“I already know what I would like. I would like a ball.”
His statement was met with startled silence.
Elizabeth’s heart clenched with anxiety. Perhaps Mr. Bingley had not recovered as well as everybody thought.
Then Mr. Bingley chuckled. “I meant adance. I would like to have a dance at Netherfield, and I would like my sister to take charge of it.”
A flurry of excitement met his words.
“I say, that is an excellent idea,” said Mr. Tonkin. “We could all do with some cheering up.”
“Let us ask our audience,” said Matlock. “Do you think we should have a dance at Netherfield?”
There was a loud cheer.
“The answer is clear. I would say we have a majority.”
“Then it is settled.” Bingley looked very pleased with himself. “We shall have a Ball at Netherfield.”
Chapter 27
Elizabeth looked aroundher at the twenty apprentice mages who were waiting for her to begin her lesson. They were brand new recruits, been brought in from various Academies from across the Kingdom. They had not yet learnt to hide their expressions. Some of them looked anxious, others uneasy, while a very few looked openly resistant. There were rumors, she imagined. Some still blamed her for the Warders’ affliction, suspecting the Council of hiding the truth, and the rumors had reached the new apprentices. Others simply had heard that her form of magic was unusual, and therefore dangerous.
Well, she would just have to prove them wrong.
“Today we are going to practice a simple form of group connecting. It is very similar to a Healer’s Circle, but it forms a much wider circle. It is an old form of magic called Congruous Threading although I have brought my own twist to it. Congruous means harmonious, and that is what we will strive to be, like harmonies in music coming together as one.”
“My name is Elizabeth Darcy, and I am the first official Congruous Mage. I shall be your instructor.”
She had talked to Darcy about it, and he agreed it was a good name.
She had worked with fully trained mages before, but teaching a group of younger students was completely different. She had never even attended a class at a Mage Academy, let alone taught one. Yet here she was, standing in front of a group of young mages, and they expected her to teach them how to perform Congruous Threading when she had never even met them before. It was a daunting task.
“How do we know that we will not be injured like Mr. Bingley and Walton?”
She did not know the speaker, but she recognized his expression. It held the same haughty superiority she had seen in Redmond.
