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A silence fell on the bedchamber as the two Healers formed their small Circle. Elizabeth could sense the magic strands reaching out to merge, then interweaving into a cord. This was what had given Elizabeth the idea for connecting with others, and as she watched the process from a distance, she itched to join in. A braid with three strands would work better and make the connection stronger. But Jane wanted to do it her way, and for once, Elizabeth was content to watch and learn.
On the other side of the bed, Caroline Bingley was sitting in the opposite side of the chair, observing. She was a powerful Conjurer, and Elizabeth wondered if she, too, could see the threads and wish she could participate. She was alert, her gaze shifting from her brother to the Healers, but her expression gave nothing away.
As the circle took hold, Elizabeth basked in its presence, the edges of its Healing powers bathing her in a yellow light like sunshine. She had nothing to do. She could not follow the Healers as they worked, not unless she connected with them, so she closed her eyes and let herself go. She drifted, suspended between dreaming and wakefulness. She felt calm and peaceful for the first time in months, and all her anxieties floated away. She thought of nothing, only the yellow light. She had no idea how long she remained in that condition. It could have been minutes; it could have been hours.
The violent crash of a door against the wall slammed her back into the present. Disoriented, her heart beating against her ribs, she sprang to her feet, bracing herself to fight. Jane gave a cry and Elizabeth whirled in her direction. Someone had ripped apart the threads connecting her to Lady Mary. The threads flailed and fluttered, then fell apart and disintegrated.
Jane slumped to the ground.
“What have you done?” Elizabeth turned on Jane’s attackers. Almost by instinct, she set up a bubble around herself, Jane and Bingley and stood ready to defend them.
“Stand down, Mrs. Darcy.” She recognized Lady Ashcombe’s voice. “We are not your enemies here.”
Elizabeth looked around the bedchamber and found herself surrounded by Healers. Lady Hazelmere was there, with Lady Althorpe, Mr. Westwood, and Mr. Seacole. Lady Mary was looking pale. She sank down onto the bed next to Mr. Bingley.
She could take them on, but what good would that do? She could not attack the Healers. Besides, her one concern was Jane, who was still on the ground, unmoving.
“I am standing down, but on the condition that you help Jane. What have you done to her?”
“We will take care of her,” said Lady Hazelmere, firmly, “but first you must agree to our conditions. You will need to appear in front of the Council, for breaking the rules and forming a healing circle without the Healer’s permission, and using unauthorized, Rogue magic.
She began to argue, to say that she was not part of the Circle, that she had not been using magic at all, but the sight of Jane on the ground stopped her. She would appear before the Council. She would do what was needed, as long as someone took care of Jane.
“Will you give me your word you will Heal Jane?”
“I give you my word.”
“Very well. I will come with you to face the Council.”
***
THE MEETING WAS CALLED without delay, and Elizabeth was brought by the mages to the breakfast room. From across the room, Darcy gave her a questioning look. She had not had the opportunity to talk to Darcy, so he was yet to learn what the meeting was about.
She could not enlighten him. All eyes were upon her, and the meeting was already beginning as Matlock struck the table with the silver handle of his scepter.
“Lady Ashcombe has called for this meeting to be held in order to discuss some serious allegations of rule breaking on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy. Lady Ashcombe, would you like to state your charges?”
“Yes, my Lords and Ladies. We have come forward to accuse Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy of breaking the rules against performing Healing magic. She was caught red-handed trying to Heal Mr. Bingley.”
There was no mention of Jane. Elizabeth thanked her lucky stars for that.
“Well, Mrs. Darcy, do you have any extenuating circumstances? Do you deny the charges?”
“I have nothing to explain. I deny the charges, not because it is not true, but because the charges themselves do not apply.”
“Explain yourself.”
“I have never been explicitly forbidden from practicing Healing. Tell me when the Council has told me it is forbidden? When I was at the Hall, I was part of the Healing Circles. No one objected then. You cannot accuse me of breaking the rules when no one ever set up the rules to start with.”
