But Nicholas shocked Sebastian by staying on his feet.
“Is that what they teach you at the rogues’ den?” Sebastian scoffed. He waited for Nicholas to wipe the blood-stained spittle from his chin, for him to throw a punch in retaliation.
“I’ll not hit you,” Nicholas countered.
The soulless rogue shot her an angry look. “You said he could take on three men. Why is he standing there like a yellow-bellied fool?”
“He can, but he won’t hit my brother.”
Nicholas felt responsible for her.
He blamed himself and would take his punishment.
“Sebastian, stop!” she cried. “Please! You’re punishing him for loving me. Where is the sense in that?”
But when a man was consumed by an unholy rage, he could not listen to logic. “Hit me, you craven bastard, or I’ll hit you again.”
Nicholas shook his head.
“Then this is for betraying a brother.” Sebastian threw all his weight into a vicious blow to the gut.
Nicholas clutched his abdomen, the force reddening his face and stealing the air from his lungs.
Helen hiked up her skirts, ignoring the lecherous glares of the three fools beside her, and climbed the stile.
“This is for taking my sister’s virtue.” Sebastian caught him with another heavy blow to the face. One hard enough to hurt his knuckles.
The impact took Nicholas’ feet from underneath him, and he landed on his back with a thud.
She reached him in seconds, dropping to her knees beside him, running her hands over his chest. “Nicholas, please don’t move else he will hit you again.”
“It’s no more than I deserve,” he said, wincing in pain.
“You deserve better than this.” She cupped his cut cheek gently. “You deserve compassion and understanding, not to be beaten by a brute who has lost his wits.”
The brute in question spoke. “Move, Helen. I am not finished with him yet. He’s lucky I don’t have a pistol to hand else we’d be standing back-to-back and marching ten paces.”
Anger must be contagious.
That, or the evil spirit possessing Sebastian had switched bodies because rage swirled in her stomach like a tempest.
She jumped to her feet, ready to attack her brother. “Everything is always about you, Sebastian. How you feel. How you have been slighted. What about him?” She pointed to Nicholas.
“What about him?”
“You had the privilege of knowing your brother. You spent time with him, loved him. Nicholas was denied the opportunity to know his kin. He has two brothers and has never experienced the close connection you had with Michael.”
Sebastian frowned. “Two? Since when?”
“Precisely. You know nothing about the man who has been your rock all these years. The man who has pushed aside his own feelings all because of a stupid pact he made with you.”
Sebastian glared at her with a stony expression.
“And now, the only time he has ever needed you, you treat him like an outcast, a leper, while you were prepared to welcome a fop like Mr Chadderton into our fold.”
“Nicholas should be ashamed of what he’s done.”
“You should be ashamed, brother. You’ve been blind to the truth for years. You were willing to marry me off to the first man who’d have me, yet you mean to kill the only man I love. I am ashamed of you. Michael would be ashamed of you.”