Page 34 of The Dragoneers of Longbourn and Pemberley
The area was also conspicuously absent of signs of Lelantos bunking in it. She wondered, belatedly, where he had been for the past few hours? What mischief might he have gotten up to, what fights might he have started?
If she tethered him, the Rosings grooms would care for him, at least bringing food and water around.
It seemed prudent, this time, to tie him down, in this wild place full of her temper. If he came to her call of anger again, the situation would only grow worse.
She tied the tether from him to the sturdy stake in the ground, giving it plenty of slack.
Lelantos submitted easily, unbothered by the tether. He had probably been tied down hundreds of times before, just never by her.
There was a growing dread in her at this act, at this declaration of distrust in her dragon. But she couldn’t exactly leave him to continue wandering the Rosings estate, could she?
She was ensnared in the web of Pemberley’s power. Lelantos joined her. They must both be restrained now, to hold onto whatever small dignity they had left.
She considered flying back to Longbourn right then, abandoning the whole mess. But it was days travel back home — they had already arranged to stay at Rosings tonight, and to return tomorrow morning by flight and by coach. Lelantos deserved a rest now.
Her dress was already dirty from climbing onto a muddy dragon, the hem the worst of it from dragging on the ground, so she gave it little mind as she scratched Lelantos in his favorite spots: behind the ears, massaging his wing joints, under his chin. The action soothed them both, their shared emotions calming and centering.
They would get through this, together. Everyone would ridicule her for racing, for daring to do something different. She would never regret claiming the sky. She had done it for the good of Longbourn. And she had found herself in the process.
Valeraine went to the room allotted to the Longbourn sisters, wanting to change out of the gown and find a servant to launder it for her. It could probably be saved, with prompt care.
“Val! Where did you go?” Selaide was there, waiting for her. “We saw you leave with that horrid fellow. Is he courting you now?”
“No! I am not courting Pemberley.”
Selaide slumped in her chair.
“Who’s ‘we?’” Valeraine asked.
Selaide gestured magnanimously to Kesley, leaning against the wall. Valeraine’s first instinct was to shoo him out of the bedroom, for propriety’s sake, but her energy was not up to the task of defending something she did not truly worry about.
“But what happened to your dress?” Kesley said. “I am beginning to think there’s merit in Selaide’s speculation.”
“This mud is from Lelantos. Pemberley is…” Valeraine looked for a way to explain it. The gargantuan mess of it all. “Well. Pemberley knows.”
This terrible news settled on the room like a funeral shawl, fluttery and dooming them all. Dooming Valeraine most of all.
“Pemberley knows?” Selaide shrieked. “Knows you’re the rider? He will tell everyone. We will all be ruined!”
“Come now Selaide,” Kesley soothed. “Let Val tell it. Will Pemberley spread the word?”
Pemberley hadn’t taken his opportunity to announce it to the ball. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t gone back in and done that very thing already.
“I’m not sure,” Valeraine said. “He hates that I raced, but he doesn’t seem one for idle gossip. The secret might stay safe until he confides in someone who chatters, like Miss Nethenabbi.”
“I will go back to the ball,” Selaide said. “If Pemberley is spreading the scandal, I must secure a man before he hears the news.” With that, Selaide scurried out of the room.
As if she could secure a husband in an hour.
“Oh, Val. Everything will be alright,” Kesley said. “Who cares what some pompous man says? Isn’t he the one who killed Mr. Allencourt in the derby last year? When I announce I am the masked rider, I’m sure people will believe me over him.”
Valeraine nodded, but didn’t agree. Kesley came from Sidton house, which was small and insignificant. She knew what people would believe: the prestige of Pemberley house.
“You’ll barely notice the difference in how people look at you, I’m sure. It’s not as if Longbourn had far to fall, anyhow.”
With that, Valeraine found tears coming to her eyes. She had been furious, and scared, and her time with Lelantos had gathered her composure again. Now, she found her grief. Everyone who heard this news would immediately think less of her and of Longbourn. The successes she had gained for the house — the prestige of racing well — would all be for naught.
They didn’t have far to fall, that was true. But it made the small gains which she had earned for Longbourn even more precious.
