Dragons of Pemberley (Jane Austen's Dragons: A Regency gaslamp dragon fantasy adventure Book 10) by Maria Grace

Author:Maria Grace
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: White Soup Press
Published: 2022-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Darcy swallowed hard as he stared at the edge of the handkerchief. Surely it must be some manner of coincidence. It had to be.

Even in the bright moonlight, the darkness inside the coach became oppressive as Elizabeth turned quiet, frighteningly quiet. Darcy slipped his arm around her shoulders, but she barely seemed to notice. Was she ignoring him or lost in her own thoughts? Or perhaps a bit of both. So difficult to tell.

During the rest of the journey back to Pemberley, Lydia made a valiant effort to maintain a light and pleasant conversation, but even she faded after a time. Even Richard, who was never without a quip or pleasing tale, found nothing to say. Who knew silence could be so loud?

Once the coach stopped, Alister Salt handed Elizabeth down, and she disappeared into the house with nary a word.

“It is never a good thing when Lizzy gets that quiet,” Lydia whispered as she exited the coach. “I would not intrude upon her privacy right now. But you should.” She hurried away before Darcy could comment.

She was impertinent, but right. This was not the sort of conversation that would benefit from waiting until morning.

“Wait.” Richard’s hand stayed Darcy’s shoulder. “We should hear from Earl and Walker first. I asked them to investigate whilst you were admiring Bingley’s carriage.”

“Why?”

“Earl called it instinct.” Richard shrugged as the two cockatrice flew in through the still-open door. He pulled the door shut behind them. “Were you able to learn anything?”

“That wyrms have a reputation for idiocy for a reason,” Walker snarled.

“It helps when you talk to them in pairs.” Earl pulled himself up straight, his head above Walker’s.

Walker spread his wings and snarled, triggering an immediate lowering of Earl’s entire being. Cocky young buck should never forget who was the dominant dragon. He was lucky his youthful oversight did not get him killed.

On the other hand, Walker’s response lacked his usual level-headed restraint. A bad sign. “Fairy dragons are far more sensible creatures.”

“You are right. It was a mistake leaving Cosette and April behind. Their help would have been useful.” Earl’s agreement might be a little too emphatic, but who could blame him?

“I agree. They are essential to our efforts. At the very least, they might have been able to help us get straight answers out of the few wild dragons we were able to locate.” Walker squawked. “Matters were made even more difficult as we were trying to garner intelligence on a man who does not even live at the estate.”

“So, you learned nothing?” Richard ground the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“I did not say that. Only that it came it in bits and pieces and required a great deal of high-level extrapolation to make some sense out of it all.”

“It was good that we, not the drakes, were sent. The ground-based are not good at puzzling bits together.” Earl preened the back of Walker’s neck as though hoping to be admitted back into his good graces.

Darcy cleared his throat.

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