“Edward, please.” Julia stepped in front of Edward, blocking his path. “Esther and I both think you shouldn’t do this. Please, just think about this a little more.”
Edward lifted a hand to her, cradling her cheek in the cup of his palm. He hated seeing the pain in her features, but he didn’t know what else to do.
“You need to be free of him,” he whispered to her.
“You will both agree on the rules now, before we begin.” Charles stepped forward, standing a little to the side as he looked between Edward and Lord Gillet, who slowly descended his horse. “You will both walk ten paces apart and turn back on my count. The first one to draw blood wins. The gentlemanly thing to do would be for you both to shoot away. I suggest you do as such.” As Charles stepped back, Esther moved to his side.
Edward saw it all out of the corner of his eye, though he kept his focus on Julia.
“He won’t shoot away,” Julia whispered to him.
“I know. I guessed as much myself.” He glanced once at Lord Gillet. The man was standing ready, with his own pistol loose in the crook of his hand and dangling down at his side. There was pure hated in his look, and in the clicking of his jaw.
He’ll aim for me as well as he can.
Edward acted on impulse. If these were to be his last moments alive, then he knew what he wanted from them. He stepped closer to Julia and moved his lips to her cheek, kissing her there. Her hands reached up and curled into the material of his waistcoat, holding him to her.
That feeling, it was all he wanted to indulge in.
When he released Julia and stepped forward, his eyes moving to the Viscount, he found himself face to face with the barrel of a gun.
“What are you doing?” Charles cried, running forward. “These are not the rules!”
Edward didn’t have time to lift his own pistol. The one pointed at him fired.
* * *
Julia was certain she screamed. Whether it was Edward’s name or merely a sound, she didn’t know any more.
All she was aware of was the shot that struck Edward in the arm – he wavered on his feet and fell backward, from the sheer force of the shot.
Julia ran to him as he toppled to the ground, his back striking the earth with a heavy thud. There were screams around her from Esther and bellows of anger from Lord Rutley. Julia couldn’t think of any of it for a minute, she focused only on Edward.
She reached down to his arm, seeing where the blood was flowing freely, too heavily from his arm.
“No,” she murmured and clasped her hand over the wound, knowing she had to stop the blood. Edward grunted in pain at the touch beneath her, unable to even lift his head off the grass. “I have to stop the bleeding, Edward.” She lifted her other hand to his face, cradling it as he had done hers a second ago. “I am sorry, but this will hurt.”
He muttered curse words under his breath, all directed in Lord Gillet’s direction as Lady Esther appeared on her knees beside Julia.
“Use this.” She pressed a shawl into Julia’s hands. Julia wrapped the shawl around Edward’s arm and pulled tight, forming a firm knot. He grunted once again at the pain, louder this time, and thumped his foot into the earth, before his body grew weak and his eyes became half lidded.
“Edward? Edward!” Julia leaned down toward him, fearful, as she saw him losing consciousness.
“No, tell me he is not dying,” Lady Esther begged beside her, but Julia could not answer.
“Edward,” Julia murmured. “Stay with me.”
His eyes opened fully again, that blue color as bold as ever. It gave her hope, before his eyes firmly shut.
“Edward!” Julia shouted his name this time, but he did not wake up. Beside her, Lady Esther fell back on her rear, tears wracking her body. Julia pressed her hands over the wound once again, stopping it from bleeding further as she looked up, finding Lord Gillet with her eyes.
Lord Rutley had advanced toward him and snatched the gun from his grasp. Lord Gillet was staring down at Edward, as if he could not quite believe what he had done.
“You have broken the rules of a duel.” Lord Rutley was speaking quickly, his voice so firm that even Lord Gillet stepped back an inch. “You may have killed a man. What do you think the constable will make of this?”
“It is a gentleman’s agreement not to report a duel.”
“You think I will agree to that when you have broken the rules of a duel yourself?” Charles lifted the pistol in his own hands, showing he had no intention to let Lord Gillet take another step forward. “You will leave, now. You will be reported to the constable for what you have done too. If you do not want to be hanged for murder, then I suggest you flee the country. Go to the continent, the Americas, anywhere for all I care! Just go.”