Morington was still beneath Nico. “I do not give you permission to drug me in any way. You would be arrested, Jane.” Something hesitant about his warning, like he didn’t want to make it, like he didn’t want that to happen.
Jane made a fist around the bottle. “Well, I never gave you permission to marry me off to someone I do not know! I never gave our father permission to have me out of wedlock! I didn’t ask to be sent to this hospital for my heart to break over and over again over each lost child ignored by you and everyone else! That at least has come to some good. I can care for them. But not if you force me away from here.” She hit a fist against her chest. “I want power over my own life. And I will break what laws I must to take it.”
Morington floundered for words, his mouth opening and closing, opening then closing. Finally, he grumbled, “Let me up.”
“I don’t think so.” Nico held him more tightly.
“I won’t hurt her. Or you. Let me up!” A ducal command, that.
Nico looked to Jane, and when she nodded, he stood, letting the duke roll to his feet and stand as well. Morington wiped blood away from his nose.
“What else am I supposed to do, Jane?” he asked. “You were born to marry, but you were not born well. Your options are slim, and I am only trying to take care of you. And the estate. And this bloody hospital. I have to take care of everyone when all I’m capable of is fakery. Illusions. They do not put food in a hungry belly.”
“Do not worry about me.” Jane managed a step toward her brother. “I absolve you of your responsibility for a bastard sister. I’ll manage well enough on my own.”
“Wait for a year to sell the hospital,” Nico said. He stood beside Jane, a little in front of her to create a barrier between her and the duke. “I’ll buy it from you then.”
“You? You haven’t the funds.”
“We do.” The deep voice came from the dark closer to the house. And then the shapes of five big men appeared out of the night. Military Kringle stepped forward. “The mercenary life is a lucrative one.”
Cozy Kringle joined his brother. “And we want to help the children. So we thought?—”
“We could buy the house,” a third Kringle said. “Or loan Sir Nicholas the blunt.”
“I’d like a steady home,” a fourth Kringle spoke, without looking up from the hat he spun in his hands.
“And I’d like ta learn ta build the toys.” This from a fifth Kringle who scratched the back of his neck. “If ya think I can.”
Nico was conscious of his open mouth, of how it produced not a sound. The mercenaries were… homebodies. He snapped his mouth closed. “Well, of course you could. And I would very much appreciate a loan. What do you say, Morington? Are you going to be agreeable about all this or is Jane going to pull some other bottle from that bag you’ll like even less?”
Morington’s face scrunched up. “Are you sure you won’t marry one of the alchemists I’ve talked to? The Master of the Guild says he’ll take you on.”
“No. I’d rather marry a man with nothing and work together to create a future with him than marry a man with everything. I’d be stuck in the same gilded cage with no purpose, no control. And”—she nestled her hand inside Nico’s—“I will not betray my heart by marrying anyone but this man.”
“Do as you please,” Morington said, each word clipped.
“That’s it?” Nico asked. Jane grinned and Morington looked like a sulky little boy. “I do not understand why we couldnot have talked this through to begin with. Without the punching and the glamours.” Nico straightened his sleeves. “You transcendents are entirely too dramatic.”
Jane snorted. “Says the man who sneaks through windows in the dead of night.”
Nico curved lower, so they were almost nose to nose. “Says the woman who escaped out of a window herself and threatened a duke with memory loss.” Nico cupped the back of her neck and kissed the top of her head. “No teasing me for window climbing anymore, love. I’ve a growing collection of ammunition to lob back at you.”
She kissed him, and it ended all too soon. But the moon had been growing dimmer as the sky brightened. Morning was coming. The children would wake.
“What should we do with him, boss?” Cozy Kringle asked.
“I suppose,” Morington said, “you would threaten me if I have your betrothed tossed from the premises?”
Before she could answer, Cozy Kringle shook his head. “Not you.” He nodded at Sir Nicholas. “Yer the boss.”
“Excellent.” Nico straightened his vest. “Then please do remove the duke.”
The Kringles nodded and made for the duke. Two of them each grabbed a ducal arm. He didn’t ever struggle, just looked at Jane. His face drooped. His shoulders drooped. If the man had not been acting like an ass since before his arrival, Nico might think sorrow weighed him down.
“Wait!” Jane stopped the Kringles. “Release him. This isn’t right. Not on Christmas Day.”
“He locked you up,” Nico reminded her.
