid across the bench to put her arm around the girl. “I am very glad you told us. The truth can sometimes be upsetting to hear, but it is still better to have it out in the open.” And she glared at Darcy, who was still sitting in stunned silence.
He tipped his head back and pressed his lips together for a long minute, and then said, “Pray do not blame yourself. This news has distressed me, but I am nothing but proud of how you have comported yourself.”
“For someone who is not even a real person?” she asked in a small voice. “I let you think I was a natural-born fae.”
“You are precisely the same person you have always been,” said Elizabeth. “Just as it does not change my opinion of Cerridwen, either, to know that the first dragons were constructs.” Not that she truly understood what that meant. She needed to learn more about the ways of the fae.
“It is irrelevant,” Darcy said. “You are my sister, and that is all.”
Slowly Georgiana straightened. “But if it is not me, then what is troubling you?”
Darcy sighed. “It may be merely a coincidence, but something else happened around that same time, and it raises an unhappy suspicion in my mind about the second bargain she made.”
“What?” Georgiana’s eyes were round.
“That was when Lady Catherine de Bourgh became ill.”
Georgiana gasped.
Elizabeth asked, “Your aunt?” Why would that be relevant? People became ill every day.
“The very one. It was not a normal illness. She was out of her wits for months. And her Talent never recovered.”
Georgiana’s hand stilled over her lips. “She always said our mother had poisoned her.”
Elizabeth looked from one to the other. “This simply does not make sense. Even if your mother wanted her sister out of her way, there are far simpler ways to do it than making a deal with the King of Faerie. Heavens, people do it all the time simply by spreading malicious gossip or setting up a compromising situation! Not to mention a mortal poison or arranging a carriage accident.”
“You do not know Lady Catherine,” said Darcy heavily. “You are fortunate in that. She was both immensely powerful and completely unscrupulous.”
