Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
He nodded.
“Good. Go, but slowly,” I ordered.
He was a year older than I. We had grown up together, and throughout all that time, he was always the responsible one, the noble one, the most capable one. Much the same as Hathor felt toward Aphrodite, I had felt toward him—part sibling, part rival. But he no longer matched the man I competed against in everything, the one who spoke six languages fluently, who was an expert marksman, skilled horseman, and even scholarly enough to speak with my father. Once upon a time, I truly believed he was made differently than the rest of us.
But now…now he was pitiful.
It took us twenty minutes to reach his home, and by the end of it, he was nearly unconscious.
“Call a doctor!” I hollered to the hands coming to fetch our horses, and jumped down.
“No…it’s fine,” he said, nearly falling. I caught him and pulled him down.
“Did I not tell you to shut up?” I held his arm around my neck, looking back to the men in the yard. “Fetch a doctor!”
“Yes, my lord!” they answered.
“Can you make it to the stairs?” He did not respond. “Evander!”
He still did not answer.
Shit.
“Where is the parlor?” I screamed at the maid, causing her to jump.
“Here, my lord.” She directed me, and I took him to the divan.
“Fetch water and a cloth and…brandy!” I pulled off his necktie and his coat, trying to find the source of his wound, only to discover more blood. “Dear God.”
He groaned in pain as I removed his coat.
I finally got to his shirt and saw the makeshift bandage over his shoulder, which had become soaked in blood.
“The things you asked for, my lord!” The maid came in.
I rose, but I knew not what to do beyond this.
“The doctor, my lord!” another servant called.
“Oh, thank God! Bring him in!” I said, moving to the door as a young gentleman not even my age rushed inside. “This is the doctor you found? A young boy?”
“I assure you I am not…my lord. And you will find no better than me at this hour. The patient?” he asked and did not wait for me to direct him before going to Evander’s side. “What happened to him?”
“I am unsure,” I said. “I saw him bleeding and brought him home.”
He checked the dressing and Evander’s shoulder before releasing the bandage, as the blood flowed heavily.
“Well?” I asked, leaning closer.
“He has been stabbed.”
“What?” Stabbed?
“And from the look of this, he sought to bandage himself. He’s truly blessed. He should have long since bled out.”
What in the hell had he gotten himself into? “But he can be saved.”
“He will need to rest his shoulder as well as overcome this fever to recover,” the doctor replied, reaching into his bag. “I am more concerned about the fever. What prevented him from getting help?”
As if Evander had heard him, he breathed his answer heavily, “Aphrodite.”
“What?” the doctor questioned.
“Ignore him. It is his madness.” I shook my head, picking up the bottle of brandy the maid had brought and taking a large drink of it. I stepped back, allowing the doctor to work, and I had to admit, he seemed proficient and managed to stop the bleeding.
It felt as though ages passed before he finally stopped and wiped his brow. “He will need medicine and to be monitored through the night, simply for his fever to break. I will remain if you do not mind.”
I did not. I much preferred it, actually. However, I knew Evander rarely allowed people into his sphere. Should he awake with a strange man in his home, who knew what he would do.
“Of course. I will remain as well.”
“Do you not need to return to your ball?” he questioned.
“You are aware of who I am?”
“I was not aware until he said the name Aphrodite. There is only one person within all of London who has such a name. And from your clothes and closeness to the duke, I merely assumed. His Grace, though, is wearing a footman’s coat.”
I had not even noticed until he lifted the coat for me to observe. Evander’s clothes were always much more refined.
“He was determined to get wherever he was going.” The doctor frowned, standing. “Very foolish. He could have died. It is good you followed after him.”
I glanced over at the man now resting. I was unsure of how he had been injured, only that despite his wound, he sought first to go to my sister, even if it was to kill him.
Damn him. For now, I was a villain in his story, having all but told Aphrodite that he was a disappointment for showing up late. Had I not gone to fetch her, she might have come back up only when he had arrived, and his sacrifice would not have been in vain.