“Would look better if she walked out.” He rubbed his beard-darkened jaw. “A little more difficult to come up with a good tale that would include her being shot as well.”
Seeing the sense of that, Brant still insisted on carrying her right to the front door. He then held her arm to steady her as she walked to the carriage. He told the driver to take them to the Warren as he settled her comfortably in the carriage and then climbed in to sit beside her.
“I cannot believe you climbed up to the window,” he said as the carriage began to move.
When she did not answer, he looked at her and his heart stopped for a moment. She was unconscious and her face was as pale as the snow. He leaned out the window and told the driver to hurry. Returning to her side, he held her close to ease the roughness of the journey even though he knew she was feeling no pain.
“Do not die on me, Baroness,” he whispered into her hair. “Do not dare. I will drag Penelope off her birthing bed to come and hunt your spirit down so I can scold you until your ears burn. Please, Olympia. Do. Not. Die.”
Chapter 18
Brant paced outside Olympia’s bedchamber. He had barely gotten her settled on the bed when Enid and Merry evicted him from the room. People soon began to arrive, some staying downstairs but several coming up and being allowed into the room. Stefan was in there as well as Doctor Pryne. He had also recognized Septimus Vaughn as that young man was hastily allowed into the room. Yet he was still banished.
“Come down and have a drink.”
He turned to look at the man who had spoken. There was no question he was a Wherlocke as well. He even had eyes similar to Olympia’s save that they were a darker blue. Suddenly, Brant knew who all the people were that he had heard arriving. He recalled from the time he had helped Ashton that the Wherlockes and Vaughns appeared to know when one of their own was hurt.
“They will not let me in there,” he said.
“Not yet. I am Orion, Olympia’s cousin.”
“Yes, I assumed you were related. There is a look you Wherlockes have.”
“A look? I hope it is a good thing.” Orion took him by the arm and tugged him along down the stairs. “Come have a drink. They will let you know when you can go in there. With Septimus, Stefan, and Doctor Pryne all in there, plus Enid and that little maid, it would be too crowded anyway.”
“She bled a lot,” he said, worry softening his voice as if he feared to even say the words.
“She will be fine.”
“Do you know that for certain?”
“Ah, no, just feel it to be true. I do not really have the sight. However, Chloe and Alethea, more cousins, have already sent word saying it will be fine. They do have the sight. They knew she would be hurt but the family is so scattered at the moment we could not get here in time to help with the trouble she was dealing with.”
“Ashton and Penelope sent her brothers. I thought that was because Olympia had called for some help.” He looked around at all the people gathered as Orion led him into the drawing room. “Although there were many who found out things we needed to know.”
Orion handed him a drink of brandy. “We are very good at that. It is why there are so many of us here. We were not so far away anymore. Unfortunately, not close enough to stop this or able to know it was coming. Or that he would come,” Orion muttered and looked toward the door.
Brant felt all the hairs on his arms lift and idly scratched at one. He looked in the direction everyone else was just in time to see a tall, black-haired man step into the doorway. The look the man fixed on him made Brant have to fight the urge to step back.
“So you are the one who got my sister shot,” the man said as he strode over to stand in front of Brant.
Argus Wherlocke, who had recently married the daughter of a duke, Brant thought as he stared into the man’s dark blue eyes. The urge to confess all rose up in him and then Orion stepped in front of him and held a hand in front of his eyes. That urge to spill his innards to this man slowly faded and Brant frowned.
“There is no need to do that, Argus,” Orion said. “There have been no secrets here and you know it.”
“My sister is hurt, cousin. I have a right to know everything that happened.”