Page 34 of Duke of Chaos

Despite the unknown danger still lurking nearby, Ezra felt another brush of Lydia’s white energy soothing his blackened one, making it shutter. Somewhere inside his dark heart, he felt a needle of pure light pierce through.

“Let us get you home, darling,” Ezra said, allowing a nurturing tone to coat his voice as he turned her back toward the door.

Though, unlike Lydia, he was not sure he was acting.

“You snap at me in public like that again and it will bemethat punishesyou,” Lydia snarled as she unwrapped Ezra’s hand from her layers of skirts and found a surprisingly large blood stain.

“Now that I would almost want to see,” Ezra said mischievously.

He grinned in a similar fashion as he raised his hand above his head to staunch the flow of blood, seemingly unbothered by the amount that still trickled down his forearm and dripped from his elbow.

Lydia felt her cheeks burn as she ripped the bottom of her inner skirts to create a makeshift bandage. Despite the seriousness of the moment, her mind still flooded with various possibilities of how she could carry out such a threat. Annoyed at the diversity of her thoughts, she reached roughly for Ezra’s hand, drew away her ruined kerchief, and began binding the wound with the fresh bandage.

“You are impossible,” she hissed.

“I am impossible?” Ezra retorted, raising his voice and his brow as he let her work.

“If you had just obeyed me in the first place I would not have had to reprimand you in public.”

Fair,Lydia thought begrudgingly, so she moved on, “Who did this to you?”

Ezra laughed somberly.

“If I knew I would have sent you home and hunted him down back there,” he replied. Then, letting out a grunt he added, “Perhaps that is what I still shall do after I see you back to the house.”

“You will do no such thing,” Lydia snapped back, adding a little extraoomphas she tightened the bandage edges into a knot.

A low growl rumbled from Ezra’s chest at the little bite, but he grinned at her devilishly as he casually asked, “I will not?”

Lydia felt her arousal return as his voice lowered into that sweet darkness and she felt her anger dissipate somewhat.

“You are smarter than that,” she stated, giving him an imploring look.

“This could have been much worse, and I know you are aware of that. We need to make a plan; speak to the host, retrieve a copy of the guest list and staff that were there, then narrow down our suspects.”

Ezra’s teasing smile had slipped a little, but she could not quite read the expression on his face. It was as if he was searching for something beyond her person and inside of her heart. Unable to take his intense stare any longer, she let her gaze return to his hand.

“I believe I can clean and dress this wound myself,” she said as the carriage stopped. “You will come to my rooms and let me do so.”

At this, Ezra finally seemed to snap out of his trance and snickered.

“Will I?” he asked.

Lydia afforded him a sultry glance before getting out of the carriage, and Ezra followed her up into her rooms to do as she had instructed.

“I have never taken orders from a woman in my life,” Ezra mused as Lydia delicately washed his hand in clean, warm water. “Not even my mother, and yet you have me following you upstairs like a pup. How do you do that?”

Lydia laughed.

“Are we not supposed to be discussing this?” she asked, moving his cleansed hand from the blood-stained basin onto a clean, white towel.

Ezra’s eyes flicked to his wound.

“I will take care of this.” He stated, his tone final as he gave her a warning look. “And I will do so my way.”

“But I can help,” Lydia insisted.

“I know you can,” Ezra replied calmly, his gaze softening, “But I am not allowing you to become involved. Now, answer my earlier question, or give me that punishment you were teasing me with.”

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