‘The usual place?’ his friend said, lowering his arm.
‘Pistols this time, I think,’ he replied. ‘I did not like being stabbed very much. Let us see if a bullet wound is any better.’ He smiled and pulled a wet handkerchief from his pocket, mopping at the blood on his lip.
‘Very well.’ Julian turned to the two women, who were now standing in silence at his side. ‘I think that will be enough for the evening, Cassandra. Portia, if you would pay our respects to the hostess? I have an early morning, tomorrow.’
Then, they were gone. The crowd around him dispersed as well, turning their heads away as if it was possible to exile him from Society by ignoring him.
And he was alone, just as he deserved to be.
Chapter Nineteen
She had not thought the day could get worse.
Of course, technically, it hadn’t. The long case clock in the foyer where they waited showed ten past midnight. Yesterday had been terrible. Today was a new, even more awful day. She was publicly disgraced, and still inebriated.
She’d gotten drunk and precipitated a duel almost identical to the one she’d been trying to put right a year ago. Perhaps Julian was destined to become a murderer.
Perhaps Sebastian was never supposed to live.
Portia stood beside her, cold and silent.
‘Say it,’ Cassie said with a sigh. ‘You want to, and I deserve it.’
‘I told you what would happen if you did not tell Julian the truth,’ she said. She did not sound angry, so much as sad.
‘I thought there would be time,’ Cassie replied. It was not much of an apology, but her head was still foggy.
‘Obviously, there was not,’ Portia said. ‘And I do not think I will be able to talk him out of it. The scene we witnessed was damning. I don’t think anyone will be able to pretend we misunderstood it.’
‘At least the Duchess did not seem angry,’ Cassie said with a weak smile. ‘She assured me that no harm came to the fish.’
‘May we all be as fortunate as the fish,’ Portia said.
‘I did not really want Sebastian to die,’ Cassie said, in a small voice.
‘I don’t suppose he will offer for you.’
‘I do not think so,’ she replied. ‘Something happened. I am not sure what.’
Portia laughed. A single, coldha. ‘I think it is quite obvious to everyone what happened. Now that it has, he is no longer interested in you.’
‘Did you know about the proposal?’ she said staring straight ahead.
‘Julian told me, after we arrived here,’ she replied. ‘I told him it was a mistake.’
‘I refused him,’ she said.
‘I thought you would. It is just as well. After what happened later, Mr. Balard probably thinks it a narrow escape.’
Cassie nodded, wishing she cared enough to cry over it.
The footman opened the door and Julian was there to help them into the carriage. Once they were on their way, he looked at her with disappointment and said, ‘Tomorrow morning, I will hire a carriage to take you back to the Fisks. I will have need of this one to take me to my meeting with Westbridge.’
‘I do not want you to fight him,’ she said, staring back at him, unintimidated.
‘That was not what you were saying when I punched him,’ he replied.
‘It was wrong when you fought him last year, and it is no better now.’
