Page 96 of Miss Bennet's Dragon
He felt in his pocket for a handkerchief and dabbed my lip. “Am I hurting you?”
A little, but it was comforting. I nodded, then realized that was the wrong answer and shook my head. “No. It only stings.” Although my cheek throbbed where the man’s palm had struck.
“Another man took books on draca,” Miss Darcy said. “They sought writing on la Tarasque. And something else. The child of the lake.”
Mr. Darcy stood. “I should like my books returned. He may still be on the grounds. Rabb, assist the ladies while I assemble a party to search.”
“Respectfully, sir, hunting is my skill.”
“I trust you to keep them safe. That matters more than books.” Mr. Rabb nodded reluctantly.
Mr. Darcy touched his sister’s shoulder, and she smiled at him. Her fear had vanished the moment the tyke was injured.
Mr. Darcy gave me a stiff, short bow, then his running steps faded down the hall. It seemed we were back to bows.
“The household staff are gathered in the kitchens,” Mr. Rabb said. He collected an abandoned lantern from the floor and led us out the doorway.
The tyke was in the hallway. I scooped him up as we passed so he would not have to walk with his sore side.
Watching me, Mr. Rabb said, “If I heard the master right, you were ‘commanding draca,’ Miss Bennet.”
“It was remarkable,” Miss Darcy said. “I have seen nothing like it.”
“You would have if you had not been so young when your mother died,” Mr. Rabb replied.
Miss Darcy stopped stock still. “Mamma could do that?”
Mr. Rabb aimed the lantern down so light pooled around us in the dark hallway. “Lady Anne was a miracle with draca. All draca, not just her wyvern. Made me think of the legend of the Scottish wyves. But the missus was not quick to explain, and old Mr. Darcy did not wish it widely known.” His eyes, glinting under grizzled eyebrows, met mine. “You are not quick to explain, yourself.”
“I also do not wish it widely known,” I said. “Nor can I explain much. I would like to understand better.”
“I won’t tell a soul, ma’am. But I know some things you should hear. Maybe we can have a chat when the evening’s business is settled. I might need a dram for that, if you fancy whiskey.”
I had never tasted anything stronger than port. “Perhaps a sip.”
“How were you able to see Mr. Rabb in the hallway?” Miss Darcy asked me.
I found I was tired of keeping secrets. “At times, I can see through the tyke’s eyes.”
“How wonderful,” she breathed.
That was a pleasant change from skeptical disbelief. Of course, Miss Darcy had her own unusual draca ability.
“They see differently from us,” I said. “And extremely well in the dark. Let me try…” I closed my eyes and felt for the tyke’s awareness. The void that surrounded Pemberley opened first. “Why is the forest around Pemberley so empty? It is like nowhere else. It is blackness.”
“The darkness of Pemberley,” Mr. Rabb said in a disturbed tone. “Lady Anne spoke of this before her death, but I do not know the cause.”
I found the tyke’s awareness and fell into it. He squirmed in my arms to look at me.
I saw my own face. My cheek and lip were shining hot. Ouch. I would have a bruise.
“I wish I could show you how they see,” I said. “It is all shades of heat and cool, and astonishingly exact, but faces are hard to recognize.” We were by a window, and I encouraged the tyke to look outside. “But outside is bright, even at night with no moon.”
There was a brilliant spot of heat. “There is a man in the woods. With horses.”
“Alone?” asked Mr. Rabb urgently.
“Yes.”
