She turned her head to look at him in disbelief. “Surprise? How would you feel if you discovered I was bonded to a fae lord? Never mind; you likely would not care, as long as it did not interfere with your precious mission.” She spat the last word.
“Elizabeth, no! It is not that sort of bond!”
“Not that sort of bond?” she mocked, fury burning in her throat. “Then why keep it a secret? I gave up my entire life in Hertfordshire, my birth-blood bond to Longbourn, my sisters, my parents, my friends, all for you. I have been dedicating myself to saving your life. I showed you my Arabic books and taught you magic from them. I told you Cerridwen was a dragon. I nearly died bonding to Pemberley for your sake. And you could not even be honest with me! All that time you scorned my blood bonds, and you – you had your own secret one to afae!”
He paled. “I am sorry. I swore an oath never to reveal this secret.”
“You made a vow to me at our wedding, too! One which I clearly took more seriously than you did. Trusting you is not a mistake I shall make again.”
He reached out a hand to her, but she ignored it. “Elizabeth, I can understand why you are angry–”
“Anger does not begin to describe it,” she snapped. “Betrayal. Humiliation. I trusted you. I defended you to my great-grandmother, and you made me look like a fool. How could you do this to me?”
He looked away, appearing to study a nearby oak, taking a deep, harsh breath. “That was never my intention, as you will see when you understand more of my situation. If you wish to hear my explanation to Lady Amelia, you are welcome to join me. The rest will have to wait until later.”
He turned to climb back up the riverbank. She followed, seething. Did he truly expect her to forgive him even for this? Did he care if she did?
She rested her hand on her abdomen, over the new life beginning in her. No, it would not matter to him. He already had what he wanted from her.
Even inside the small cottage, Elizabeth could not bear to look at Darcy. Instead, she watched Granny, who was ensconced on the chair by the hearth, the quilt from the bed over her knees.
Despite being the very image of a weak old lady, Granny’s voice was strong. “This had better be good, young man. And I will remind you I am a truth-caster, so pray do not deviate from the facts.”
“I would not have done so,” he said coldly. “I may have kept a secret, but I hold my honor close.”
His honor. Elizabeth curled her lip. What honor had he shown her by hiding this? She crossed to stand in front of the small window, where the light behind her might hide her expression in the dimness.
Granny snorted. “Then tell me about it.”
Darcy folded his hands behind his back. “It begins with my sister, who is more than ten years my junior. When she was four, my mother visited her and then disappeared immediately afterwards. When she never returned, Georgiana believed herself to have been at fault. My father’s main interest in her was the eventual royal dowry she was expected to bring. When she failed to develop a Talent, he considered her a complete loss. She had no playmates, just a series of nurses and tutors, and she became very attached to me. Since my father’s death, I have been her guardian.” His voice was clipped.
“I fail to see what this has to do with a fae lady,” said Granny crossly.
“After ten years, my mother reappeared alive and well, with the shocking news that she had gone to Faerie on discovering that Georgiana was not her daughter, but a changeling.”
Elizabeth sucked in her breath. It could not be. “Impossible! She is the very image of your mother!” The words burst out of her.
“A glamour set on her at birth, at a guess,” he said. “My mother went to Faerie to rescue her true child, but failed. She disowned Georgiana completely, although at my insistence, she kept the matter private.”
“How very like a Fitzwilliam,” sniffed Granny.
Darcy ignored her words. “Georgiana went into a decline, withdrawing into herself, unable to sleep or eat. Our father was dead, she had been rejected by the only mother she had ever known, and she expected me to do the same. She could see no reason I would stand by her when we shared no blood, and she was not even human.”
Granny narrowed her eyes. “She did not wish to return to Faerie?”
“To the people who had sent her away at birth, exchanging her for a different child? To a world she does not understand, where she knows no one? No. But she thought I would throw her out on the streets.” A haunted look crept into his eyes. “To my mind, she was still my sister, the same girl she had always been, and nothing had changed. She did not believe me, saying I would eventually discard her as everyone else had.”
It was a tragedy for Georgiana, without question. But it also meant heartbreak for Elizabeth if it had brought Darcy into the way of the hauntingly beautiful ladies of Faerie.
He cleared his throat. “I became sufficiently concerned for her well-being that one night, in a moment of incomplete rationality, I offered to swear blood brotherhood. I knew boys at school who had done such things on a dare, and, while I disapproved, I could think of nothing else to reassure her. She seized on the idea, and we exchanged blood. It helped, in that Georgiana recovered from her decline, but I also learned how very dangerous blood magic is. I was fortunate to survive. I swore never to touch blood magic again.”
The bond was toGeorgiana?
Or so he claimed. Could she even believe anything he said?
Granny snorted. “Good Lord, where is your sense of proportion? A blood bond to a high-ranking fae is dangerous. So is leaping off a cliff, butthat does not mean it is dangerous to jump from a chair to the floor. Well, except at my age, perhaps. It does not mean all blood magic is a risk.”
He looked down his nose at her. “Regardless, you wished to know how I came to have a blood bond with a fae, and you can see it has nothing to do with dragons or Napoleon.” He turned to Elizabeth, his eyes narrowed. “Or with another woman.”
