Page 73 of Legacy of Roses

“But why?” Rosalie wailed before a further thought occurred to her. “Wait! So you’re saying the Legacy can’t cook and light fires and send trays floating through the air? So that means it was you and the boys in the kitchen earlier? You were the ones to flick the coals and wave all those knives around?”

“Was that what they did?” Daphne asked interestedly. “The mess was impressive, but I thought their claims of heroism sounded a bit outlandish. I was in the library.”

“Throwing the books,” Rosalie said weakly, sinking back down onto the bed. So the Legacy had helped with the rose chairs, but it couldn’t do nearly as much as they had thought.

“What about the fresh supplies?” she asked. “Was the Legacy producing the food?”

“That was us, too,” Daphne said. “I think edible items might be beyond its capability. One of the boys has been walking into town every couple of days to buy fresh supplies.”

“The door!” Rosalie sat bolt upright. “And the keys.” She drew the master key ring from her pocket and Daphne sighed.

“I knew I shouldn’t have given that to Ralph. He’s too distracted to do things properly. Did he drop it?”

“Yes!” Rosalie cried indignantly. “And he also left the front door unlocked. Jace and his men walked right in.”

Daphne was silent for a moment. “Well, that’s unfortunate,” she said at last.

“Unfortunate?” Rosalie asked incredulously.

“We all handled it, didn’t we?” Rosalie could almost hear her shrug.

“I still don’t understand how or why you’re here, let alone my brothers,” Rosalie said, still struggling to fathom the truth behind her time at the manor.

“It was Vernon’s idea to come,” Daphne said. “He guessed there would be enough Legacy power swirling around the manor to turn us completely invisible the whole time. The invisible servants was the only role left in our little play, you see, so it seemed like the only way we could be here.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?” Rosalie cried.

“We knew you’d never agree to us being involved if we asked,” Daphne said simply. “So it seemed easier to just come and stay quiet.”

“So you decided to endanger yourselves for no reason?” Rosalie asked heatedly.

“Vernon said it was our civic duty,” Daphne said apologetically. “Because if we left you two alone, you’d be at risk of murdering Dimitri before the week was out.”

Rosalie jumped up before sinking back onto the bed. “Of course I wouldn’t have done anything of the sort,” she said, but she sounded sulky even to her own ears.

“No, you’ve been getting along quite well,” Daphne agreed, making Rosalie flush again. “I suppose it’s because of how he looks now.”

“You think I’m being nice to him because I feel guilty?” Rosalie asked.

“No, I think you misjudged him before because he was too handsome. I said from the start that he reminded you of Jace, remember? So you judged everything Dimitri did as if he had thesame motivations as Jace. But now that Dimitri doesn’t look like Jace at all, you’re seeing him for who he really is.”

Rosalie frowned. Had she really rushed to misjudge Dimitri purely because of his appearance? She was sure there had been more to it, but it was too much to process along with all the other revelations.

“Never mind that,” she said. “What about Mother? What must she be thinking with all four of us disappeared at once?”

“We came up with an explanation for that,” Daphne said. “I went back the second day and told her the story you and I had come up with. She thinks you’re laid up in my house with a mild but infectious ailment, and that I’m at your side nursing you since I’ve had it recently enough to be safe. Meanwhile the boys had already told her that they found work for a few weeks with food and board included. Every time one of them goes into town for supplies, they also pop in to see her and give her their ‘daily wages’ for her to keep safe. She agreed because she’s hoping one or more of them will get an apprenticeship out of it.”

“Daily wages and purchasing supplies,” Rosalie said knowingly. “I suppose you’ve been using those master keys to raid the chest.” She glanced at her dressing room.

A rustle of fabric and a dip in the cushion of one of the chairs indicated that Daphne had sat down.

“Yes, I figured it was necessary usage. Since I had the master key ring, it was no trouble getting through your locked door.”

“How reassuring,” Rosalie said dryly.

“The really interesting thing,” Daphne said with unusual enthusiasm, “is that the chest refills itself. No matter how much I take out, it's always completely full when I open it again. So I’ve been burying pouches of coins all over the manor grounds.”

Rosalie blinked at Daphne’s apparently empty chair. “Whatever for? If the coins in the chest are unlimited, that seems unnecessary.”

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