Soon, though, she could care about nothing but escaping from the forest before she starved, and that was Darcy’s fault, too. If not for him, she would not have gone through the faerie ring. Then Darcy had magically appeared before her, made the deadly forest go away, and saved her life.
Now she was in his arms, exhausted, on the verge of tears, and feeling things she did not want to feel for a man she could not entirely trust, stranded in this new, terrifying Faerie. It had been a welcoming place for her as a child. Now it was filled with dangerous glamour traps which could kill her, and the mere presence of her feet on the ground was considered pollution. She had run to Faerie for safety and found it anything but safe. She frantically blinked back tears before Darcy could notice them.
And, of course, her only mortal companion would have to be a mage. All those years she had worked so hard to stay far from any mage apart from her father, and now she could not get away from them. Her opinion of mages had not improved for the experience, even if Darcy had saved her from the glamour trap.
Darcy said something under his breath that sounded like a curse.
“Is something the matter?” she asked.
“Apart from the obvious, no, simply a foolish thing I did in coming here. I had been planning to sit by the faerie ring and read, and I just realized I left a century-old spell book outside on a day that was beginning to look like rain.”
Why did he have to choose that topic now when she was so anxious and exhausted? “It would make no difference to me if every spell book in existence was buried six fathoms under the ocean.” She regretted her words as soon as she said them.
He paused, as if thinking carefully before responding. “I was under the impression you valued books.”
“Books that I have even the slightest possibility of reading, yes. Books that are forbidden to me, even though the knowledge within them might be of great benefit to me, I cannot have a fondness for. I dislike the hoarding of knowledge. Sometimes I think the Collegium cares more about its own existence than anything else.”
“I wish you were permitted to read them.” His voice was low. “But the information in those books could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.”
She could not seem to keep the words from pouring from her mouth. “Do you not realize how arrogant that is? But mages never lack for arrogance, no matter how amiable they seem. When I was exhausted after healing Lady Catherine, Colonel Fitzwilliam took it on himself to pour his magic into me. I am sure his motives were good, and I might even have appreciated it if he had asked me about it first. And he asked you to heal my burns. You, not me. It was my hand. How would you feel about someone performing unasked spells upon you when you were in a weakened state? But you and your cousin are mages, so you think nothing of forcing your magic on me, and you consider yourselves generous for having done so.”
This time he was silent for longer, and she could feel the tensionin his arm around her waist. “You were unwell, and we had been working together. But I acknowledge that we should have asked first. It was an unusual situation.”
“But that is what mages always do. As soon as Lord Matlock was introduced to me, he tried some sort of spell on me. When I tried to run away, he cast another spell to hold me captive. Where was my choice there?”
“He should not have done that, and I told him so. But Richard and I would have protected you. There was no reason to be afraid.”
“I had every reason to be afraid! Why should I have seen the two of you as my allies? You had schemed to summon Lord Matlock and kept it a secret from me. You are his family. None of the servants would have lifted a finger to protect me from Lady Catherine’s brother and nephews, and my paltry untrained power was no match for three trained mages. I will grant that you, with your better knowledge of your uncle, are likely correct that he would not have harmed me further. Perhaps if the three of you had explained what you were about instead of leaving me helpless, I might not have felt that I had to flee. You mages are not even aware of how high-handed you are.” She had said too much; she knew that, but she had spent such a long time dwelling on all this in the glamour forest. Oh, her cursed temper.
Darcy sucked in a long breath. “I could defend myself against some small parts of your charges, but there is no point. You have made your sentiments quite clear. May I suggest we put off any further discussion until we are safely back at Rosings?” His voice was cold.
She bowed her head. How could she have spoken so to him? He had come to Faerie to help her, and he had done nothing to deserve her ire apart from mentioning a spell book. She said quietly, “I do recognize you had no choice but to cast the spell of clear vision on me without my permission, and you likely saved my life by doing so.”
“Thank you,” he said stiffly, and then there was only icy silence.
Oh, why had she not held her tongue as she had for so long? He had tried to help her on more than one occasion, and even when she had not liked his methods of helping, his intentions had seemed good. But she was so hungry and so exhausted, and it was so hard being so close to him...
No. She would not start to cry. She would not.
Pepper slowed to a halt under the spreading branches of an apple tree. “Are we there?” asked Elizabeth hopefully.
The horse raised her head and looked pointedly up into the branches, sagging from the weight of ripe apples.
Darcy said softly, “This tree was not here. It just appeared.”
Elizabeth swallowed back the desire to cry. “I was thinking that I was so tired and so hungry. Pepper must have heard my thoughts.” She reached out and grasped the nearest apple.
Darcy caught her wrist. “Wait! Is that safe? What if someone is angry you took it?”
Elizabeth shook her head, her mouth watering. “Pepper would not have stopped here if that were the case.”
“But we are not supposed to eat faerie food, or all mortal food will taste like ashes forever.”
“That is an old wives’ tale. I have eaten faerie food before.”
He raised an eyebrow. “In that brief visit to Faerie that you told Richard about?”
Her cheeks grew warm. “Perhaps I might have left out a few things. He seemed a little too interested.”