“When you came to the Healing Hall, we told you were not welcome.”
“Yes, and I have not been to the Healing Hall. At no point was there any rule set up saying I was forbidden from practicing Healing.”
“She has a point there,” said Grayson. “You cannot hold her to account for a rule that was never established.”
“Should we stand aside and allow her to destroy the mind of one of our finest mages?”
So Bingley was now one of their finest mages? Ha!
“According to your assessment, Mr. Bingley is unlikely to improve. He has shown no signs of improvement. Considering his situation, I do not see how I could make it worse.”
“Quite true,” said Tonkin. “Poor fellow.”
She waited for the next thing they would throw at her, but the Healers were looking at each other. They had nothing more to say.
“Do you have witnesses you wish to bring forward to substantiate this charge?”
Lady Ashcombe nodded. “Yes, I would like to present Miss Caroline Bingley.”
Ah, so it was Miss Bingley who had told the mages about the Healing session, not Lady Mary.
“Did you witness Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy Healing your brother, Mr. Charles Bingley?”
Caroline Bingley looked directly at Elizabeth.
“No, I did not. She was not Healing my brother. She was resting.”
Elizabeth could not have been more surprised. Lady Ashcombe glared at Miss Bingley amidst the puzzled murmurs that were circulating around the table.
“But it was you who came to me to complain about it in the first place.”
“It turned out I was mistaken. I am sorry.”
There was a silence. Lady Ashcombe was looking furious, but she was not nimble enough to think of a way to salvage the situation.
“Well then, it appears there has been some misunderstanding. What shall we do about the charges, Lady Ashcombe?”
In the folds of her skirt, Elizabeth crossed her fingers, hoping they would not mention Jane. So far they had only struck at her. If they brought up her sister, it would be much more difficult.
“We will consider the next step and return to you.”
“Good. Then if those who are not members of the Council would be good enough to leave,” said Matlock, “I have some other matters to discuss.”
Darcy interceded. “If I may ask Mrs. Darcy to stay behind for a minute?”
Elizabeth sent Darcy a surprised look. What was he up to? He should have been delighted for her to leave with her hide still intact.
“The accusations mounted today were a perfect example of the lack of clarity about the role of my Twin and Janus Mage. No one seems to know what her role is. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that Mrs. Darcy is a powerful mage, chosen by this Council after a series of tests. She is a Royal Mage by right, and as such should be given specific duties.”
Elizabeth groaned. She could tell this was not a good moment to make his point. She understood his reasoning, but it would have been better left to another day.
“We all know that we have in residence a group of Talented young apprentices, and we have already been discussing bringing in more. Our only obstacle so far is the need for more Tutors who are willing to teach them. I want to propose that we set up Mrs. Darcy as a Tutor.”
Elizabeth tried not to grimace when Darcy’s proposal was greeted with loud objections.
“It is true we have discussed the matter,” said Matlock, “but the problem is that the male apprentices greatly outnumber the female ones. This is not usually the case, but many of the female apprentices did not want to move too far away from their families. And, from what I understand, the same is true of the new ones they are sending us.”
“There is no reason she could not teach the male apprentices as well.”
“Out of the question!” Mr. Devereux’s face had turned red. “I have never heard anything more preposterous!”
“A lady mage—no matter what knowledge she may possess—cannot teach boys who are no longer in leading strings. Especially one who is young and—”
He stopped, suddenly embarrassed.
No one in the room could have any doubt what he meant. Elizabeth smiled inwardly. It was flattering, of course, to know she was considered pretty by the exacting standards of the Royal Mages, but that was not the matter at hand.
“I would have to look into whether there has been a precedent,” said Pickering, pulling at his beard. “I seem to recall something—I cannot quite remember—I will have to look for the book.”
“Even if there were such a precedent,” said Mrs. Belfry, “the strict rules of the Royal Academy forbids contact between unmarried male and female mages.”
“They are allowed to mingle in the Dining Hall,” said Matlock. “As I recall, the rules specifically state that. And the rules specify unmarried male and female mages.”
