Chapter 16
It was petty of Elizabethto miss her early morning training with him after their quarrel. He knew she was furious at him, but he would have expected her to set her anger aside. She knew the importance of these sessions. She could not decide to absent herself based on how she was feeling.
He had thought her better than that. Well, he would train without her. It would not be the first time he had worked alone. He did not need her to be there.
But no matter how hard he tried to focus his attention, it was impossible to set aside his vexation. Training her, and training with her, was the one bright spot in his day. As it was, they were spending very little time together, and even though he kept the training strictly impersonal—despite the irresistible temptation to do otherwise— at least they were alone for the short hour in which they practiced.
Darcy enjoyed their sparring sessions – the play of their magic, their connection. It was a wonder to him. He had worked with magic before, but he had never had a partner where every session forced him to extend himself, to rethink the way he did things. Even when he was filling in the gaps in her knowledge, she always reacted unexpectedly. She challenged him about everything.
It was not always easy. There were still moments when he had to draw on his reserves of patience to deal with her. Elizabeth never allowed him a moment of peace, one way or the other.
And now she had decided to punish him for refusing to indulge her in her obsessive need to vindicate herself from injuring the three Warders.
Well, Darcy was not one to waste a training session. He went ahead with his exercises, and then reviewed some of the spells fromThe Compendium. He even tried modifying one of them – a spell to dispel smoke – but it was ineffective without Elizabeth. One day, he would take the time to learn her method of magic, but for now he had to depend on the Bond between them. He was surprised how hollow it felt to work alone. Only a short time ago he had been perfectly satisfied with the magic spells he had learned over the years. Now he felt as if there was something missing.
Of course, there was something missing. He missed Elizabeth. He did not like starting the day without her.
He would see her at breakfast, he decided, and they would go to the Conservatory to talk. For now, he had to concentrate on his training.
***
WHEN DARCY ENTEREDthe Great Hall, Jane was sitting in her usual place, with Bingley next to her. Elizabeth had not come to eat, again. He hoped she was not so foolish as to weaken her magic by refusing to eat.
He strode over to where Jane was sitting and bowed politely.
“Good morning, Miss Bennet. Is Elizabeth unwell? It is not like her to miss her breakfast.”
Jane’s brow wrinkled.
“She was not in bed when I woke up.” She blushed. “I thought— that is— I wondered if—” Her face turned crimson. “I thought she might be with you.”
It was his turn to frown. Surely Elizabeth had told her sister how things stood between them? She must have known they had disagreed. Perhaps she had thought Elizabeth wanted to reconcile with him.
“She was not with me. Do you have any reason to believe so?”
“Her bed was not slept in.”
Alarm flared up as he noticed something he ought to have noticed before. He had not even searched for Elizabeth’s signature, but now that he did, he could tell it was gone. The sense of loneliness he had felt this morning was more than her absence at training. It was her absence everywhere.
