Chapter 28
The crash of splintering wood echoed through the coaching inn, drowning out even the storm beyond its walls.
Alexander reacted before he consciously thought to.
The instant Julian appeared in the doorway, he stepped in front of Eleanor, placing himself between her and the entrance.
He could feel her standing close behind him, her dripping sleeve brushing against his arm, and that single point of contact strengthened a resolve he had not known he possessed until that moment.
Julian stood motionless for only a heartbeat.
Rain streamed from his hair and soaked every inch of his riding coat, pooling around his boots as he stared at the two of them.
His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, his eyes darting from Alexander to Eleanor before settling on the way Alexander still shielded her without hesitation.
“What the hell is going on here?”
The words exploded into the courtyard. Several travelers looked up from inside the inn as they were eating their meals, conversations dying instantly as silence settled over the inn. Even the innkeeper froze behind the counter, his eyes moving nervously between the three of them.
Alexander did not answer. He simply held Julian’s gaze. Julian let out a bitter laugh, though there was nothing amused about it.
“So that is it?” he demanded. “I leave for a few moments, and I return to find my oldest friend embracing the woman who was about to leave with me? The two of you certainly know how to show your loyalty.”
Eleanor stepped sideways slightly.
“Julian—”
“No.”
His voice cracked like thunder.
“Do not act as though this has all simply happened by chance. You were plotting this all along, yes? You wished to humiliate me in return, even after all these years.”
Alexander could feel Eleanor tense behind him. Julian took a step forward, ignoring everyone else around them as though only she existed.
He approached, and Alexander wanted to protect his wife, but he also reasoned that this was his oldest friend. He trusted Julian, and of course he had not been present for what had taken place beforehand, but he also knew that his wife was not a liar.
Whatever happened, he would find out the truth, and he would not allow any harm to come to Eleanor.
“Eleanor,” Julian said, “look at me.”
She did not move.
“I said look at me.”
Slowly, she lifted her eyes. Julian softened for the briefest moment.
“You told me you wanted to leave. You packed your things. You came all this way with me. You chose this.”
Eleanor swallowed. Julian was unaware of everything they had said, and part of Alexander pitied him for that, in a way, even if Julian had not been a good friend to him by planning to take Eleanor away from him, nor for driving a wedge between them.
“I thought I had.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means…It means I was wrong.”
Julian stared at her in disbelief.
“No. No, you were not.”
He began walking toward her again. Alexander immediately moved with him, matching every step until they stood only a pace apart.
“Move,” Julian instructed.
Alexander’s voice remained calm, but every word carried unmistakable warning.
“No.”
“I am speaking to her.”
“You may speak. I shall allow you to do that, but you will not go through me to do it.”
Julian’s temper snapped.
“You have no right.”
“On the contrary, I do. She is my wife.”
“And you treated her like a stranger!”
The accusation rang out. Alexander did not deny it.
“I know exactly what I did,” Alexander said quietly. “I will regret it for the rest of my life.”
“Then stand aside. I said that I only want to speak to her.”
Alexander shifted again, blocking his path.
“And I said no.”
Julian looked over Alexander’s shoulder.
“Eleanor, tell him.”
She stepped forward just enough for Julian to see her face.
“I have nothing left to say,” she replied.
“You cannot mean that.”
“I do.”
Julian’s eyes darkened.
“You were coming with me.”
“I thought leaving was the answer.”
“And now?”
Eleanor looked at Alexander before meeting Julian’s eyes once more.
“Now I know what I was really waiting for.”
Julian’s face lost what little color remained. He took another step, seemingly without thinking, reaching instinctively toward her.
“Eleanor—”
Alexander caught his wrist before he could touch her. The movement was swift enough that several people inside gasped. Alexander’s grip tightened, and his voice dropped to a dangerous calm.
“Do not touch her.”
“Let go,” Julian protested as he tried to pull free.
Alexander did not move. The storm rumbled outside, shaking the windows, but neither man looked away from the other.
“I have stood aside long enough. You will not lay a hand on my wife.”
For the first time since returning from the war, Alexander was no longer fighting ghosts from his past. He was fighting for the woman he loved. Julian’s eyes snapped from Eleanor to Alexander, his disbelief giving way to something far more dangerous.
For a moment, he simply stared, as though refusing to accept what he had just witnessed. Then a bitter, almost disbelieving laugh escaped him.
“No. No…This is absurd.”
His gaze fixed on Eleanor again, his smirk not changing.
“You cannot mean this.”
“I do.”
“You loved me.”
“I thought I did.”
His face twisted.
“I was your first love. You will never be able to feel the same way for anyone else no matter what you do.”
Alexander’s patience finally broke. Before Julian could utter another word, Alexander seized him by the front of his coat with both hands and drove him backward with enough force that he stumbled several paces across the rain-soaked yard.
Julian barely caught his footing before Alexander was upon him again, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles stood out beneath his skin.
“You have lost your senses,” Julian gasped.
“On the contrary, this is the most sensible thing I have done in a long time.”
Julian stared back at him, chest heaving.
“You stole her from me.”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
“I stole nothing.”
“You stole everything!” Julian shouted so loudly that several horses in the yard startled, stamping nervously beneath the stable awning. “She was supposed to be with me!”
Eleanor stepped forward instinctively.
“Julian, stop this.”
He did not even look at her.
“I will not lose her. Not to you.”
Something shifted behind his eyes. Alexander saw it immediately.
His reasoning had disappeared, and whatever restraint Julian still possessed vanished beneath a wave of desperation that bordered on madness. He surged forward without warning, grabbing Alexander’s shirt with both fists. His grip tightened as he shook him violently, rain flying from both of them.
