It was like a scene from a nightmare. He hadn’t even known Eversea had returned to Pennyroyal Green.
Instinct urged Isaiah to move away. But he would never give Eversea the satisfaction.
Jacob stopped in front of him. They regarded each other wordlessly.
“How bloody dare you make a fool of her.”
Jacob delivered this flaming gauntlet in a quiet, pleasantly conversational tone.
“I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Eversea,” Isaiah replied stiffly. He offered a small, polite smile for the benefit of anyone watching. His heart was slamming.
Contempt and anger and pain poured from Eversea in such scorching rays Isaiah could feel it on his skin. He was tempted to take a step back.
He would quite frankly rather die than relinquish his ground.
Eversea snorted. “You're not worthy of her, of course.” His expression reflected nothing but bright interest. He, too, apparently knew when to don a social disguise. “But I always suspected you were the rankest of cowards. It's the Redmond way, after all. The snake-in-the-grass way.”
Isaiah’s control was already in shreds. Rage rose in him like the flames licking at the ankles of a heretic tied to a stake. It was going to consume him.
“And yet you’re the one who left her, Eversea,” he drawled. “Aren’t you? What kind of fool does that make you?”
He had the pleasure of seeing Eversea go rigid as the words found their mark.
“I pity you, Redmond,” Eversea finally said quietly. “And do you know why you're pitiable?” Jacob leaned forward and lowered his voice to a near-whisper, and said with a sort of scathing tenderness next to Isaiah’s ear, “Because now you willneverhave her. And I expect I can.”
Isaiah felt his entire being shudder apart.
He made a feral sound and lunged for Eversea's throat with his hands.
Eversea ducked and came up again with a swing, his fist slamming into Isaiah’s jaw.
Isaiah went down, hard.
And before he could move, Jacob Eversea was on him, teeth bared, face scarlet, his fist pulled back to smash Isaiah Redmond’s face.
Isolde heard the screams.She saw the crowd heave forward as a mass like a wave, then part abruptly.
The last thing she saw before the world went black was Jacob Eversea's face blazing with terrifying intent, four men dragging him by the arms away from Isaiah Redmond's prone body
ChapterEleven
“The Everseas are animals.” Isaiah's father sounded bored as he clipped his cheroot. “Everyone knows this.”
But his father's hand was trembling.
His father was, in truth, seething.
The Redmonds and their guests had departed the Pennyroyal Green assembly immediately after Isaiah was picked up off the floor. Fanchette had been whisked away by her parents and Isaiah’s mother and sister to one of their sitting rooms, where she was soothed and plied with tea, while Isaiah and his father repaired to his father’s office at the top of Redmond house.
Presumably, the Everseas and Sylvaines had left the assembly, too.
One never knew with Everseas.
The whole shameful episode was over in seconds, really.
Isaiah seemed unable to speak. He could still only vaguely feel the outlines of his body, as though shock had scorched him into a rattling husk. He’d had one cup of ratafia, which was not, unfortunately, enough to blunt the pain. The place Jacob Eversea's fist had connected with his jaw burned like a brand.
Tomorrow his whole body would feel worse, of a certainty. The bruise would be difficult to disguise.
