The Question of Consent
By DJ Clawson
A sequel to "A Bit of Advice"
Author's Note: Someone had a question on titles. In English titles in the Regency period, the younger brother really got the shaft. Colonel Fitzwilliam is the second son of an earl, hence his lack of title and fortune, which is why he joined the military (we assume). So, Dr. Maddox mentions his father was a second son and his uncle is the Earl of Maddox, meaning both Daniel and Brian Maddox are untitled. As for the Kincaids, James is the older son and gets the title of earl according to English custom, but William mentions that Scottish custom differs and he inherited the title. So, technically, they are both referred to as "Lord Kincaid."
Chapter 15 – Scotland the Brave
"The doorbell?" Darcy said, perking up his ears.
"I don't like this," Elizabeth said, and in response, her husband grabbed the metal sifter from the fire place.
"Please, away from the door," he instructed, and when she stepped away, he swung at its top hinges, making a considerable indentation in the fine wooden door, but not dislodging the hinges. "Damnit! This will take all night."
To no great surprise, his wife immediately took up a poker and swung it at the bottom set of hinges. He had no time to protest. "If only I had a screwdriver – or an axe. We're coming, son."
Dr. Maddox's first instincts, surprisingly, were to his brother, who slumped to the ground when Kincaid pulled the blade out. Apparently years of his profession could not undo his inclinations, and he ignored Kincaid almost entirely. Fortunately, the lord did not strike at him again. "What the hell are you – "
"Shut up and get me my bag!" he looked over his shoulder. "Now!"
"You – "
"Do it and I will sign your damned contract!"
Kincaid was apparently not prepared for this precise situation, and somewhat numbly kicked the bag over to Maddox, keeping his blade up. The doctor tore it open and spilled the contents onto the floor next to his brother, who he slapped on the face. "Stay with me." Brian's response was to cough as his brother took scissors and cut his shirt away, revealing a hole in his chest near the collarbone. Blood was running but not gushing, which meant the artery was missed, but as it was also pooling beneath him, he had been pierced straight through. He probed the wound and his brother gasped. "Oh, be quiet. You brought this on yourself." It was hard to tell the lung had been pierced, but he could do nothing for that, anyway. He went for his needle and thread and immediately began lacing it up.
"Maddox – "
"You can try to kill me too, if you want," Maddox said, without turning to look at the man with the rapier pressed against his back. "But that is your decision and clearly I cannot stop you either way, so in the meantime, my brother will live to see the day when I can properly slap him in the face for this if I can possibly help it."
"I could go after Caroline."
"Touch her and I'll kill you," said a voice from behind. It was Charles Bingley in his nightclothes, brandishing a walking stick, which he swung at Kincaid. Despite being an accomplished outdoorsman, he was easily parried by the lord, who caught the stick and used it to bash Bingley on the head. The Master of Kirkland dropped to the ground in a heap, and did not stir.
"One patient at a time!" was all Maddox said in response as he began to sew up his brother. "Please!"
"All right," Darcy said, looking at the prospect of a door with the area around both its hinges nearly destroyed. "I think I can push it open."
"With your shoulder? Alone? Absolutely not!"
"Lizzy – " but one look from her silenced him. "Fine. On three. One ... two ... three!" Together they slammed their combined weight into the door, and it finally came lose, freeing the Darcys from their prison.
"Geoffrey!" Elizabeth cried as they rushed to the nursery, which was just down the hall, only to find the door locked. "Keys!"
Darcy fumbled through his set of keys and found the correct one, which successfully unlocked the door, which had not been bolted.
"Mr. Darcy! Mrs. Darcy!" Nurse, barely awake, curtseyed. "I was woken by that terrible noise, but I couldn't –"
"Open the door, yes," Darcy said as his wife rushed to her son's cradle, where he was fast asleep.
"My darling," Elizabeth said as she took her son into her arms. "My baby. Darcy, my baby."
Darcy put his arms on his wife's shoulders, and made his own inspection of his son, who was now waking from the commotion. "I think he is all right. Whatever is the matter, it is not with Geoffrey." He kissed his son and then his wife, who was still sobbing. "I must find the cause of all this. Please, stay here and keep the door shut to anyone suspicious. Especially Mr. Maddox." He turned to Nurse. "Watch over them."
"Darcy – "
"I love you," he responded, and then left the nursery. The hallway was silent but for the banging on the door to Georgiana's room. "Georgiana!" he said and quickly unlocked her door, which was of course locked.
