Page 48 of Legacy of Roses

Daphne looked up, her face covered in instant smiles. “Oh excellent! Thank you!”

Dimitri frowned at her while Rosalie glared from afar. She shouldn’t have sounded so eager—no matter how relieved she was that Dimitri had gotten his lines right.

“I mean,” Daphne added quickly, “I couldn’t possibly sacrifice another in my stead.”

“Either you or she must come willingly tomorrow,” Dimitri said in an even sterner voice. “Otherwise I will find you in your home.”

“Very well,” Daphne said with the appropriate quaver in her voice, although Rosalie suspected it was covering laughter.

She sighed. At least it wasn’t Vernon in Daphne’s place. He would have turned it into a true farce.

Daphne turned, the golden rose gripped firmly in her hand, and ran back to the road. Dimitri stood watching her until the two girls were reunited. Then he spoke a final word.

“Tomorrow!” he called loudly, but his eyes were on Rosalie, not Daphne.

“Oh thank goodness, we made it through.” Daphne thrust the flower toward Rosalie. “I thought for sure I was going to break down into giggles at the end. I was nervous at the beginning, but Dimitri was just too much.” The suppressed giggles burst out.

Rosalie backed away from the offered rose. “I can’t take that. You should keep it safe. In case…”

Daphne pressed the rose into her hand. “I claimed that I stole it for you, remember? You’re supposed to take it. Just leave it hidden in your house somewhere. If I need it, I’ll find it.”

Rosalie reluctantly accepted it, tucking it into the small satchel at her hip before turning in the direction of home. It was better to have it out of sight, just in case Jace turned up unexpectedly.

She hadn’t made it more than a few steps, however, when she stopped, frowning toward the manor grounds.

“Is it just me,” she asked, “or have the grounds already changed?”

“Changed?” Daphne stared in the direction of the garden. “It looks just as lush to me.”

“I don’t mean anything physical,” Rosalie said slowly. “More the…feel of it. Doesn’t it seem different?”

Daphne blinked several times, gazing up and down the gardens where they bordered the road for a long stretch.

“It’s not glowing quite like it did before,” she admitted after a minute.

“And you don’t feel drawn to it, right?” Rosalie asked. “The pull to pick one of the roses is gone.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Daphne asked. “It means the plan is working.”

Rosalie sighed. “Just as long as Jace doesn’t notice.”

She led the rest of the way home, lost in thought. She did feel less like bursting out of her skin now that it was done, but that didn’t mean she felt comfortable either. She was going to have to come up with an excuse for her mother and brothers to explain her upcoming absence. It didn’t help that she didn’t know how long the Legacy would require her to stay at the manor.

“You’ll have to tell them you’re staying with me,” Daphne said, correctly guessing the trajectory of her thoughts. “I had a letter from Mother today. Father has injured his ankle, so theywon’t be able to travel home for several weeks. So you can tell your mother that I don’t want to be alone for so long. Given how small the cottage is, they’ll understand if you come to my house instead of me coming to you.”

“Daphne!” Rosalie cried, dismayed. “Why didn’t you say something? Is he all right?”

“He’s fine,” Daphne said. “It’s a straightforward injury, and he should make a full recovery. I was actually on my way to tell you when you showed up in the square. But you looked terrified, so it didn’t seem the right moment to bring it up.”

Rosalie stopped outside the cottage gate. “I hope you know that you can always tell me anything. It doesn’t matter what chaos is going on in my life, I still want to hear about what’s happening with you!”

“I know you do, friend.” Daphne smiled at her warmly. “To be honest, I forgot about it myself in the middle of everything else going on. I’ve never taken part in something so thrilling.”

“That’s because you don’t spend enough time around my brothers.” Rosalie marched toward her front door, bracing herself to face them.

Usually her brothers swarmed Daphne the moment she appeared, so it spoke to the depths of their concern and guilt that they shrank into themselves instead. When they turned to their sister with pathetically hopeful expressions, her heart softened.

She glanced around for their mother, and her brothers instantly understood her caution.

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