And more than anything, he needed Elizabeth by his side.
Chapter 8
Elizabeth’s final vows werearranged faster than Darcy had expected. The dragons he had met with Georgiana joined them along with several others, magic thrumming through the ground with each arrival. Darcy could not touch it, but its undeniable potency filled the room, like the charged air during a thunderstorm. The dragons began to hum, and the power grew even more intense.
It should have been more disturbing, being trapped underground with all these dragons, and stranger still to be more or less ignored by them. The entire room was silent except for that odd, reverberating humming. He should have expected it, since dragons only spoke aloud for the sake of humans. Instead, he felt lost, left out of the mental conversation. But there was such a sensation of celebration, of welcoming Elizabeth, that his natural discomfort eased.
He had expected something like a wedding ceremony, with vows exchanged, and he could not deny the idea had made him uncomfortable. But that did not appear to be the case. Instead, Elizabeth stood alone in front of the Eldest, with Cerridwen joining the other dragons. Now he could see why they called her a hatchling. She was half the size of the others.
Something must have happened, for after a few minutes, the Eldest spoke aloud as she gazed into Elizabeth’s eyes. “You are now a full partnerto your companion, and a part of our Nest. Let this be your second home and we your second family. And so it is done.”
The vows were done? Had the whole ceremony happened in silence, and he had missed it?
Elizabeth’s form seemed to glow for a moment, and then she staggered. Alarmed, Darcy stepped forward – but no, he tried to step forward, but his feet would not leave the intricately tiled floor. Instead, the room blurred around him, a surge of strange, potent magic singing in his veins.
It was like when he was lost in the land, when he let his Talent sink too deeply into Pemberley and struggled to find his way out, but this time he had not used his Talent at all. So why was magic scouring him from the inside out?
What had the dragons done to him? Had he been wrong to trust them? He needed answers, but he could not find the words.
The voice of the Eldest broke through his jumbled thoughts. “It is our custom to grant each new companion a boon to welcome them to our Nest. Do you have a request, Companion Elizabeth, or shall we choose for you?”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I have a request, perhaps an unusual one. You are aware that my husband will soon go on a dangerous mission to France.”
The dragon rumbled, “We cannot help with his mission, since it involves killing.”
Elizabeth raised her chin. “I know. I am asking for something different, that you assist him in coming home safely afterwards.”
This. This was why she wanted him here, why she had wanted to hurry this process along. It stung his pride to see her begging the dragons for help, and yet, of all the things in the world she could have asked for, she had chosen his safety.
His head swam. Should he say something? Could he even make his mouth form intelligible syllables?
The Eldest’s aura had shifted, and she did not seem pleased. “Does this request reflect your own desires, or was it suggested to you?”
Elizabeth’s lips twitched. “Honored one, I strongly suspect my husband is furious with me for asking this, because proud men dislike needing help. It was my idea entirely.”
The dragon’s head swiveled in his direction. “Darcy, step forward. I would hear this from you.”
Somehow Darcy managed to move, first one foot and then the other. It seemed to require an inordinate amount of effort to keep his balance while the magic sparked like lightning in his skull. “I knew nothing of a boon, much less of her plans.” That had made sense, had it not?
The dragon’s nictitating membrane closed slowly and re-opened. “And if you had known, would you have supported her request?”
The lightning sizzles in his brain made it hard to formulate a response. “With all respect, I cannot see any way in which you could help me, so I would see no point in asking.”
“You have little faith,” said the Eldest, with a sound that might have been a snort.
“I…” The rushing in his ears was growing intolerably loud, and his knees gave way.
The dragons’ Nest. That was where he was. He had been telling the dragons…something, and then… nothing. And now he was lying on a pile of cushions in the enormous chamber of the Eldest, the scent of smoke and metal prickling in his nose. He raised his head, and Elizabeth’s face appeared in his vision.
“Thank heavens! You frightened me,” she said.
Darcy stared up at her. “What did they do to me?” he asked hoarsely.
She bit her lip. “The dragons? They did nothing. It was my fault, although unintentionally done. Taking the final vows gave me full access to my dragon companion magic. Somehow that unexpectedly affected you. Ihave had many years to adjust to the power, even though I could not use it, but you have not.”
“They had control of your magic?” He did not like the sound of that.
“They say it is the usual process when a companion bonds as a young child. My body could not manage dragon magic then, so they…well, perhaps the best description would be that they put a bridle on my ability to use it. Usually it would have been removed when I was sixteen, but I never went back to the Welsh Nest for my final vows. It is gone now, which feels odd.” She paused. “It is affecting you through our blood link, because I am increasing.”
