Page 76 of Dragons of the Great Wyves: Fire and Song
My heart stuttered, and then I said, “I would.” The words felt outlandishly joyful, and they raced around my body until I was feather-light.
Our linked hands tangled inexpertly until we both laughed. We let go and held each other. I wrapped an arm around the small of his back and the other behind his neck, burrowing fingers into his hair. My cheek pressed his shoulder.His solidity felt wonderful, and our embrace lasted until, self-consciously, we sorted ourselves out and walked back around the column.
The entire group was watching with tremendous interest.
“We are engaged,” I explained to Anne.
She clapped her hands. “Engaged! Oh, you were socleverwith those horrible soldiers!”
There was a round of congratulations and good wishes, which was generous as most of these people had already congratulated us once. When the happy babble diminished a little, I said to Mr. Knightley, “We should marry swiftly. The wyverns keep pestering me.”
He was shaking Mr. Weston’s hand. He gave me a smiling nod, then a more serious one. “Howswiftly?”
“Very,” I said.
The other widowed wyves had been coming and going this whole time, bringing young, unbound ladies. The cellar was a haven for those pursued by the slavers. Another returned now with a pair of ladies at greater risk because of their dark skin.
I squinted uncertainly in the dim light and said, “Harriet?”
She spun and cried, “Oh, you are safe!”
We ran into an embrace. I hugged her tight, blinking away tears, then pushed her to arms’ length to get a proper look at my sister. “I cannot believe you are here!”
“I heard that you were!” she said, grinning. “I did not expect to find you so easily, though.”
We said a few sisterly things, and she greeted the others swarming around us, then we settled in for better explanations.
“Oh, the trip has been nonstop terror,” Harriet said, beaming, “but alsosoexciting! When I arrived, I called at Hartfield to trade news with Teresa, and your horrid brother-in-law marched out, all stiff and mean. So I said ‘Why areyouhere?’ and he said some nonsense, and I told him that you would throw him out! That was before I knew what he had done…” For the first time, her smile faltered. “I was so worried when I heard you had come. Have you been to Hartfield?”
“Briefly,” I said. “Enough to know that John has done something evil with crawlers.”
Miss Bates, who had narrated our reunion with irrelevant anecdotes and clucks and nods, shifted to her more serious persona. “They are using Hartfieldto bind crawlers to young ladies. And, we think, to grow those oversize monsters. He and Mr. Elton have some treasonous alliance with the enemy.”
At that, Augusta burst into sobs. Miss Bates sent a few clucks in her direction and offered a lacy handkerchief.
“But why are you in Surrey?” I asked Harriet.
“Oh,” she said shyly. “I did not wish to write to you until I was sure. I am, now.”
She squeezed my hands and led me a few steps to the other new arrival, a lady of around forty years dressed in yellow linen. She had beautiful dark eyes and wore a stylish bonnet with a long, yellow feather. Her skin was an even deeper shade than Harriet’s, as if dusted with fine coal.
“Mrs. Prince,” Harriet said, “this is Miss Emma Woodhouse, whom I have told you so much about. Emma, this is my mother.”
“Miss Woodhouse,” she said with a delicate curtsy.
I returned it, my mind spinning. Harriet’s mother. That was incredible. But that meant…
“You knew my father,” I said. The words fell harsh and flat from my lips.
There was a silence.
“I did,” she acknowledged.
Unbidden, my brain ticked through dates. I was four years older than Harriet, give or take. My mother died soon after my fourth birthday. So, had Papa… had he known this woman before or after my mother’s death? My reeling brain could not solve it.
“Mr. Woodhouse was extremely proud of you,” Mrs. Prince said. “He was a good man.”
I swallowed and pushed away my mental calendar. “Not good to you, I am afraid.”
