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“Edwin! Are you all right?” Ava cried, rushing towards him.

Edwin nodded, not quite looking at her. He continued to stare in the direction the man had escaped. He knew that following an armed man in the dark was a foolhardy mission.

“Let me see,” Ava said.

She peered closely at him, inspecting him for injuries.

“I am fine,” he muttered, pushing her away gently.

Her eyes widened when they landed on his hand.

“Your hand,” she gasped.

Hot red blood was dripping from his hand to the floor beside him, making a small puddle.

“It is not quite as bad as it looks,” he assured her.

He had survived worse in the army.

“Come, you must see the physician at once,” she urged.

She looped her arm through his and led him down to the ground floor.

“I am not certain the physician works at this hour,” Edwin drawled.

Some ladies and gentlemen loitering in the hallway by the entrance of the ballroom looked at them curiously.

Edwin knew they must have made a strange sight—a man holding out a bloody hand and his wife helping him out.

“The physician’s office,” Ava instructed the carriage driver.

“No,” Edwin said, “take us home.”

“But—” Ava protested.

“The physician may have retired for the night. We can summon him in the morning.”

“But your hand…”

“I am certain I can survive before he arrives in the morning,” Edwin insisted.

“Fine!” Ava huffed.

She kept peering at him on the ride home, her brow furrowed with worry.

Edwin was amused. “Are you afraid I will suddenly drop dead?” he asked.

“You should not joke about something so serious,” she admonished.

“Lighten up, Ava,” he told her. “If I can survive the army, then I am certain a knife-wielding man will not kill me.”

It was when the words left his mouth that Edwin fully began to realize the gravity of what had just happened. He had been too shocked to see it properly before.

I have just been stabbed in the hand by a strange man.

“The man who attacked you, do you know him?” Ava asked.

Edwin shook his head. “I did not quite see his face, but I am certain I would recognize him if I knew him.”