Chapter 4

Ethan' s back was a mess of raw, bleeding welts.

No medical supplies were offered. He cleaned the wounds himself with diluted alcohol and thin strips of cloth.

Seraphina didn' t inquire about his condition.

She was entirely focused on Julian and the wedding preparations.

The next day, Julian devised a new torment.

He was to take a stroll in the rose garden, and Ethan was to accompany him.

As they approached a small ornamental bridge, Julian stopped.

"The ground is damp here, bodyguard. I wouldn' t want to soil my new shoes."

He gestured to the muddy patch before the bridge.

"You will lie down. I will use your back as a stepping stone."

Ethan looked at the man, whose face was alight with cruel amusement.

He slowly, deliberately, lay face down in the mud.

Julian stepped onto his back, grinding his heel in for good measure, then crossed the bridge.

Ethan pushed himself up, mud clinging to him, his uniform ruined.

His body ached, his back screamed in protest. He felt a cough rising, tasted blood.

Suddenly, figures emerged from the dense shrubbery.

Masked men, armed with knives. An ambush.

"Protect Julian!" Seraphina' s voice, shrill with panic, came from somewhere nearby. She must have been following at a distance.

"His life is more important than yours, Ethan! Protect him!"

The words were like a physical blow, more painful than any lash.

His expendability, stated so clearly.

Ethan reacted instantly, his training kicking in.

He shoved Julian behind him, engaging the attackers.

He moved with brutal efficiency, disabling two, then a third.

One of the attackers lunged, a knife aimed at Julian' s chest.

Julian, cowering, deliberately shoved Ethan forward, into the path of the blade.

The steel bit deep into Ethan' s side.

A searing pain, then a spreading numbness.

He fell, his vision blurring.

He was vaguely aware of Seraphina screaming, of other Vanderbilt security arriving.

Darkness.

He dreamt of a cold room, of a small hand holding his. Seraphina, as a child.

"You' ll protect me, won' t you, Ethan?"

"Always."

He woke to a strange sensation.

He was in his small room at the estate.

Seraphina was beside him, her face close to his.

She was cleaning his wound, her touch surprisingly tender.

But then he realized what she was doing.

Her lips were on his skin, near the stab wound, tasting his blood.