The Ancient one was defeated by my gift to you, by something older than himself: by love.’
Darcy’s face softened and he leant forward and kissed Lizzy tenderly.
‘I cannot bear it any longer,’ she said, her hand caressing his face. ‘I want to be with you, whatever the cost. Take me, I beg of you, let us be together as man and wife, come what may.’
‘You don’t know what you are saying,’ he said, his voice shaking with the effort of controlling the huge tide of passion she could feel churning within him. ‘There are torments to face if you turn. You will never age, but you will have to watch all those around you grow old and die. You will be cut off from life, a part of it and yet not a part of it, forever cast out.’
‘I don’t care,’ she whispered. ‘I will bear any fate to be your wife.’
He looked deep into her eyes to make sure that she meant what she said, and then he lifted her from her feet and carried her across the beach and up to the lodge, where he took the steps two at a time and kicked open the door before carrying her over the threshold.
As he crossed the hall to the foot of the stairs a shadow detached itself from the corner and one of the servants stepped forwards.
‘There is someone to see you,’ he said.
‘Not now,’ said Darcy, without breaking his stride.
‘Yes, now,’ came a voice from the shadows.
‘It is the head man of our village, Nicolei,’ said the servant.
An old, bent man stepped forwards. He was leaning on the arm of a younger man.
‘It can wait until morning,’ said Darcy, already beginning to mount the stairs.
‘No, Old One, it cannot wait,’ said Nicolei, looking at Elizabeth and then back to Darcy. ‘It must be now, before you do anything you regret. There is a way to relieve you of your burden. There is a way to break the curse.’
Chapter 16
There was silence in the hall. From outside came the rustle of leaves and the cry of a sea bird, loud in the unnatural stillness. Then Darcy let Elizabeth slip from his arms and onto her feet, and taking her by the hand, he led her into the sitting room, with Nicolei following close behind. Darcy strode over to the fireplace and Elizabeth stood beside him, their arms around each others’ waists, whilst Nicolei made his way slowly into the room. The young man helped him into a chair and he sat down with great difficulty.
‘You say you know a way to return me to my human self,’ said Darcy uncertainly when Nicolei was seated.
‘That is right,’ said Nicolei.
He spoke in Italian, but Elizabeth was by now so familiar with the language she needed no translation.
‘I have never heard of such a thing,’ said Darcy.
‘And yet it is so,’ said Nicolei, looking at him reverently. ‘The knowledge has been passed down from head man to head man in our village for many generations.’
‘You have never told me about this before,’ said Darcy with a frown.
The old man rested his folded hands on the top of his stick.
‘I did not know you wanted it, Old One. You are magnificent, a creature of the night, undead, undying. You soar aloft on mighty wings. You are a protector of the weak, a harbinger of both good and ill, a bringer of vengeance, a dealer of swift and sure justice. You scatter your enemies like straw before the wind. Never did I think you would want to give up such greatness. The centuries to you are as the seasons are to your children, for that is what we are in your shadow, nothing but children, weak and blind and pitiful. The land and the sea and the sky are all your home. You travel great distances before we can take a step. Your senses are more keen, more brilliant than ours: you see the ant at his labours, you hear the click of his jaws, you smell the sea when you are on the mountain top, you taste the pollen on the breeze.
‘Do we say to the wind, do you wish not to blow? Do we say to the thunder, would you rather be silent? No. We never think of these things.’
‘And yet you think of them now,’ said Darcy.
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding slowly, ‘that is so. My family, those you have here to serve you, heard you talking when you ate with