“Oh, Thomas!” she cried as she watched her brother lift a vase with both hands.
It wasn’t a particularly expensive or important vase. Not that she knew of, at least. But the household had brought her fresh flowers the day after their arrival in that vase and she had grown rather fond of it. A simple white porcelain covered in pink streams that looked like ribbons was too lovely to let anything happen to it.
Until Thomas lifted it over his head and threw it across the room.
Isabel gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. Words left her. Unable to believe what she had just seen, she stood there even as her brother dove further into the room.
Movement drew her closer. She tiptoed closer, bewildered over what could be happening. An intruder? Why weren’t the servants doing anything?
“Unhand me, you brute!” her brother snarled.
“Ow!” Shouted another voice she knew too well. It left her frozen in place. “Did you just bite me?”
“So what if I did?”
Sebastian’s growl sent shivers through Isabel’s body from the top of her head to the bottom of her toes. She swallowed and peeked in around the ruined door to see that her imagination wasn’t getting too carried away. Part of her wished that was the case.
But it really was him.
What is Sebastian doing?
“You’ll pay for that,” her husband was saying. “For everything you have done!”
“I haven’t done anything. You’re the problem here,” Thomas sneered. He grasped another object––this time a figurine of a cherub from the fireplace mantle––and flung it right at Sebastian.
Isabel couldn’t help but gasp in horror. It was a very heavy sort of figurine, and too big to be easily deflected. She couldn’t breathe even when she watched Sebastian move back in time to avoid––he honestly was swift on his feet. However, she still caught sight of his ripped sleeve. There was a red spot like blood on his left forearm.
“What are you doing, hiding?” Sebastian shot at him. “That is all you know how to do! Hide behind glass and lies!”
“O-ho, you dare?” Thomas snapped.
“Fight me like a real man,” her husband said with a snarl, making her think greatly of a beast right then. A fierce creature with a fury like that which she had never seen before.
It twisted her heart right then as she realized that this had come to mind. That she had fought so hard to show her husband she didn’t see him like that, even though half of London used that name behind his back. Her insides twisted. And yet was she supposed to feel for him? Now, after all that had happened? After what he had done to her?
Last night was the first night I didn’t fall asleep from exhausting myself of my tears. I want to be rid of him. To be free.
Even as she had that thought, however, Isabel knew she couldn’t let this carry on. She couldn’t let the men fight. They were adults and they were not going to ruin her favorite drawing room any more than they already had done.
“Stop it!” Isabel cried.
Sebastian jerked back, bumping into the window and curtains as he looked up her way. At once his hands had loosened from their fists to drop down at his side, looking up at her.
The expression nearly made her want to burst into tears. So Isabel looked away as Thomas was starting toward him. “Thomas, I said, stop!”
“Isabel!” He huffed and turned slightly toward her while keeping his hands tight together like he was ready to enter a ring and box. “You shouldn’t be here. This isn’t your business. Let me handle this for you.”
“You’re done,” Sebastian told him.
A crude laugh escaped her brother. “You dare?”
“I mean it, Thomas!” Isabel ordered, feeling as though the world was imploding on itself. She couldn’t understand how the men were just about to fight one another. What had gotten into them?
That’s only the first of countless questions. Like when did Sebastian arrive? Why is he even here?
Seeing her brother wasn’t letting up, Isabel stormed through the room––barely avoiding broken glass––and moved in between them. She lifted her hands to both men’s faces. The sudden feeling of being a dear caught on a hunt washed over her, making her heart pound like crazy.
“Isabel, please.” Sebastian’s voice was quiet but rough. “Perhaps it is best if you take a step back.”
