9 Chapter Eight

This wasn't good.

The rain battered down upon Roman's head, shoulders, back. Where were the reinforcements? His brother, gold haired and white cloaked, was with them. His father wouldn't overlook his brother.

Ethan was a barely conscious heap that Roman dragged along. He did his best to protect him, as she asked, but there was a deep slice along Ethan's shoulder. A bandit that Roman failed to notice in time. The rain drew out his warmth, his blood, by the second. They had to make it to shelter, fast.

At last, they reached the bottom of the mountain.

"There should be caves nearby." Ieuan stood next to Roman, staring ahead. Roman flinched. How long had it been since his brother last talked to him? How long had it been that they stood next to each other?

"You hurry up and bring him in."

At least he wasn't underestimating Ethan's wounds and pushing them on. Roman knew, as well as anybody, how powerful the Aedile family was. Especially in these recent two years.

Ieuan turned to look at Roman with his piercing green eyes, every bit as cold and cruel as Roman had remembered. "Make sure he gets treated. And," Ieuan brushed past him, nearly knocking Ethan over as he went to address the rest of his men. "You stay in line. You've done enough ruining my plans already." His voice was barely quieter than a whisper as he passed by. "You should be glad I haven't stabbed you through yet."

He was nearly gone when Roman turned and grabbed his arm, eyes hard.

"You can try, you bastard." Roman seethed. "But in the end, I'll be the one who rips your throat out first."

---

They returned after another two days.

The Imperial army dropped Ethan off in a gilded golden carriage, almost as if to apologize. He was unconscious and bandaged across his shoulder. I clenched my fists. It wasn't as bad as this last time. Had Roman failed? Did something else happen?

My mother wept at his bedside for hours. After staying next to him for a while, watching his chest safely rise up and down, I called a coach to deliver me to the palace.

I didn't bother going through Medea this time. She was probably busy fretting over Ieuan and trying to calm the hordes of angry nobles. I heard the trip had gone worse overall. Nearly half of the troops had died or gone missing, as compared to the original third. Ieuan had returned with his head and cloak soaked in rain. The streets were flooded with tears.

The garden seemed dull and bland as I ran all the way into the wisteria forest. The purple blooms seemed to sigh and echo, pulled softly by the wind. As if protecting him.

He was still on the ground, under the branches. He looked a mess. He still wore his military uniform, even though it was dark and muddied. Collapsed on the floor, he looked exhausted.

I ran to his side without a second thought and pulled him into my arms.

"Thank you, Roman." I murmured, tears falling from my eyes. "Thank you."

---

"Here. I brought a medkit." I prodded at Roman's uniform buttons until he whipped to the side, blushing furiously.

"What are you doing?" He murmured furiously.

"Your clothes are soaked with blood," I frowned. Medea surely wouldn't assign him a doctor. "Should I call some people to your palace?" I certainly had the authority to do so, but didn't know if they would allow it. The palace gates were surrounded by guards. My high status and frequent meetings with Medea allowed my entrance, but they'd likely block out anyone else.

"Medea will suspect you," Roman said, eyes blazing.

"I don't give two shits about Medea." I dug around the medkit before glancing at him again. "But you're right. It's stupid to treat you when your clothes are dirty. And I can't bring a doctor in." I thought for a minute, before snapping my fingers. "That's it. We'll just have to go outside. Maybe not my house…" I frowned. "How about my shop headquarters? It's a rather large building, and we've just branched into the hotel business… can you move?"

I looped my arm under him, and he flushed again as I stood up. God, he was heavy.

"Wait!" He readjusted himself, so that he was on his own feet. "And, you don't have to support me…" he carefully drew his arm back.

"Nonsense!" I tucked my head under his shoulder again. "You've just gotten back. No clean clothes, food, water… and you're my brother's benefactor." I looked at him. "Right?"

To be honest, I wasn't even sure if Roman was the one who saved him. But upon hearing of their return, I couldn't stop myself from running to the palace. By the time I thanked him, I hadn't even realized I was hugging him.

"Yea," Roman nodded as I led him out beyond the wisteria. "I'm sorry. He got hurt."

"He's back safe."

"It could have been really bad." Roman inhaled sharply. "It's a relief his uniform kept him together. And it could have gotten infected in the rain."

I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief. In this life, rather than murdering Ethan, he was worrying about him.

How ironic.

"The doctor sanitized him, and he'll be up and running in a couple of weeks. Thank you."

"I dragged him in the rain for nearly two days. You wouldn't believe how scared I was."

I looked at him again, and smiled softly. "But he's back safe. And you are too. That's all that matters."

He held his breath for a second before continuing. "And there were a lot of bandits. Probably at least a hundred." I stopped.

"What?"

"They came in from everywhere. I'm sorry I couldn't protect Ethan better, I -" his hands paused on the hilt of his blade.

"A hundred bandits?"

There wasn't close to a hundred bandits in my past life. At most, thirty.

What had changed?