“You never deserved her! You never even saw what you had! I was the one who understood her. I was the one who should have—”
Alexander tore himself free with a violent shove. Julian staggered backward, his boots sliding through the mud, but instead of stopping, he charged again. This time, his fist came first, and it struck Alexander square across the jaw.
The force of the blow snapped his head sideways, sending a sharp burst of pain through his face. He stumbled back a single step, tasting blood almost immediately where his teeth had caught the inside of his cheek.
Behind him, he heard Eleanor gasp.
“Alexander!”
He lifted one hand, silently stopping her from coming closer, then he looked back at Julian. The anger he had spent years masking finally surfaced. Without a word, Alexander stepped forward and drove his own fist into Julian’s face, and the impact sent Julian reeling.
He lost his balance entirely, crashing backward into the mud with a heavy splash, but before either man could recover, Julian grabbed Alexander’s coat and dragged him down with him.
They hit the ground together. Mud sprayed beneath them as they grappled for control, each trying to force the other back. Julian swung wildly, while Alexander answered with controlled, punishing blows born of years of military training.
A fist connected with Alexander’s stomach, doubling him over for a moment, then another grazed Julian’s cheek.
They rolled across the soaked ground, boots digging uselessly into the mud as the storm raged around them.
Neither seemed aware of the rain, the shouting from the inn, or the horrified cries of the onlookers gathering beneath the doorway.
All either man could see was the other, and the years of friendship and the months of deception. Everything that had remained unspoken had finally erupted into violence.
Eleanor stood frozen only a few yards away, horror gripping her.
Rain lashed the coaching inn courtyard without mercy, soaking the two men until their clothes clung heavily to their bodies.
Water ran into Alexander’s eyes and mixed with the blood on his lips, turning the mud beneath them into a slick battlefield where every movement demanded twice the effort.
Eleanor stood rooted where she was. Her hands were clasped tightly against her chest, her face drained of color as she watched the fight unfold before her.
One wrong step between two men consumed by rage could only make the violence worse, and Alexander knew that even with everything he was doing.
And yet, instead of retreating, he lunged. His hand closed around Julian’s collar, and with a powerful wrench he dragged him off balance. They crashed together into the mud once more, rolling across the flooded ground as coats, boots, and fists became indistinguishable beneath the torrent.
“You fool!” Julian shouted, struggling beneath him. “You never deserved her! Do you honestly think that you can prove otherwise now?”
Alexander caught another punch against his ribs before driving Julian backward into the mud.
“She was never yours. She could have been, but you left her. You can say what you wish about me and my flaws, but I never left her.”
The words tore from him with a force that surprised even himself.
Julian snarled and twisted violently, managing to throw Alexander onto his back for an instant.
He raised his fist again, desperation overtaking whatever reason remained.
Alexander blocked the descending blow, seized Julian’s wrist, and forced it aside.
“You took everything!”
“No, you lost her.”
With a surge of strength born from equal parts fury and fear, Alexander rolled them over once more.
Every aching muscle protested as he forced Julian’s shoulders into the soaked earth, his forearm pressed firmly across his chest to keep him there.
Julian fought against him with frantic determination, but his exhaustion was beginning to win.
Alexander’s chest rose and fell violently. Rain streamed down his bruised face as he stared at the man beneath him.
“Listen to me.”
Julian continued struggling.
“I said listen!”
The shout echoed across the courtyard. Alexander tightened his grip just enough to stop the struggle without causing further harm.
“She chose me, not because I forced her but because she wanted to.”
Julian’s breathing became ragged. Alexander’s own voice cracked as weeks of fear finally poured out.
“I nearly lost her because of my own cowardice. I will never make that mistake again. I will not let anyone tear apart what she and I have chosen together.”
For the first time since the fight began, Julian stopped struggling. He lay beneath Alexander, breathing hard, blood running from a cut above his brow while rain washed it across his face. Defeat settled over him slowly, though the hatred burning in his eyes refused to fade.
Alexander remained where he was for another moment before releasing him and rising unsteadily to his feet.
Both men stood breathing heavily, separated by little more than a few paces of churned mud and years of broken friendship.
The storm swallowed every sound except their ragged breaths, leaving the silence between them heavier than any shouted accusation.
Julian slowly lifted his head. His gaze found Eleanor, and the softness that had once lived in him disappeared completely, replaced by something cold enough to make Alexander’s blood run cold.
“So,” he said quietly, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, “do you truly believe this is over?”
The venom in his voice lingered long after the words themselves. Eleanor drew a steady breath. She stepped forward until she stood beside Alexander, her shoulder brushing his. She lifted her chin, meeting Julian’s stare without hesitation.
“Yes. It is over. I have made my choice, just as you did so long ago. You may think this was planned, but I promise you it was not. I did not intend for this to happen, but even though I did once think I loved you, I see now that it was not love. It was me being a foolish girl who thought she would be cared for.”
For a long moment, Julian simply looked at her. Then, without another word, he gave a bitter laugh that held no trace of humor. He turned away, mounted a horse with stiff, painful movements, and disappeared into the darkness beyond the coaching inn, swallowed by the storm.
Neither Alexander nor Eleanor moved until the sound of hoofbeats had faded completely. Only then did Alexander turn to her. The anger drained from his face the instant he saw the tears she had been trying so hard to hide. His eyes softened, and without a word he gathered her into his arms.
This embrace was nothing like the desperate one they had shared only minutes before. It was gentle, his hand settling against the back of her head as he stroked her rain-soaked hair with slow, reassuring movements.
“It is over,” he whispered.
Eleanor closed her eyes against his chest, and her breathing steadied as though she truly believed that, but as thunder rolled once more across the darkened sky, Alexander tried desperately to understand whether the battle had truly ended or whether it had only marked the beginning of another.