Courting Magic (Kat, Incorrigible #4)(29)

CHAPTER ELEVEN


I spun around. It was too late.

Lucy was gone…and Mr. Packenham was far less reckless than I’d realized. He’d been clever enough to draw her outside, well away from our view and magical reach, before he moved against her.

But of course, she’d imagined that she was safe. After all, I had promised that she would be.

Sickness roiled in my gut. I’d been watching her so carefully, ever since we’d come up with the plan—until I’d been distracted. How could I have let myself be distracted?

Cursing myself, I started for the door, with Alexander at my side.

“She must have guessed that you were working with us,” I said tightly. “She thought she was giving all of us a message when she nodded to you then. If I’d only told you more quickly what was happening—”

“Wait. She’s out there alone with Packenham?” said the Marquess. “Without a chaperone? I don’t care if he’s the illusionist or not. She isn’t safe!” His eyes wild, he pushed between us and headed toward the back door at a near run, scattering other guests in his wake. Heads turned all around the room.

So much for being discreet. Panic pulsed against my chest, but it didn’t overwhelm my brain entirely. As everyone around us stared after the Marquess, I whispered to Alexander, “I think we’d better be invisible for this.”

Concerned friends and acquaintances were already converging on Lord Lanham, fluttering with anxiety and interest and blocking his way out. My family had thwarted my own last attempt to leave the ballroom—and even if we made it past them this time, if anyone followed us and saw Lucy and Packenham, her reputation could be ruined, too.

Alexander nodded without questioning me. “We’ll need to be able to see each other, though.”

Oh, no. I knew what that meant, and I wasn’t sure I could do it. Not tonight. Not now.

Then I thought of Lucy and steeled myself.

Together, we slipped out of the main crowd to the side of the room. The closest guests all had their backs turned to us, craning to make out Lord Lanham’s dispute with the crowd that surrounded him. It was the perfect moment.

Drawing a deep breath, I turned to Alexander. Tension prickled up my spine, but I quashed it with force.

This was only a magic-working. I was doing my duty and nothing more.

I tipped my head back to look into his deep green eyes. Then I drew up my Guardian power in a wave of energy that rippled through me—and almost stumbled back as I felt the tide of power roaring up to meet mine from Alexander’s body, only inches away.

It was overwhelming. It was exhilarating. I could scarcely breathe.

I couldn’t look away from his eyes or I would lose the magic-working. So I kept my gaze locked with his, my legs trembling in reaction, as I directed the magic with all my force:

Only you can see me. Only you can see me.

Magic washed over us both like flame.

I staggered and almost fell. He reached out to me—but I’d already caught myself.

“Now,” I said, and picked up my skirts in preparation to run. “Let’s go!”

We whisked past the group that had crowded around Lord Lanham, hearing his loud, agitated voice rising above the stream of enquiries. The Marquess might have to resort to fisticuffs if he was ever to escape his friendly interrogators, but we had no such obstacles. Invisible to everyone else, we rushed through the doors into the garden without turning a single head.

The first thing that I saw outside was a white piece of paper, still half-folded, lying on the pebbled path and only barely visible in the half-light cast through the open doors. My breath stopped at the sight. If Lucy had been tackled from the shadows as she’d left the building—if she’d dropped the note in some terrible struggle while I was still chatting away in the ballroom, completely oblivious to what was happening outside…

No. That was panic speaking, not common sense. Packenham would never have dared assault her so close to the ballroom, where anyone could have heard a cry for help. Lucy hadn’t dropped the note in any struggle; she had left it as a clue for us with just as much deliberation and purpose as she had positioned herself in the ballroom.

I wouldn’t be foolish enough to ignore her aid. So even though all of my instincts urged me to charge directly into the darkness, I stopped and picked up the note first, brushing dust off the paper as I opened it.

There wasn’t enough light cast through the doors to read the ornate, looping handwriting on the page—until Alexander held out his hand and a warm golden glow bloomed in the darkness. He shifted until he stood behind me, his hand cupped over mine to light the letter, looking over my shoulder as I read:

To Miss MacTavish:

Most admired and charming lady,

An Honourable Royal Personage had the infinite pleasure of being struck by your Inestimable Beauty and Charm earlier this evening but was prevented by Sad Circumstance from attaining the Introduction that he Craved. Although he is loath to arouse the public Excitement that would inevitably arise in the ballroom should the rest of the Company espy his reappearance, he has been unable to forget the Staggering Bolt of Admiration that was inflicted upon him by his earlier sight of you. Now he begs, with the Deepest and most Chaste and Respectful Humility, that you may bestow upon him the Honour of your Company in the Garden, where his Highness may be protected from the notice of the Crowd.