“There are two others. They were both part of the same division. Their minds were linked to Mr. Bingley’s mind, as far as I can tell.”
“Have they shown any signs of improvement?”
“They are not here now, but I am sure we would have heard if they were cured.”
“You do have Healing abilities, Lizzy. They may not be your strongest magic, but they are quite good. Why are you telling me nothing about Mr. Bingley’s condition? You must have had a chance to examine him.”
The silence which met her question had Jane wishing she had not said anything. She had not meant to intrude.
“I have not had a chance to. Let us just say I have encountered some opposition to the idea.”
Jane found it hard to believe that Lizzy had not had the opportunity to examine the three afflicted mages. The old Lizzy would have done so at once. Had Lizzy changed that much? There must be a good reason that stopped her from doing so.
Jane looked towards the dais, where Mr. Darcy was in earnest discussion with several of the mages and wondered what on earth she had let herself in for. She was not made for intrigue or battles, but it seemed she had been sucked into them anyway. She was completely out of her depth.
Perhaps she could help with Mr. Bingley.Thatwas something she was good at. A sense of purpose revived inside her.
If she could heal Mr. Bingley, then it would have been well worth it to come here.
***
IN THE NEXT TWO DAYS, Jane was faced with an unexpected problem.
Mr. Bingley attached himself to her like a puppy, following her everywhere and gazing at her in the most embarrassing way possible. Miss Bingley had done her best to reason with him verbally. She had tried to drag him away, and even enlisted the help of the Healers, but to no avail. Mr. Darcy had even tried to entice him away by taking him on a short ride. But he seemed to have an uncanny ability of knowing where Jane was. Short of locking him in a room, there was nothing they could do to prevent him, and Jane would never do anything so cruel.
Jane was familiar with the kind of calf-love Mr. Bingley was displaying. She had treated enough younger men in Meryton and the surroundings to know that her healing abilities, along with what Mama would call her good looks, inevitably seemed to provoke some form of attachment. She had learned to deal with it by adopting a brusque and no-nonsense air, but sometimes it did grow tiresome and somewhat predictable.
In Bingley’s case, at first, Jane felt vexed. She did not fear him; she did not believe him capable of harm. But his behavior made her situation at the Hall even more uncomfortable. Not only had she arrived unannounced and put everyone out, but she was now walking around with a grown man in pursuit. It was enough to compromise her thoroughly, though she made certain never to be in a room with him unaccompanied. Within a few days, however, the novelty of her unexpected arrival as well as the attentions of her admirer had waned, and the looks she encountered became pitying looks directed at Mr. Bingley rather than at her. Fortunately for him, he was completely unaware of the attention he was receiving.
“What was he like, Elizabeth?” she asked, as her sister was brushing her hair before braiding it to go to bed.
Elizabeth winced and looked uncomfortable.
“I wish people would not talk about him as if he were dead.”
“Oh, Lizzy, I am sorry. Of course he is not. Far from it. I was simply curious about what he was like, before the incident.”
Since the word ‘affliction’ seemed to make Elizabeth unhappy, Jane did not refer to it that way.
“Mr. Bingley is as amiable a gentleman as you will ever meet. He showed me kindness when I had no friends.” Lizzy looked dejected. “He was also one of the first people I trained with. Unfortunately for him.”
Jane still found it hard to believe that Lizzy could have done something like this to him, even unintentionally. She wished Lizzy would tell her more about it. She was becoming more reticent. It was a pity. Unlike Jane, Lizzy had always confronted awkward situations head on. She was not a gossip. She could keep a secret, but she was not the type to push things under the rug.
“There appears to be no love lost between you and his sister,” she nudged gently. She had never seen Lizzy so reluctant to talk.
“It is – complicated. Miss Bingley’s position among the mages is not the easiest, and she has always been prickly. Right now, she blames me for her brother’s fate.”
Jane had been wanting to ask her sister about this very thing. but did not want to raise a subject which she suspected was unpleasant for her sister, but she really wanted to know what had happened. No one else seemed inclined to tell her. She seized the opportunity to discover what had happened as quickly as she could.
“I have been wondering why since I arrived. I have heard whispers, too, but nothing that makes the situation any clearer. What did you do to arouse such hostility?”
“Ididnothing, because I was not there. It is a long story, and I will be happy to tell it all to you, especially since you’re caught in the middle, but the crux of the matter is that I taught my team a new magical skill, which is for us to connect in a manner similar to a Healing Circle. Bingley and two other Warders were injured while they were using that skill. It is a perfectly logical conclusion to assume that they were injured because of my magic. I did not see it at first, but I am slowly coming to think it is a distinct possibility. Needless to say, it makes me question whether teaching others my type of magic is a good idea.” She wrung her hands. “Jane, every time I look at Bingley, I am consumed by remorse. I wonder what it is that went so wrong.”
It was extremely unfair to blame Lizzy. “You do not know for certain if it was because of your magic. Very likely, it was simply a coincidence,” Jane said.
“I do not believe in coincidences, Jane. If it were just one of the Warders, I might have discounted it. But all three of them were affected while they were connected to me. I must face the truth. I was the one who destroyed them.”
Jane put her arms around her sister and gave her a tight squeeze.