"Brother!" she screamed as she emerged, also in her nightgown and robe, and hugged him. "What is going on? I heard all this noise?"
"I have no idea what is the matter, but you should go to the nursery, and stay with Elizabeth."
"Is she all right? Is my nephew all right?"
"They are fine. Just, understandably upset. She woke and found our door barred and we had to destroy it to get it open." He said very firmly, "Go to her and stay there unless I call or there is a fire." He kissed her on the forehead. "Go, please."
She did as she was told. Since there were no more banging doors, that left the guest wing, servant's quarters, and that business about the doorbell. Something was afoul in the halls of Pemberley and its master would not stand for it. Instead of going to the front door, he took a sword from the wall above the fireplace in a sitting room, and followed his instincts to the guest wing.
The scene before him was inexplicable. Doctor Maddox kneeling on the floor next to his fallen brother, covered in blood, sewing him up as women seemed to embroider things, if those things involved human flesh. Standing over him, a roguish-looking Lord Kincaid with a rapier on the doctor. Behind him, an unconscious Bingley on the floor.
"Mr. Darcy," Kincaid said. "Somehow I thought our paths would cross again."
"Despite some people's inclinations for revenge, I in fact never cared to see you again," Darcy said, raising his weapon. "I do not associate with filth." He did, it seem, fence filth, despite his inclination not to. He had two wounded men on the ground and one who needed his concentration, a lot of people missing, and he knew that even with an uninjured right arm, he had not the stamina for a long battle, having expended almost all of it just getting the bedroom door open. He was already breathing heavily and he hoped Kincaid did not notice this, but if their previous matches were any indication, he was an observant man. "I have no idea as to how you managed this, but I will be a great host and will give you the change to leave Pemberley now, unharmed, to contend only with the proper authorities and the miserable weather."
"And do you think in your state that you can best me, if we were to duel?"
"I believe in my state that I can try," he answered with his usual determination. And that was when they both heard the great battle cry that overruled further conversation. Both fighters were distracted long enough to properly see the man in the great tartan cloth swinging from a chandelier and landing next to Darcy.
"For the Bonnie Prince!" the man, in full antique highland costume – great kilt and white shirt, and a blue beret. He was carrying a wooden circular shield and a basket hilt claymore. "G-d, I've always wanted to do that!"
"William?" Kincaid finally stuttered.
'William' took his place beside Darcy, holding up his sword and his shield. "Lord Darcy of Pemberley I assume?"
"Mr. Darcy, thank you." With now two swords to face Kincaid, Darcy felt a bit more confident, especially because he could barely hold his up. "Might I inquire –,"
"Lord William Kincaid," he said.
"My brother," Kincaid said. "Making a fool of himself, apparently. Where did you even get that? Aren't great kilts still illegal?"
"I knew I'd catch up with you sooner or later," William Kincaid said. "This is for Fiona, brother."
Apparently, Lord Kincaid – the villain of the two – had been holding back at the club in Town, because he was such an accomplished swordsman to parry not one but two blades, and to avoid tripping over Bingley's body in the process. It was only when he was bashed from behind with a broom that he gave his opponents enough pause to strike properly, and he practically fell into both of their blades, piercing him through. As he fell first on his knees, then straight forward to the floor, behind him appeared Caroline Bingley, wielding her impromptu weapon.
"Miss Bingley!"
"Caroline!" Dr. Maddox looked up long enough from his gruesome work to replace his glasses and turn to her. "Are you all right?"
"Is my brother all right?" she asked, and motioned to Bingley. Fortunately, Darcy dropped his weapon and ran to Bingley turning him over. Charles Bingley groaned as he returned to consciousness, clutching his head.
"Bingley, are you all right?" Darcy said, kneeling beside him.
"I – I think so. Did I miss it?"
Darcy's response was a look. He turned impatiently to Dr. Maddox, who turned away from his brother and to Lord Kincaid the elder. "Help me turn him over, please – someone."
William and Darcy helped flip Lord Kincaid over, and Caroline gasped and fell against the wall. "Is he alive?"
"Yes," Maddox said, pulling his shirt open. Kincaid responded by coughing up blood, unintentionally in his face. "But both his lungs are pierced. I cannot repair organs. Lord Kincaid, I am sorry to give my prognosis – "
"How long does he have?" Darcy interrupted.
