Then the scarred man moved, but Cassian moved faster.
Using the element of surprise and his momentum, he swung his cane with brute force, striking one of the men who had scrambled to attack him. The man flew against the wall. He never had the chance.
“Cassian!” Juliana cried, feeling a mix of relief and fear.
Why is he here?
“Untie the Baron!” Cassian commanded, not looking at her.
Even as he gave the order, one thug swung at him. He ducked it. No, there was no way the men would release Kit. So Juliana ran to her brother’s side and fumbled with the thick ropes. She wished she had brought a knife, but she had not expected him to be a prisoner, a hostage.
“Wake up, Kit!”
In the corner of her eye, she saw Cassian deliver a sharp blow to one attacker’s ribs. The fight was not over, though. It looked like the first thug was also stirring.
“Kit! Wake up!” she urged, slapping her brother’s face while she loosened his ropes further. “We have to go!”
“Jules?” he groaned, his eyes finally fluttering open. At first, they were unfocused. Then they sharpened, much to Juliana’s relief.“What are you doing here?”
“Grandmama told me you had been missing for days, and I came here to find you. Cassian is…”
As soon as she released him, Kit gave Juliana a brief hug, then threw himself at one of the thugs who was about to hit Cassian in the back. He was roaring with pent-up rage, his voice almost animal.
What happened next was something Juliana knew she would turn over in her mind for a long time afterward.
The thug who had peeled himself off the wall was moving toward Cassian’s blind side, his fist already raised, and Cassian had not seen him. Kit had. And Kit, who was barely upright, whose wrists were swollen, and whose face was a map of what the last several days had cost him, launched himself off the table with everything he had left and hit the man squarely in the shoulder, sending them both crashing into the wall.
He did not do it gracefully. She heard him grunt in pain as they connected and saw him struggle to keep the man pinned. But he did it, and kept doing it, and for a moment Juliana saw not the man who had sold her, abandoned Marta, or gambled away everything their family had ever built, but the brother she had grown up with. The one who had once, a very long time ago, been worth defending.
Chaos descended on the room as the three men began a scuffle. Nobody was paying attention to Juliana. She seized the opportunity to pick up the pistol from the floor. This time, her grip was deliberate. She had fired it before. She could do it again.
“Leave them alone!” she screamed, aiming the weapon at the two men who were still standing and fighting with Kit and Cassian.
All the men stopped, their eyes darting toward her. The leader, the scarred man, looked bloody, and his nose might even be broken. Yet he still managed a mocking laugh at the sight of the Duchess with the gun.
“Oh, look at this. She has a pistol. Tell me, little bird, do they teach you to hold it like that at finishing school? Because fromwhere I am standing, you are more likely to shoot the ceiling than anything that might actually trouble me.” He took a slow step toward her, his smile widening. “Put it down before you hurt yourself. “Go home to your pretty house and your pretty dresses and leave the men to finish their business.”
The other thug chuckled. Seeing her hands tremble around the pistol, he felt emboldened and approached her some more. This time, Juliana acted on instinct. She squeezed the trigger hard, and the recoil pushed her back a little as the pistol fired.
For a moment, she did not even know if she had succeeded. Then the man yelled, clutching his thigh. Spurts of blood bloomed red through his trousers. In pain, he collapsed to the ground, still screaming. The scarred man and the one who had managed to peel himself off the wall froze. Their smirks were wiped from their faces as they watched the smoking barrel in the Duchess’s hand.
Juliana hardened. She knew what they were seeing. A woman had just fired a gun and was possibly still about to, her hand shaking and perhaps out of control. Someone uncertain was even more dangerous with a weapon. It was enough to send the smugglers scrambling through the back door. It was so quick. So sudden. They were gone.
Silence fell. Each one tried to catch their breath. Juliana realized what had happened, and it made her chest heavy with sobs she could not let out. She stood there, with her mouth open, staring at nothing in the middle of the room. When she caught Cassian’s gaze, he limped toward her, finally feeling the pain in his leg. His coat was torn, but that was nothing compared to what could have happened. When he reached her, he pulled her into a tight embrace. She felt as if he could crush her, but she would not mind if it happened. She finally released her sobs.
“You are the most reckless woman I have ever met,” he whispered raggedly into her hair. His voice shook, and she knew he felt the same relief and dark realization. “You are so infuriating, but God, I love you, Juliana.”
Juliana was not surprised by the confession, but she was surprised that he could put it into words. She herself still could not move her lips to say the same thing. All she knew was that her world would have ended if something had happened to Cassian. She was scared for Kit, but she felt utter horror watching her husband fight the thugs with an aching leg. He had risked his life for Kit. She had risked her own life, and his, too. The words that came out, though, seemed different, focused on what Cassian might think was her priority.
“I had to find Kit, Cassian. I could not let him die. He is a fool, but he did not deserve to be murdered here,” she said, resting her cheek against his solid chest.
Cassian was her support. Her strength. Her anchor. She would have fallen apart without him. As if sensing that, he held her even closer.
“Listen to me,” he said, his voice low and entirely serious. “You have been carrying all of this alone for so long that you do not even notice you are doing it anymore. Your brother’s debts. Your family’s ruin. The deliveries in dark alleys at hours no woman should be out alone. All of it, on your shoulders, for years, because there was nobody else and you were too stubborn and too brave to put it down.” His hand curved around her face. “That is finished now. Do you understand me? You are not alone in this anymore. You do not have to go running into danger by yourself, because I am here, and I intend to remain here, and there is nothing you are carrying that I am not willing to carry with you.” His thumb brushed her cheek. “You should have cometo me, Juliana. You should always come to me.”
She looked at him, at the exhaustion, the relief, and the love he was no longer bothering to conceal, and felt something shift in her chest that she had not known was still locked.
“I did not know if you would come,” she admitted.
