As Elizabeth tucked her sister’s arm under her own and led her inside, Darcy approached his uncle.
“Why did you not stop her from coming in?”
“It was too late the moment she saw us. We would still have to deal with the repercussions, one way or the other.”
There would be a high price to pay for this.
***
AS THE GENTLEMEN FOLLOWEDthem inside, Elizabeth stopped and turned to them.
“May I ask where you are going, gentlemen?”
“We may ask the same of you.” Matlock’s tone made it clear that this was not open to discussion. “We are going to the breakfast room. Together.”
As she bristled at Lord Matlock’s tone, Darcy put a hand lightly on her arm. “We need to question your sister, Elizabeth.”
Darcy meant to be kind, but he had the same steel in his voice as his uncle. Elizabeth had never realized how alike they could sound. Well, they were about to find out that she could be stubborn as well.
“I am afraid you will have to wait.”
Matlock lifted his eyebrow and raised his lorgnette to stare at her. “It is of the utmost urgency to discover how she passed through the Wards.”
Elizabeth laughed. She had always found the distorted image of an eye seen through a lorgnette amusing. If this was Lord Matlock’s best effort at intimidating her, he was in trouble.
“Of course it is, Lord Matlock, but I will not have my sister catch her death of a cold while you question her like a criminal.”
“Your sister walked through our Wards. It does not make her a criminal, but itdoesput us all in danger.”
“It is extremely doubtful that anything will happen while Jane takes a warm bath and changes into dry clothes. Jane will happily answer your questions, Lord Matlock and Darcy, but only when she is presentable andwarm.”
Lord Matlock swiped his palm across his face.
“Yes, yes. I am not an ogre, Elizabeth, despite appearances to the contrary. It is just that every mage in Netherfield will be descending on us any minute now, demanding an explanation.”
Elizabeth did not care about the other mages. Her priority was to get Jane out of her wet clothes and give her something warm to drink. Jane had a delicate constitution, and she had always been susceptible to colds. So, defying anyone to stop her, she tugged at her sister’s arm and pointed her in the direction of the stairs. Jane resisted, of course, torn between her instinct to please everyone and the acknowledgement that she really did need to change into something dry.
Elizabeth leaned towards her and whispered in her ear.
“Your clothes are wet and revealing, Jane. I am certain you do not want the gentlemen to see you like this.”
That was enough to convince Jane, her sense of propriety being stronger than her need to please everyone.
Elizabeth pulled her away from the two gentlemen and up the stairs before Jane could have time to reconsider. Once they reached the bedchamber, Elizabeth rang for Emily, ordered a hot bath, and picked out dry clothes for her sister to wear. Then she left Emily in charge of Jane and went to talk to the two gentlemen who were waiting impatiently for them downstairs.
***
DARCY TRIED TO HIDEhis dismay until Elizabeth and her sister disappeared up the stairs, but when he and his uncle reached the breakfast room, he flopped down into a chair.
“I do not understand it. I checked the Wards today. I even added some extra protection.”
“Taking the blame again, Darcy? None of us anticipated this. I can only conclude that, because the Wards were partly woven by Elizabeth’s magic, they recognized a family affinity and let Miss Bennet through. The question is, now that ithashappened, what are we going to do about it? Consider it a rude awakening. You and Elizabeth and every Warder at Netherfield will have to rebuild those Wards.”
He would do it if he had to stay up all night to do so.
“We should not have opened the door. She would have gone back to Longbourn, none the wiser. It was a stupid mistake to make, to satisfy our own curiosity.”
“Nonsense. We could not let someone who had walked through our Wards go back and let everyone know what they had done. The thorny question is what to do with Miss Bennet, now that she is here. She cannot be allowed to return and inform the whole of Meryton that we are here.”
