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“That first story, that Goody Two-Shoes one,” Lily said. “The girl and her brother had nothin’ but they was brave and worked hard and got the life they wanted.”

Jane blinked back the tears welling up in her eyes. “Yes, Lily, I remember.”

“Well, ain’t this like that?” Alfie suggested.

“I see what you’re saying. It’s just that… It’s not always easy to be brave. Even when we want to be.”

Peter hopped off his desk and walked over to Jane. His big blue eyes stared into hers as he held her hands. “Miss Grant, we gotta be brave every day. Me pa’s missing ’is fingers, but ’e still works at the mill to keep us fed. He’s brave. Lily’s pa is ill, but she takes care of him and her little brothers. She’s brave.”

Alfie chimed in, “Me uncle’s a crook, and he wanted me to learn ’is craft, but I told ’im I won’t do it no more. I’m learnin’ me letters so I won’t end up swinging from the gallows.”

“You’re brave,” whispered Jane.

Jane’s tears finally overflowed, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She looked at the children before her—children who faced their fears and challenges every day. They were right.

The memory of Richard’s comforting presence, his gentle words, the feeling of belonging in his arms… All of it seemed distant, almost like a dream, yet so vivid and real. It was terrifying to reach for something so vastly different from what she had always known. But if these children, who faced hardships she couldn’t fathom, could fight for better lives, then she could be brave, too.

She imagined her life without Richard. There would be joy and fulfilment from the school. But at the end of the day, she’d return to her lonely room, to her lonely bed. Her life would be gray like her dresses. After she’d known what it felt like to be happy. To be thoroughly loved, to share her deepest fears and insecurities with someone and still know that she belonged…

Perhaps it was just her exhaustion from the sleepless night and from the shock of last night’s events…but she had no words to say. There were no excuses that she could think of.

Was the opinion of society more important to her than being with the love of her life?

Suddenly, with a mirrorlike clarity, she knew she couldn’t let anyone else’s opinion govern her life.

She couldn’t let Lady Whitemouth and the rest of the ton decide where she belonged and where she didn’t. There was a wonderful family with warm hearts, the Seatons, who accepted her with open arms. Dear Calliope, who felt like a kindred spirit.

Jane finally knew with complete clarity where she belonged—with the man she loved.

With Richard.

If he would still have her.

The thought filled her with such lightness she thought she would soar up into the air. Her whole body tingled, her feet not feeling the floor as she walked towards the door. Hercules raised his head and his ears and looked at her.

“Excuse me, children,” she said as she laid her hand on the door handle. “Class is dismissed for today. You’re right. I must change this. I must talk to Richard.”

As she opened the door and walked into the fresh morning air, happy cheers came from the children behind her. Hercules leapt up and followed her with questioning yaps.

“We’re going to Thorne, Hercules,” she said to him as she crossed the dry dirt ground of the yard behind Elysium.

They entered the back door and walked through the dark corridors, turning corner after corner. Finally, she reached Thorne’s study door and opened it. Inside was only Ruby, who dusted Thorne’s sideboards.

“Where’s my brother?” asked Jane.

Ruby frowned. “I thought you knew—”

“Knew what?”

“He left not twenty minutes ago, just after I last saw you.”

“Where has he gone?”

An expression of fear and guilt crossed Ruby’s face. “He’s gone to duel with your paramour.”

Jane’s heart dropped to the ground, her limbs freezing into icicles.

“Where?”