“I know why we left,” Charity said, sighing. “But you have to understand what that means for them. My uncle… he is a difficult man, and you’ve seen it yourself. He will treat this incident like a personal attack, and the lesson will be taught to my sisters.”
Her heart beat quickened at the mere thought of the notion.
“You think he’ll hurt them?” Duncan said.
“I think he will frighten them and he will turn them against me,” she admitted, “He’ll twist it into a story where I’m the one who left them. I must reach them again.”
“You won’t reach them again. Now is not the time, and we will look into other means,” Duncan said.
Charity swallowed, and tears rose fast.
“I went back for them, that was the only reason I was willing to go back at all, and now I’ve come out with nothing but a bruise and a worse reputation.”
“You came out alive,” Duncan said. “Come here.”
“I don’t want…” Charity began, and then let him guide her to the chair.Don’t faint,she told herself.
“You’re bleeding,” Duncan remarked.
“It’s nothing,” Charity said automatically, and then she tasted the blood again at the corner of her mouth.Oh.It was something.
“It’s your lip,” Duncan said. “Hold still.”
“What are you doing?” Charity said, and her voice was sharper than she intended, then immediately softened because she did not want to snap at him.He’s the only one on your side.“I’m sorry. I’m only… I’m not myself.”
“You’re thinking ten steps ahead,” Duncan said, and he dipped the cloth in the water. “Turn your face.”
Charity turned her head, and the cloth touched the cut at the corner of her mouth. It stung sharply enough that she sucked in a breath through her nose, then immediately hated herself for making any sound at all.
“If it hurts, let it,” Duncan said, like he could tell what she was thinking.
Charity blinked fast and took a shaky breath, “I do not want to be weak,” she replied. She truly did not know what she was allowed to be in this moment without feeling ashamed.
“I think you’ve had enough,” Duncan said, and he leaned closer to apply a bit of salve to her lip with a careful touch that surprised her, because a man who could hit someone that hard did not seem like the sort who would bother to be gentle with anything.
Charity watched his hand for a moment too long. It wasn’t tender in a sweet way but rather practical. He did it like he expected her to heal, like he expected her to keep going.
This was the same person I had thought to be a beast.
“When I first met you, I thought you were dangerous in the worst way. And today…well…”
Duncan didn’t look offended.
“I am dangerous,” he said simply.
“Yes,” Charity said, and she swallowed carefully because her lip hurt. “But you’re not cruel, and there’s a difference that I didn’t see clearly until now.”
Duncan’s eyes stayed on her face while he finished with the salve.
“You’re trying to decide what sort of man I am,” he said. “Don’t you think it’s a bit too soon for that?”
“I’m trying to understand you,” Charity replied, and her voice lowered without her meaning it to, “You scared me in that house, Duncan. It seems like you have a lot of….”
Influence,she wanted to say.
“We cannot simply sit here,” Charity said, and she tried to keep her voice level, though it would not quite obey her, because the moment the door shut behind them, she could think of nothing but Augusta’s face and Matilda’s hands twisting in her sleeves.“If he has them alone all night, he will speak to them in a way that makes me sound like the problem, and by morning they will be frightened to say a word to me.”
Duncan set the water on the table and looked at her as if he were deciding how much truth she could bear at once. “Sit down,” he said. “If you fall, you’ll only make more trouble for yourself, and you’ve had enough trouble for one day.”