Devereux banged his fist against the table. “I will not listen to another word! Is it not enough that this woman has single-handedly led to the destruction to some of our best minds? She has also refused to abide by the rules. Even the Healers have brought complaints against her.”
Incredibly, Elizabeth heard a few murmurs of agreement.
“Hear! Hear!”
“Are we now rewarding her by allowing her access to our impressionable young boys? Does nobody understand what is happening? She managed to corrupt even Darcy, who has always followed his duty, and convinced him to abandon the Royal Mages without a moment’s hesitation.”
He was standing now, waving his hands about, spitting as he spoke. “She has unmanned him, as she has done with all the gentlemen who worked with her. She is a Rogue Mage. She will bring destruction to us all!”
Once again he brought his fist down, this time more forcefully, making the table shake. “She is bringing corruption into the very roots of our institution! She is a blight upon the Academy! She should never have been allowed to return. She will bring ruin to us all. We may as well have asked that French mage downstairs to join the Royal Mages. She is the enemy.”
He looked unhinged. How could anyone take his words seriously? But the grave faces around the table indicated that they did.
It was Darcy’s turn to jump to his feet. “This is my wife you are slandering, Devereux. How dare you accuse her of unmanning me? How dare you call her the enemy? You will take your words back, Devereux, and apologize, or you will answer to it. I will demand satisfaction.”
Elizabeth was frozen in her seat. How had things reached here so quickly? She had to stop Darcy from doing something foolish.
“Darcy, let us stay calm, you cannot—"
But her words were drowned by others. No one took the least bit notice of her. It was as if she was invisible.
“Come now, Darcy. We cannot fight amongst ourselves for such trivial reasons. Nothing good can come of it. Are you not willing to let it go?”
Lord Sudbury’s quiet voice only seemed to make Darcy more agitated.
“Trivial reasons? Mr. Devereux owes my wife an apology.”
His wife was standing right here. If only Darcy would look in Elizabeth’s direction, she would signal him that she did not care whether she was insulted, so long as Darcy did not put himself in danger. She had never seen him react so strongly before. Darcy usually held tight control of his feelings.
“I am simply stating the truth, Darcy, even if you cannot see it. I am more than willing to answer to it. I will not take back my words. And I will not apologize.”
“You have impinged upon my honor, and the honor of my wife and Twin. You have left me with no choice, sir. I must challenge you to a duel.”
“Gentlemen,” said Matlock. “Let us discuss this calmly and reasonably.”
“Stay out of this, Matlock!” Devereux was openly defiant now, his eyes sparkling dangerously. “Darcy must be made to pay for his role in the destruction of Founder’s Hall.”
“We must be sensible, gentlemen,” said Lord Grayson. “Is it not enough that the French seek to destroy us? Must we destroy ourselves from within?”
There was a sudden silence, and Elizabeth allowed herself to hope.
Darcy looked like a stone. There was no possibility of retraction from his side.
“I have said what needed to be said, and what I know many of you are thinking, nothing more, nothing less,” said Devereux, with a cold smile. “I will not retract a word I said.”
“So be it, then,” said Darcy. “We will meet at dawn. Choose your seconds.”
Nooo! Elizabeth wanted to stand up and shout, to rush over and shake Darcy and tell him not to be foolish, but she knew that trying to influence him publicly in any way would only make matters worse. She had never felt so hopeless in her life. If only she could do something. She looked around, trying to find someone that would put an end to this madness, but no one would meet her eye.
Instead, the Council members had taken Darcy’s words as a signal to disband. Clearly, it was no longer Council business. Everyone came to their feet and broke up into separate groups. A few drifted towards Darcy, while others went to Devereux.
Darcy was fighting over her. She could not bear it. When he had promised he would always take her side, this was not at all what she had expected.
She could not allow this duel to happen. There had to be something she could do. She looked around. Who could she talk to? Reason with? The few ladies on the Council had not said anything, but two of them were speaking to Devereux. From what she could hear, they were supporting him.
