What was more, the idea that hiding from love to ease from feeling pain, rather than taking it with both arms and holding on as if it was life itself, was an outlandish notion. One could not control how they felt, any more than they could deny it. Sebastian had tried to deny it. He had tried to hide from it. Hehad tried to beat it away like the cold winds of winter. But it had done him no good.
All that was to say that Sebastian knew now that he had fallen for his wife, and he would do anything to protect her. And whether that brought pain and misery and suffering the likes of that which he had never known…it will be worth it. Such is my love for Margot.
And so, he rode like the wind.
It had taken him nearly two hours to ride into London that morning, but it took him less than an hour to ride home. He pushed his mount up the open gate, down the drive, and to the front door, jumping from the horse before it stopped and running up the stairs without drawing a fresh breath.
The doors flew open, and inside he strode.
“Margot!” he cried, his voice booming off the walls. “Margot!”
“Your Grace!” A butler named Mr. Withers came rushing into the foyer. “You have returned!”
“Margot! Where is she!” Sebastian demanded.
Mr. Withers blinked. “I… I have not seen her since breakfast, Your Grace. I believe that she…” He bit his lip.
“What! Say it!”
He winced. “A carriage was seen arriving earlier, Your Grace. Her Grace was quick to board it – we did not see who drove the carriage. I believe it to be Lady Harcourt, her cousin. She has been known to visit.”
Sebastian’s face paled with realization.Oh no…
He did not waste time checking the house. He did not waste time in mourning. He was back outside, on his horse, and kicking it down the drive. When he reached the end, he pulled up and eyed the soft mud of the road, tracking the grooves and seeing which way they went.
Sebastian was not an expert hunter, but he knew enough to guess which way the carriage had gone. South, it looked like, away from London. And with that, he rode.
For an hour, he pushed his horse so hard he worried it might collapse. And for an hour, his mind turned as the worst of thoughts entered it. He shook them free, focusing on finding Margot, what he would do, what he would say, the promises he would make.
I did not give this marriage a chance. I know that now. And when this is all over, I will dedicate my life to making her happy. For my mother, my father… for Margot.
It was a little over an hour before he finally came upon a carriage. It moved steadily, and Sebastian frowned as he had imagined the carriage that bore Margot to be racing. But he shook his head and rode for it, not knowing why but certain this was the carriage that held his wife.
Was he not so filled with panic that he might have formulated a plan? What if Lord Ashcombe had a knife? A gun? What if he saw Sebastian coming and threatened Margot’s life? But Sebastian was too incensed to think logically, so he acted. Foolishly, but such was the way of love sometimes.
He rode up the side of the carriage and then pulled his horse in front. The horses of the carriage whinnied and kicked up, forcing the carriage to a stop.
“What’s the meaning of this!” the driver cried out angrily.
Sebastian jumped from his horse and strode past the driver to the carriage door. There, he was about to throw the door open when it opened on its own – the passenger likely wanting to see what the cause of the commotion was. And indeed, the passenger stood crouched in the doorway, saw Sebastian standing there with a look on his face that would make grown men cry, and his mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Yo – Your Grace!” Lord Ashcombe stammered. “This is a most surprising – woah!” Sebastian grabbed Lord Ashcombe by the scruff of the neck and ripped him from the carriage.
Then, he tossed the man onto the hard dirt of the road by his feet with a thud. And then, without thinking, without looking to see if Margot was there, without caring for the consequences, he proceeded to beat him.
The flat base of his foot drove itself into Lord Ashcombe’s gut, and the man cried out in pain. And another cry as the same foot kicked hard into his ribcage.
“Argh!” Lord Ashcombe kicked out in an effort to take Sebastian’s legs, but Sebastian dodged them, again driving his boot into the man’s side.
“You think I am a fool!” Sebastian took hold of Lord Ashcombe’s collar, pulling him into his face and snarling before punching his fist into the man’s nose. It shattered and blood sprayed, and Sebastian punched him again. “You think you can get away with this!” He punched him a third time and shoved him back into the dirt.
“My wife!” Sebastian roared, kicking him. Beating on him. Rage flooding his body as all he wanted to do was turn this man into a pathetic sack of blood and bone to be left here to rot. “My wife! How dare you! How dare you!”
“Money!” Lord Ashcombe squealed in pain. “The – loan! I have your money!”
“What?” Sebastian grabbed him by the collar again and lifted him from the ground. Lord Ashcombe was not a small man, buthe weighed nothing in the face of Sebastian’s fury. “What did you say?”
“The loan...” He spoke thickly through the blood; it dripped from his nose and pooled in his mouth so his teeth turned pink.Not so handsome now, are you?“I have… the loan… it is legally binding…” He smiled then, and Sebastian might have just killed him.
