She nodded. Tears rushed to her eyes. She wanted so badly to get up and get him help but she remained there, trapped with her hand against his chest. “Quite a few. But I don’t think now is the time to ask them.”
“Allow me to guess what they are then,” he said. “You want to know why we fought over you.”
She bit her lip, nodding.
“You’re a smart woman, Lav,” he said. “I’m sure you must have drawn your own conclusion by now.”
“It would only be fair if you said it. I would rather not assume.”
He nodded. The action seemed to cause him some pain. “That is true. Perhaps I should have used what little strength I had left to tell you that first, rather than arguing with Asher and your brother.”
“Austin.” The grip on her hand grew weak. His fluttering eyelids began to slow as his eyes slowly closed. Her panic shot to her throat, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Austin?”
He didn’t respond. He closed his eyes and let out one long breath.
She had read of such things before. Of men who had been hit so squarely in the head that they held no hope of staying alive. And even if they did, they were only half their former selves, their brains damaged to the point of no return. As she watched Austin’s body sink deeper into the chair, the cane falling from his now loose hand, Lavender thought that those fears had been realized.
What happened next felt like a blur. She did not remember shooting to her feet, only that she was suddenly outside of the drawing room, running right into Vincent who had been waiting on the other side. She barely got the words out but he understood. His previous anger was gone. Only firm determination and action. He got into action, holding her tightly as he sent for the physician.
Somehow, she took notice of the fact that Colin was still there. But he didn’t step forward to comfort her. He only watched from afar as she buried her face into Vincent’s shoulder and wailed. Knees buckling, throat hoarse, she could only recall Austin’s long breath and her panic transformed into something she could no longer contain.
She always thought she worked well under pressure. But this was something else entirely. Horror and grief trapped her so soundly that Lavender was hardly aware of what was going on around her. Vincent must have ordered footmen to get Austin. She watched him being carried by three men and followed without hesitation, even though the sight of his lifeless body was like a million knives piercing him at once.
They brought him to one of the guest bedchambers and laid him gently on the bed. She threw herself to the side of the bed, seizing one hand in both of her own. She bent her head and prayed and cried. Lavender didn’t know how long she stayed there. Only that eventually, Vincent came to pry her away from the room because the physician had arrived.
Her brother stayed by her side, holding her as she cried. Colin was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was in another roomor had decided to leave. She didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything other than the fact that she had made a dreadful decision in not sending for the physician the moment she saw Austin’s state. She would have been able to stop this from happening. She would have been able to prevent his…
“He’ll be all right,” Vincent soothed her. He’d been saying that for a while now, she realized. They sat outside the bedchamber on the floor, his hand slowly stroking her hair. “Everything will be all right.”
“I love him, Vincent,” Lavender managed to say. Her throat felt raw and painful but she needed to say the words aloud. She needed someone else to know if it couldn’t be Austin.
Vincent was quiet for a very long time. Then he said, “In that case, he has no choice but to get better.”
Lavender silently agreed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The first time Austin woke up, he couldn’t open his eyes. He felt a veil lift from his consciousness, heard voices in the distant, but could feel nothing around him. Was he laying down? Was he dead?
“…a few more days…”
He did not recognize the voice at first. But he clung to the melodic sound. Even as someone else responded, their words blurring into nothing, he waited to hear that voice again.
“I’m just happy that he’s…”
That he’s what? Were they talking about him? Austin tried prying his eyes open but it only wore him down. The veil began to fall once more and the voice faded into nothing.
***
When he woke again, he could open his eyes this time. He didn’t know where he was. He stared up at an ornate ceiling with white, intricate moulding and thought that this certainly was not his townhouse.
No one was speaking this time. Instead, he heard the soft hum of rain outdoors, casting the room in a soft shadow. With what little strength he had, he looked around, trying to get an understanding of his surroundings.
And then his eyes fell on her. She was asleep, a book laid across her lap and her head tilted forward. She snored softly, hair covering most of her face.
Austin tried to move, to reach out to her. She sat next to him, so close yet still so far. He tried to speak, to wake her. But he found himself going under once more and his eyes closed to the sight of her sleeping soundly beside him.
***
