“I mean it is a form of magic.” Jane smiled and took up Elizabeth’s hands. “I am saying that the mages have been put into a trance. Don’t you see? It makes all the difference. It is a spell, Lizzy, pure and simple, and spells can be undone.”
Elizabeth’s spirits lifted as Jane’s words reached through her numbness. If someone had cast a spell on the mages, then, of course! Jane was right! It was a matter of lifting the spell.
“Oh, Jane. I don’t know what I would have done without you!! This is amazing news. I must go and tell Darcy.”
***
DARCY WAS IN THEIRtraining room, practicing his exercises. She watched him for a moment, admiring the elegant precision of his motions as he moved from one stance to the other.
He broke off when he saw her and smiled welcomingly.
“Come and train with me, Elizabeth. I have a few minutes before the next Council meeting.”
She smiled. “I wish I could, but I am here because Jane has discovered something.”
Darcy stopped his training and walked over to her.
“What did she discover?”
Elizabeth quickly summarized what Jane had told her, then waited for his reaction.
He shook his head. “That does not make sense to me. There is no such spell as a Trance or Entrancement spell. I have never read of such a thing.”
“The name is immaterial. Jane is not certain of the nature of the spell. All she knows is that a spell has been cast on him.”
“Elizabeth, think about it. How could the French mages have cast a spell on our mages from such a distance? And how could they have limited it to onlythreepeople who happened to be connected to you? Why did the spell not include you? I am sorry, but I am not convinced.”
She looked at him in dismay. If even Darcy did not take this seriously, how could she convince anyone else?
“You must believe me,” she insisted. “Jane is certain of it. Her natural modesty would prevent her from making any claims unless she is sure.”
“With all due respect, Elizabeth, I do not think your sister knows more than all the other Healers here. They have had years of training in all the arts of Healing the Academy can offer. And you sister has had—what training exactly?”
Elizabeth would have expected that by now Darcy would be more receptive to new forms of magic knowledge, but nothing had changed.Nothing. None of these Academy trained mages could see further than their own noses. They were all ignorant and lacked imagination, every last one of them.
She was tired of tiptoeing and treading on eggshells around Darcy. She had reached her limit.
“Will youeverstop being pig-headed, Darcy? Have you not learnedanythingfrom your dealings with me? You know my magic was notlearnedfromThe Compendium. You know I am a very capable magedespitenot having the same training as you. Why can you not accept that Jane is also capable of the same?”
“I am not doubting your sister’s abilities in general. But you must see that, in this case, it happens to be in your interest to believe that Bingley’s injuries were not a result of your actions. You wish to exonerate yourself from blame, and you are clinging to straws.”
Elizabeth glared at him, her breathing coming in short angry gasps. She had never in her life thrown anything at anyone, not even at Lydia. But at this moment, she was sorely tempted to take up the chamber pot— hopefully full—and toss it at Darcy’s hard head.Thiswas the man she had married! She had foolishly believed him capable of change. His arrogance knew no bounds. Odious man!
“From the very beginning of my acquaintance with you, I was struck by your arrogance and your conceit. I thought perhaps I may be wrong, that you may improve once I had come to know you. But nothing has changed, has it? You puff up with arrogance whenever someone calls into question your precious Academy. You are all blinkered, plodding along, unable to look around and see that ‘there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in your limited philosophy’.”
She let out all her feelings of frustration. Why would no one listen?
“Misquoting Hamlet at me, Elizabeth? We know how wellthatstory went.”
“Exactly. Hamlet waskilled. I personally have no intention of drifting down the river like poor Ophelia.” She tried again to make him understand. “It is the Royal Mages who are drifting down the river, destroying themselves from within. If you do not change your approach to the conflict soon, Napoleon will win the war.”
Darcy stepped forward and put his hands lightly on her shoulders, his eyes full of appeal.
“Listen to me, Elizabeth. What happened at Founder’s Hall required desperate measures. I have never blamed you for a moment. In the heat of battle, choices are made. People are maimed or killed. It is inevitable in war.” He looked into her eyes. “Despite appearances, many of the mages do not blame you either. They know that you made a necessary choice that saved the Hall. But if you go around trying to prove the Royal Healers wrong, you will only make enemies unnecessarily.”
She raised her brow. She did notmakeenemies. She hadfoundready-made enemies the moment she stepped into Founder’s Hall.
He cupped her chin gently. “Please believe me when I say I am not against you. I am on your side. Heaven knows I understand exactly what it is you are feeling. I know what it is like to feel guilty when someone is injured because of my actions. The guilt whittles you down, day after day.”
