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But…Thomas had given Gerard a chance to make things right, and at least attempt to start over.
Gerard had repaid him by shooting a bullet into his side.
Thomas took a deep breath and looked the Constable in the eye. “I am afraid my Brother is not the good man I believed him to be.”
As Thomas recounted the tale of everything that had happened since Father’s death—leaving out the bit about the letters exchanged between Mother and her lover, for the sake of her privacy and reputation—it occurred to him that though Gerard appeared to be physically surviving their altercation…
Well, the brother Thomas had thought he’d known was dead to him.
Worse than that: he’d never existed at all.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” said the Constable, getting to his feet when Thomas was done. “This is very helpful to us in the matter of how we mean to proceed from here.”
Thomas knew he ought to ask after what that meant exactly—likely, it would have to do with whatever justice awaited Gerard—but he did not have any more strength in him to dig deeper.
“Of course,” he said absently, at least remembering to nod his head in acknowledgement. “Please, do get some rest after you leave. I appreciate you remaining to take my statement, despite the time it took me to awaken.”
They exchanged a few more bits of small talk, though it was somewhat marred by the disquieting circumstances, and then the Constable was gone.
Again, Thomas expected his mother, Lady Evelina, or the physician. Instead, the butler appeared and asked, rather stiffly, “The Duke of Alderleaf insists on speaking with you before Lady Evelina is allowed up. Are you feeling up to further visitors, Your Grace?”
Thomas blinked in shock. The Duke of Alderleaf was the last person on earth he might have anticipated.
Even so, it was long past time they resolved all the confusion and tragedy that had passed between their families.
“I am,” Thomas told the butler, hoping he sounded confident. “Send him in.”
