Chapter 57 - Flashing Blades

Vincent looked wild as he shot towards her with his sword raised. At the last moment, Delaney saw recognition dawn across his face but it was too late.

Delaney squeezed her eyes closed, expecting to feel the pain of the blade at any moment but it didn't come. Instead, there was a loud clang from above her and she fell to her side.

Pain burned in her palms but she barely noticed it as she looked up and saw Miles was suddenly there. It was his sword that had crashed against Vincent's knocking it aside before Delaney could be harmed.

As angry as Delaney had seen Miles be with her, it was nothing compared to the pure fury that shown across his face now as he glared at his older brother.

Vincent though seemed to have just come out of the state he was in and he was staring at Miles with wide-eyed bewilderment.

"M-Miles," he tried but before he could get more out, Miles surged towards him, sword flashing through the air.

Vincent jumped backward and swung his own sword, knocking Miles's away. Miles did not pause though and turned with an angry growl, swinging at Vincent again.

This time Vincent didn't just knock Miles's sword aside but did it with enough force to cause Miles to stumble too. Catching himself, the younger brother lunged forward as if to sink the blade into his older brother's chest.

"Miles wait," Vincent tried again as he hurried to move out of the way.

Delaney watched as Miles sword sliced through the air where Vincent had stood only a moment ago. When Vincent moved to save himself though, his leg that had already been almost unusable before the fight, at last gave out completely, causing him to fall facedown on the floor.

He scrambled to roll over and sit up, scooting backward away from Miles until his back hit the bed behind him. 

Still blind with rage, Miles launched himself for a final attack, finally seeing a window of opportunity. Delaney screamed his name as he swung his sword towards Vincent.

The blade flashed through the air and came to a stop a breath away from the scarred side of Vincent's neck.

Both men were still except the heaving of their chests as they worked to catch their breath.

Miles glared down at his older brother and Vincent looked back up at him with sad, apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry," Vincent spoke quietly, his voice hoarse.

"No!" Miles barked at him, "No Vince! You could've killed her! You can't just be sorry!"

Vincent turned to look at Delaney and her heart broke at the pain in his face. "I-I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You're broken Vince and it's not just your body," Miles shouted at him then, "Whatever is wrong with you, whatever is making you do this. You have to fix it!"

Vincent looked away from her and down at the floor in front of him.

"Look at this!" Miles gestured around the room, "Look at all of this! What would've happened if I hadn't been here! What would you have done to her!"

"I... I don't..."

"You don't know," Miles finished for him, "You don't know because when you're like that you don't know anything! One minute you're panicking trying to get me to hide with you and the next minute I'm the thing you were hiding from and you attack me!"

Vincent ran his hands over his face and through his hair, "I don't know what's wrong. I can't... I can't..."

"You have to figure it out! I can't come here every time it storms Vince. I've got my own estates to worry about and one day I'll have my own wife and family too. I won't be able to leave them to come here to make sure you don't kill yourself or anyone else."

Tears slid down Delaney's cheeks as Vincent nodded quickly, running a hand through his hair again before bringing it down and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I know you try to drink enough that you'll pass out and the terrors won't wake you up but that's not working anymore. You've got to figure out how to fix yourself."

Miles's anger was wearing down as he looked at his broken brother on the floor in front of him.

"I'm not coming back next time," he said, dropping his sword to the floor beside Vincent with a bang. Without another word he turned to walk out, pausing only to look at Delaney but she quickly shook her head and gestured for him to go ahead. He left then and closed the door behind him.

Outside the rain had eased into a drizzle and thunder could faintly be heard rumbling from far away. The sky was still pitch black other than the occasional little flash of lightning.

Leaving his bad leg stretched out in front of him, Vincent pulled his good leg up to his chest and propped his elbow against it, pressing his forehead to his fist. He closed his eyes and didn't move.

Now that things had calmed down, Delaney looked down at her throbbing hands and saw she had managed to land in the broken glass. She bit her lip and picked out the bigger pieces.

Looking across at Vincent she hesitated, not wanting to make anything worse but wanting to be with him. After a while she couldn't stop herself and moved quickly to him, cradling her bloody hands against her chest.

He jumped and looked up at her, startled as she sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, "I thought you knew I was here."

His brows lowered, "Why... why did you stay? Why didn't you get out of here?"

She swallowed and kept her eyes on his, "I didn't want to leave you."

His frown grew with his confusion, "But... but why? I was a mad man and I could've... I could've killed you."

"You wouldn't have," she said seriously, "You were just scared."

"Like a cornered animal," he insisted, his voice still hoarse, "cornered animals are the most dangerous kind."

"Not you," she smiled, "You're not an animal Vincent."

"I think maybe I am. Or I'm broken. Miles is right," he shook his head and looked away from her, his face showing his pain, "I'm broken. I should never have made you marry me. I thought I could handle it but I put you in danger."

"Vincent..."

"No Delaney your uncle was right. I look like a nightmare and my body is broken. I'll never be able to keep up with you. Hell, we spent the day walking around our own home and it was killing me. Even if you wanted to try, I don't think I could ever give you a family. And now, on top of all of that, my mind is even broken and I put you in danger. You were worried my anger was going to be the problem and now there's this."

"Shh," she hushed him and leaned over, kissing the tip of his nose before smiling at him.

He looked at her in complete bewilderment.

"I don't care about any of that. Your body isn't broken and neither is your mind. They're both just different kinds of scars from the war. You've said yourself that you'll always protect me and that's how I know you won't hurt me. And.... and as for having a family, I have you and we're a family. If we want more family, we have Miles and Cora too."

"But Delaney I can't take away your chance at having a real family. Children and a husband who can... can walk up the stairs with you at a normal pace where you're not stuck waiting on him."

Delaney couldn't keep from giggling at this and she leaned up and kissed his forehead this time. "Finding someone who can run up a flight of stairs is not on the top of my list of qualities I'd like my husband to have."

"Please," he shook his head desperately, "you know what I mean by that. One year alright? That was the agreement. If I can't.... If I can't be everything you deserve by then I'm going to go to the King and have him break our marriage contract."

"Vincent," Delaney looked down now, "I don't want to talk about this."

He tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her head up until he could meet her eyes again, "If you decide you want to try to have a baby and we can't have one then that's it alright? Promise me Delaney you won't settle for this. Alright?"

"...Alright."

"Promise?"

"I... I promise."

He leaned back against the bed then, apparently relieved by her agreement. Delaney watched him and felt sad, regretting ever trying to break their contract. Now, she was married to a man, and her feelings were growing more and more for him every day but it seemed to be too late.

A thought came to her mind suddenly and she looked at him seriously, "Vincent why did you tell me no earlier? When I asked to sleep in here with you. Was it because of the storm? You thought you were going to... to do all this?"

He nodded, "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to be scared I'd hurt you in the night."

Her mouth fell open hearing those words and he looked at her in confusion.

"I thought I'd ruined everything," she burst out then, "I thought you didn't want to have anything more than a friendship with me but I... but I've started to have these feelings for you I... I was just so worried I'd ruined everything for us!"

His eyes flew over her face in disbelief. Delaney smiled then leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

She sat back and giggled at his surprised expression. He chuckled too then before sitting up and sliding a hand over her cheek and under her ear.

Pulling her to him, he kissed her.