Page 95 of Triumph at Pemberley

And Richard had been with Jack, in England. “Is Jack…” he asked, fearing the answer.

The tiniest nod of Richard’s head. “Still unconscious, but alive. He saved me, or I would be dead twice over.” The raspy sound did not even sound like Richard, and barely human.

Why was Jack unconscious? Had he been hurt as badly as Richard?

A wiry man, clearly one of the new arrivals, said, “We kept him sedated through the journey, but he refused laudanum today, saying he wanted to be alert when he arrived here. He needs it, though.”

“Colonel Fitzwilliam, I beg you, take the laudanum!” Elizabeth’s voice shook.

“After…after I talk to your healer dragon.” He closed his good eye and coughed weakly.

A sudden breeze ruffled Darcy’s hair. Coquelicot was landing, thank God! He jumped up to make room for her.

Coquelicot shuffled forward and leaned her head over Richard’s prone form. “Oh, you poor little one! Do not fear, I will fix this. You will not even have scars.”

“No,” Richard rasped. “Leave the scars.”

Darcy stared at him in shock. The wound on his face was enormous.

“But why? If I do not fix them, they will still hurt you.”

“No other survivors. No one will believe how bad it was if …I am unscarred like Jack. I owe it to the men who died to bear witness…. to show the world what they suffered.” Richard’s determined tone was one Darcy knew well. He would not be moved.

“If that is what you wish.” Coquelicot’s aura exuded sadness. She turned to Darcy. “This was done by dragonfire. I must hear later how this happened, but first I must fix this.”

Dragonfire. On English soil. Horror shook him. “Stand clear,” Darcy told the footmen and grooms. “She will need room.”

Coquelicot laid a talon on Richard’s good left cheek but then hesitated. Finally she placed the talon of her other forearm against the ruined flesh of the right side.

Richard let out an involuntary whimper.

“Shhh, little one, let me work.” Coquelicot closed her huge, gold-ringed eyes.

The surge of magic made Darcy’s skin itch. His muscles clenched, as if his effort might somehow help her fix Richard.

The healing went on and on, longer than he could recall others taking. Had something gone wrong? No, the flesh on Richard’s face was slowly knitting.

Finally the red dragon lifted her head. “That should be better, but I could not fix that eye. Not yet, at least. I will try to learn how.” She hesitated. “You already had a healing for this.”

“Jack did it. I was dying, and he used the King’s Bond. Used too much of it, I gather, but he kept me alive.” Richard’s voice was stronger, even if not yet like his old self. “Great heavens, I can breathe. Really breathe. And it hurts so much less. You are a miracle, dragon.”

The tight knot inside Darcy loosened, and now he could breathe, too. Richard would live, even with scars and only one eye. Nothing else mattered. And if Jack was only unconscious because of healing Richard, he should survive, too.

Brusquely he turned to one of the servants. “Fetch Jasper right away.” Richard would want to see his brother.

Coquelicot scolded, “Do not sit up yet. Your body must adjust, and you will need to rest and eat. But do not fall asleep yet, even if you wish to. My Eldest is already on her way. We must know more about what happened to you.”

“Anything you wish. Anything. You took away my pain,” Richard said. “I am your servant.”

Just then Jasper came racing out the door and skidded to a stop beside Richard’s stretcher. Horror contorted his features. “Who did this to you? I will kill them!”

Richard managed to turn up his lips, though it was not quite a smile. “In this case, Brother, I think even you would have difficulty doing so.”

In Darcy’s mind, Coquelicot said, I was very bad, Little One. He said not to heal the scars, but I did fix some of them, the ones that would have made it hard for him to move. I could not help myself. Will he be very angry?

I am glad you did it, Darcy sent fiercely.

The wiry man who had come with Richard approached him and held out a letter. “You are Mr. Darcy, I take it? I was told you need to read this right away.”