It was no use trying to talk to anyone on the Council. They were too fragmented, too set in their opinions to see anything but their own perspective. Her only chance was to seek out others who had not witnessed the scene and who could do something to put a stop to this madness.
She slipped out of the room unseen and went in search of someone to talk to.
***
IN THE END, THERE WAS only one person she could talk to. Darcy himself.
She waited outside the breakfast room for an interminably long time before he finally emerged. He was accompanied by Tonkin and Grayson. She gestured to Darcy that she wished to talk to him, and he took his leave from the others.
“I can only spare you a moment, Elizabeth. I have to sort out my seconds and ensure that I know the rules.”
“This will not take long. I have been thinking about it, and I know what I must do. I must leave Netherfield and return to Longbourn.”
He scowled. “Of all the dimwitted things you could have said to me, I did not expect that, Elizabeth.”
“If you are worried I will reveal the truth about your location, I am willing to submit to any spell that would ensure my silence.”
Darcy sputtered. “That is not the issue at all. You cannot leave Netherfield. It is out of the question.”
“Why not? It is the perfect solution to all our problems. It has become more and more impossible for me to accomplish anything here. You have a Janus Mage. Lord Redmond is not here now, but he can be conscripted and forced to come here, and with me out of the way, you can form a strong Bond with him. And if I live in Longbourn, I will be close by, and I can become a proper wife to you.”
“How would you become a proper wife when I will rarely see you? You know as well as I that the distance between Longbourn and Netherfield is effectively as far as here and France. We cannot see each other without endangering not only the two of us but your family as well. Besides, even if those blind Council members can’t see beyond their snobbish noses, they need you here. I need you here, by my side. You cannot leave. It is out of the question.”
“If you do not listen to reason, I will talk to your uncle. He will see why it is essential for me to do this. With me gone, you no longer have to fight to defend my honor.”
“Is this why you are proposing to leave?” He shook his head and gave a bitter laugh. “It is too late for that. I have challenged Devereux. If you leave, I will still have to fight him.”
“Not if I offer to leave in return for cancelling the fight.”
“You will not do that, Elizabeth. It will reflect badly on me. They will say I hid behind a woman’s skirts.”
She would never be able to understand this concept of masculine pride. If he wanted to save face, then she would give him a way to do it.
“What if I really want to leave? What if this is the perfect excuse for me to get away? You know I am not happy here, Darcy. You know there are people here who are trying to have me killed.”
His gaze softened. “If you really want to leave, then so be it. You can leave after the duel.”
“So you want me to stand by and watch you be killed?”
“Aha! Now you are finally speaking the truth. You seem to have very little faith in my abilities.”
“You know very well I respect your abilities. But a duel between a Warder and an Elemental mage?”
“Some may argue that a Warder is more powerful. I do not have to do anything at all. I just need to Ward myself, and I will win.”
Elizabeth thought of Darcy’s excruciatingly painstaking spells. She was not quite as convinced as he was, but he was going to fight tomorrow, and she had no intention of creating any doubt in his mind.
“Of course. You are, after all, the most powerful mage in the Kingdom.”
He nodded. “Exactly. You have nothing to fear.” He touched his finger lightly to her face. “And please, Elizabeth, whatever the circumstances, do not interfere. It is very important.”
Why was masculine pride so blind?
***
ELIZABETH HAD PLANNED to keep to her room, but she could not stand her own company for a moment longer. As she entered the Great Hall, she looked towards the dais, hoping to see Darcy there, but he was not, and neither were Matlock and Grayson.
She supposed they must be still occupied with going over the rules of a magical duel. How typical that Darcy would spend all his time before a duel thinking about the rules. Did it not occur to him that he should spend his time with her? He was willing to die to defend her honor, but did he even care about her? Or was it all about his own pride?
Even the sight of Jane sitting in her familiar place with Mr. Bingley next to her did not inspire much of a reaction. A cold numbness had gripped her. She was going through the motions, but all she could think of was the duel, and the horrible possibility that Darcy could be injured, or worse.
