Page 36 of A Duke, a Virgin and a Baby
“We do not need to do that. My acquaintance was kind enough to divulge the activities your brother liked to engage in whenever he came here. I know exactly where he is going to be. If you’ll follow me.” Lysander prompted, walking down the hallway that led straight down the foyer.
Julian followed him closely, nearly walking into a wall when Lysander turned right suddenly, sighing with irritation before he continued to follow his friend’s footsteps. Lysander passed three doors before coming to a stop in front of a door painted green and knocking against it four times in rapid successions.
The door ell open and Lysander walked in as though he was meant to be there, whereas Julian was more cautious, his eyes darting around the room with thinly veiled suspicion.
“I was told he liked the shows that happen in this room. Try and see if you can spot him in the crowd. And don’t faint from whatever that foul smell in the air is. You cannot possibly expect me to try and lift you out of here by myself. Do not subject both of us to needless suffering.” Lysander warned.
Julian waved his friend away with a glare and began his search for his brother, once more wondering why Seth could not simply choose to live a less disgraceful life.
As the older one, Julian had done what he could to shield his brother from all the misbehavior that had been going on around him. But appeared that he wasn’t too successful as Seth had later developed a thick skin that shielded him from all of Julian’s disapproval, along with a fondness for less than savory activities and habits.
Julian was used to clearing up his messes and paying off his debts, but this was one thing he could not take on as his own burden.
Just as the duke begun to feel tired of the crowd and heat, he spotted his brother cheering among the crowd, clenching a piece of paper in his fist as he demanded something named ‘Knuckles’ stay still and fight.
As Julian began to approach him, Seth raised his head and spotted his brother, his eyes widening a tad before he ducked into the crowd quickly.
“That odious, foolish runt,” Julian mumbled under his breath before he darted in the direction his brother had gone in.
After a few steps, it seemed as though he had lost sight of Seth completely and just as Julian started to let out a string of curses, someone’s movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye and he did not even wait before chasing them down, still swearing under his breath.
Julian cut it quite close but eventually caught up with Seth, reaching out to grab his younger brother by the collar. Seth choked, lost his balance and fell backwards, landing heavily on his back. Julian sighed and hauled him to his feet with a grunt.
“I would like to have a word with you, brother,” he stated as he pulled Seth out of the room.
It took him a while to find a place for a conversation to be had discretely, especially thanks to Seth’s incessant struggling, but eventually, Julian found an empty room in good enough shape, pushed his brother in and locked the door behind them.
“What in heaven’s name do you think you are doing? What gives you the right to –”
“Mind your tongue, you reckless fool. I am the one who funds these your escapades and ridiculous hobbies. It is well within my right to do what I damn well please. It’s not surprising at all to see that you have taken none of my words to heart and even tried to live right.” Julian snapped.
“What does it matter to you?” Seth retorted in the same tone. “It is no business of yours what I do with my life. If it pains you to be my provider, then you can simply hand over my inheritance from Father and you will never have to hear from me again.”
Julian laughed humorlessly. “So, you can gamble it all away in a single night? Do you really believe that I would be so foolish as to provide you with all that you would need to finally ruin your life completely? How can you act like this? How can you let a man such as yourself – with your name and title – be caught in such a dreary place?”
“If you do not like it here, then you may leave, Your Grace. I do not believe you were invited to this humble establishment in the first place. Spare me your incessant whining and just leave me be.” Seth scoffed, trying to walk around Julian to get to the door.
As Julian’s anger rose, he slammed a hand against Seth’s chest, hitting and shoving him back as he said,
“I wouldn’t be here at all if your mistakes had not made their way into my life and my home. Do you even know that you have a child? Because your mistress – whoever she is – certainly wished for you to know. That was why she left your son at my doorstep!”
Seth stared at Julian with a blank expression.
“My… son? What do you mean? What sort of cruel trick are you playing?”
“Oh?” Julian said with mock sympathy. “You don’t know? Oh, poor Seth. Too eager to perform actions recklessly and nowhere to be found to deal with the fall out and consequences. Who is the mother?”
“Julian, I swear – I have no idea what you are talking about. I-I am a lot of things – a drunk and a gambling addict. But a father? I have been careful –”
“And you expect me to believe that your methods were effective? Because surely a man of your nature cannot make mistakes? If only we were not just speaking about one of such instances when your character is practically reflected in the sort of affairs that surround you, I might have felt more inclined to believe you!”
Seth inhaled shakily, rubbing his hands over his face. “I am telling you – I do not know what you are talking about. I do not know who is doing this or why or who the child is – if there is one. Believe me, Julian.”
“It is kind of hard to do that, Seth. He has our eyes! Eyes mother always said that we inherited from our father. Need I remind you again why we abhor the man? That child is almost perfectly a young form of you! He cannot be mine because that would be ridiculous. I barely managed to get married – and it was against my will. The chances of me having a child are second to none. Now tell me, who is she?”
Seth threw his hands up in frustration and stated,
“I do not know, all right? I don’t know! I have had quite a number of affairs as of late and as such… it might be difficult assessing which one of them might be the mother of my supposed child.”
