Page 95 of The Heart of an Earl

Her jaw dropped, all air leaving her.

No.

Please don’t let him be shot. Not again.

Not now. Not when they had finally found each other again. Against all odds and the fates conspiring against them, they had found each other again.

No.

Des stumbled forward, grabbing her arms. “Jules…”

“Are you hit?” She forced the words through her throat, the words tearing at her very soul.

He shook his head. “No.”

His hand moved gently down her right arm and he twisted the samurai sword from her grasp, tossing it to the floor.

Des turned from her, going over to her father, kneeling on the floor beside him as his hands quickly ripped the leather belt holding the scabbard from his waist.

“Don’t touch him, Des. Don’t help him. He deserves everything he’s gotten.”

Des didn’t turn back to her. “I have to, Jules. He’s your damned father.” His hands quick, he wedged free the scabbard and dagger from the belt, then yanked Gatlong’s right arm toward him. He wrapped the leather strap about her father’s forearm, jerking the leather tight—his muscles straining—to stop the blood.

A minute passed of her father’s agonized screams while Des stared at the stump of his arm, waiting to see if the blood would cease.

Jules could only watch from across the room, unsure as to what she wanted the outcome to be.

His screams dipped into wretched moans and her father collapsed in on himself. Still breathing. Blood stopped.

Des pushed back from her father and stood, then turned around to her, swaying, his face pale. Damn—the blood. He was going to lose consciousness.

The door flew open behind her and Mr. Charles shuffled in as fast as his feet would carry him, his left arm jabbing into his dark coat, attempting to hide the nightshirt he wore. A quick glance around with a furrowed brow and he looked to Jules. “Lady Julianna—are you injured? I heard a blast.”

His words startled her into motion and she stepped across the room, sliding an arm along Des’s lower back to steady him. She looked to Mr. Charles. “No, I am well, Mr. Charles. We are both well. My father will need assistance, though.”

At that moment Mr. Charles spotted the hand clutching the pistol on the floor. He blanched, his hand grasping his chest. “My lady—”

“I did it, Mr. Charles.” She flicked her head backward. “Please see to my father—have a surgeon fetched.”

His head bobbing up and down, Mr. Charles shuffled in a circle around to the door. “Yes, my lady. At once.” He ran as fast his brittle bones could carry him out of the room.

Her left arm gripped tight around Des’s back and she twisted, looking down at her father. His wails had ceased. At least enough to hear her.

“My husband—the Earl of Troubant—just saved your life, Father. Note the fact that I said earl. And I said husband. Be grateful for his mercy and do not dare to tempt his wrath. Never, ever bother us again, or I won’t hesitate to pick up a sword against you once more.” She leaned down toward him, her voice a brutal hiss. “And the pirate in my bones will serve you up a much grimmer fate than what I just delivered.”

With quick breath, she spun from her father and started forward, tugging Des along with her.

In the middle of the room, she paused, bending over to pick up the Box of Draupnir her father had dropped.

His hand shifting along her shoulder, Des cleared his throat. “Jules, we could leave it here.”

She shook her head, standing straight as she looked at him. “The curse is too good for him. He’ll think he won. And he didn’t. He lost everything. So I leave him with that.”

Des stared at her for a long breath, his hazel eyes sinking deep into her soul.

This was the justice she needed. Be it cruel, she could not rise above it. She could not forgive her father for taking Des from her all those years ago. Forgive him for trying to kill Des not once, but twice.

His breath held for a long moment and then Des gave a slight nod. In that one moment, accepting her unequivocally and without reservation—everything she was, everything she had ever been, and everything she would be. Pirate blood and all.

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