“I see you are feeling better, Jane?”
“Yes, and I see they have not put you in chains, as Lady Mary was convinced they would do. They are angry at her for agreeing to work with me, and she has been confined to her bedchamber as punishment. But I ought not to talk about such things, not when you must be feeling so wretched. Is it true what they are saying? That Mr. Darcy and Mr. Devereux are to fight a duel? Tell me it is not true!”
“It is perfectly true.” Elizabeth took up a slice of bread, tore it into tiny pieces then tossed them onto her plate.
Jane put an arm around her shoulders, but Elizabeth shrugged it off. She did not want the other mages to see her as an object of pity, or worse, an object of derision. She decided to pretend nothing was wrong. She would not let them have the satisfaction of seeing her distraught.
She ought not to have come. But to leave without eating would feel like they had driven her out.
She took up her knife and fork. The very idea of food made her stomach rebel, but she forced herself to put some boiled potato into her mouth. She almost gagged on it. It was all she could do to continue to chew and force herself to swallow. She listlessly pushed around the rest of the food on her plate.
“Try to eat, Elizabeth. The matter will be resolved. I am sure of it.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I cannot eat until I know that Darcy has desisted from this foolish course of action.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Yes, but he asked me not to interfere.”
“Then you must do as he asked.”
“I will not try to dissuade him. But I need to talk to someone so I can at least know what to expect. And there has to be a way to convince him to abandon this foolish course of action.”
She left soon after. Jane would have left with her, but Elizabeth said she had some business to take care of.
After considerable thought, she decided to ask Lord Sudbury. She had heard Darcy speak of Lord Sudbury as the voice of reason. She had never spoken to him, but she sought him out now. She rang for Emily and asked her to come with her, to preserve the proprieties.
When she knocked at his door, he made a point of coming out to meet her in the corridor. He did not allow her to enter.
No doubt he was afraid she would corrupt him.
“Lord Sudbury.” She came to the point straight away. “What are the rules for dueling with magic?”
“The same as any other duel. With a pistol there is only one shot, and with a sword, it is to death.”
She dared not ask the next question. “So does that mean—” She trailed off. She could not say the words aloud.
“I am afraid that is the way of it, Mrs. Darcy.”
“But this is madness. Is there no way to put an end to it? No other way to resolve this dispute? I am prepared to leave, if that will prevent it.”
“Are you willing to do so much for your husband? I was under the impression this was not a love match.”
“I love Darcy, Lord Sudbury, and I will do anything to save his life.”
“I will try to talk to him. But I am afraid, when it comes to a gentleman’s honor, there is no backing down. Leave it in my hands. I will do all I can to stop it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I will send you a message to inform you of the outcome.”
***
SHE RETURNED TO HER bedchamber. Jane was there. She looked at Elizabeth, a question in her eyes.
“I am waiting for news. Lord Sudbury has promised to look into it.”
“Lord Sudbury? Do you think he could do something? Oh, this is all my fault. If I had not tried to Heal Mr. Bingley—”
“Jane, if you were there, you would have known it had nothing to do with you.”
Elizabeth had been there, and she had been unable to do anything to prevent it. Now all she could do was wait. She hated that she had to exercise patience when every part of her wanted to be with Darcy.
What if this was to be their last night? How could he throw away everything like this?
She sat at the edge of the bed, listening for footsteps, hoping someone would come to relieve her of her anxiety. Jane tried to talk to her, but even though she heard Jane’s voice, she did not understand the words.
Later, much later, she heard footsteps. Finally. A footman arrived, bearing a message.
Mrs. Darcy,
I regret to say I have no news. Darcy will not back down. The duel is a conventional one, except that it uses magic. But do not despair. Darcy is a powerful mage. I am sure he will defend himself well.
If there is anything I can do, please do not hesitate to ask me.
Lord Sudbury
There was no hope then. She must prepare for the worst.