"I don't know. Not long."
"He will not – he will not die on Pemberley grounds," Darcy said, losing a bit of composure to exhaustion. "No offense, Lord Kincaid, but your brother is – "
" – a rogue, I know," said William Kincaid. "I will take him if someone will show me the way."
"I will," Darcy said, and before anyone could protest, he continued, "I am the only one of us who knows the extent of Pemberley. If he must die in Derbyshire, it will not be on any great estate." He handled the master set of keys to the recovering Bingley. "Go to the servant's quarters and unlock them or unbar them or whatever must be done. And tell Elizabeth all is ... well. Doctor, does your brother need more tending?"
"Yes, I must repair his back or he will bleed to death."
"Then do so. The servants should be along to aid you." And with that, Darcy tossed aside his bloodied sword. Fortunately, William had also taken it on himself to drop his shield and take his dying brother over his own shoulders, and the two of them ran down the main stairs, and Bingley following them and cutting to the servant's quarters.
Dr. Maddox turned back to his brother with grim expression. "Brian?" Brian did not respond in words, but in a coughing sputter. "Stay with me. I am going to flip you over." But he found it was not an easy task to do. Another pair of arms helped him. "Caroline – "
"What?"
"I can't – you shouldn't see this," he said, as he prepared the scissors to cut away the back of Brian's shirt. "It's ... unpleasant."
"Not lady-like?"
"Really – I-I must insist – "
She responded by handing him his pliers with an indignant scowl.
"I love you," he said, and went to his work.
"Let me get this straight," Mr. Bennet as he sat in the parlor in his bedrobe, being served tea by a harried servant. On the couch sat his daughter, who would not release her grip on her son, who had fallen back asleep in her arms. Next to her, Bingley was tended by the servants, and sat with an icepack on his head next a nervous Georgiana as they all waited for Darcy and Lord William Kincaid to return. "Not only did I sleep through being locked in my room, the return of the infamous ill-willed suitor, but also missed a Highland battle in the halls of Pemberley?"
"Yes, Papa. Though it is my own fault for not rushing to unlock your door. I only went to the nursery and Darcy to Georgiana, and then ...," Elizabeth said, "Come to think of it, Mr. Bingley, was your door not locked?"
"It was."
"And Miss Bingley's?"
"I did not ask her."
"So ... you broke down your door?"
"No," he said, repositioning the icepack. "I picked the lock." He was not prepared, with the innocence of his phrasing, for the stares he was to receive. "What? Is there some reason why a respectable English gentlemen should not know how to pick a lock?" The looks were apparently enough of a response, and he sighed and leaned back. "Can I tell the story at a time when my head is not ringing like the inside of a church bell?"
They barely had time to agree to his terms with the Master of Pemberley finally reappeared in the heated parlor, soaking wet and looking like he was to fall right over. This time there was a horde of servants to attend to him before he could even be seated in an armchair, covered in blankets and with a tub of water put beneath his feet.
"Lord James Kincaid is no longer with us," he announced with the appropriate gravity. "His brother has decided to stay with the body despite the weather, and he seems like a hardy fellow, so I did not put up any objection to this family matter. The constable will be hear in the morning, or whenever he can make his way here, to look into the matter." After all, a member of the nobility, even as an escaped criminal, was dead and it was hard to determined who exactly had killed him.
"I should send word to Jane," Bingley said. "But I was waiting for – Caroline." The last bit was meant as a greeting, as Miss Bingley entered with a shawl, obviously covering a gown that itself was bloodstained. Bingley succeeded in rising to greet his sister. "How are you?"
"I? I am fine," she said with her usual dignity, marred only by fatigue. Dr. Maddox appeared behind her, wearing a different shirt.
"Doctor," Bingley greeted him, and Darcy himself rose before collapsing back into his chair again. "Your brother – "
"I've done all I can. We will have to wait it out, but I think he will be fine."
"Until the constable arrives," Darcy mumbled.
"As Master of Pemberley, you may press what charges for theft that you wish, but Caroline and I have agreed not to pursue the matter further. You may take my word on it when I say he is suffering enough as it is for his crimes."
As they would later learn from other sources, Brian had asked, then demanded, then begged for his brother's legendary opium concoction, and Doctor Maddox had very uncharacteristically refused his patient's request every time.
Next Chapter – The Chief of Clan Kincaid