“She isn’t yours either,” Simeon growled.
He landed several punches, waited until Simeon was winded, and hauled the man up by his collar.
“Stay away from her,” he snarled only to wince when a sharp stabbing pain pierced his side. He glanced down and watched Simeon take another wild stab at his side. The tell-tale warmth of rushing blood began to spread down his side. Aware that he had just been stabbed, he looked up and saw the small blade Simeon held in the palm of his hand.
“Damn you,” Will snarled.
“I told you I won’t have you stand in my way,” Simeon looked almost gleeful as he lunged forward again.
“Murder is illegal in this country,” Will growled as he dodged the flashing blade.
Simeon merely lunged forward again, this time horrifyingly close to Will’s side again. Will grabbed the hand holding the knife but struggled to fight Simeon’s fury. There was something in Simeon’s eyes that warned Will the man wasn’t in full possession of his faculties now and was incredibly strong because of it.
“Just what the Hell is wrong with you?” Will snarled. “Are you drunk or just stupid?”
He didn’t give Simeon the opportunity to answer before he landed several punches that put the man on the floor. While his opponent was temporarily winded, Will removed the weapon from his hand by stomping hard on his fingers. Simeon’s howl of rage was almost pitiful, but was quickly followed by a snarl of contempt which resulted in him lunging awkwardly to his feet and surging forward once more.
Will held the weapon and used it to force Simeon to keep his distance.
“Get away from here or I swear to God I will shout for help. I don’t care if I rouse all the guests out of their beds. I will have you arrested for this,” Will snapped.
“You won’t steal her away from me. I am going to show you that you can’t. How dare you challenge me?” Simeon snarled. “Don’t you have any idea who I am?”
“You are an attempted murderer,” Will snapped in disgust. “I don’t care who the Hell you are, you are a criminal.”
“Go to Hell,” Simeon snarled. “Dead men don’t speak.”
With that he launched into a wild frenzy of kicks and punches that were difficult to follow. Eventually, Will realised that they would continue to fight like this all night because neither of them were prepared to back down. He fought until his back was to the corridor he had just left, and continued to back away until he was level with Georgiana’s door. Keeping his gaze firmly fixed on his attacker; Will thumped three times on the door, and silently prayed for Georgiana to be quick about opening it. Before she did, Simeon was upon him again.
Georgiana yanked the door open, wondering what the strange noises were outside. She had little doubt it was Will who had knocked, but was stunned at the scene that greeted her when she yanked the door open.
“Will?” she cried in alarm when she saw the blood soaking his shirt. Her eyes widened when Simeon appeared and began to kick wildly at Will.
“Get your bag,” Will ordered as he fought him off.
Georgiana lifted her bag to show him she already had it, and found herself promptly yanked out of the room. She gasped when she saw that Simeon was right behind them and stepped away when the men traded blows for several minutes.
“Go!” Will ordered her once Simeon was busy trying to climb to his feet. “Don’t stop. I will catch you up.”
Georgiana hurried to the stairs. When she realised that Will wasn’t behind her, she hesitated and looked back in time to witness Simeon kick Will in the stomach. Will barely flinched, and instead kicked Simeon’s knee hard from the side. The loud cracking of the joint made Simeon scream and clutch the appendage protectively as he fell to the floor.
“Quickly.” Will ushered Georgiana down the stairs toward the main reception desk. “Let’s get out of here.”
Half way down the stairs he realised he had left his bag behind.
“Wait a minute,” he called and went to fetch his belongings.
Whatever had gone wrong with Simeon’s mind had left him rocking on the floor of the hallway, mumbling incoherently beneath his breath and sweating profusely. Will wondered if he had taken an opiate, or was genuinely insane. Whichever, it was down to the magistrate and the doctors to sort the man out. His priority right now was getting Georgiana to safety.
“What is it?” She demanded when he returned to her.
Will lifted his bag to show her and escorted her hurriedly down the stairs. Once at the reception desk he informed the manager what had happened, and gave the man instructions for the magistrate, along with his direction before he swept Georgiana out of the door. Within minutes, they found
themselves safely within the confines of a carriage on their way back to Mecklemerry.
“We need to pad that with something,” she said softly.
“Leave it,” Will ordered dismissively. “It is not deep.”