Page 57 of Legacy of Roses

“Get lost!” she called into the tree.

“Blasted spinster!” the bird squawked back.

Rosalie propped her hands on her hips, facing off against the bird with narrowed eyes.

“Recalcitrant canary!”

“Mediocre chucklehead!”

“Pea-brained pigeon!”

“Colossal gadabout!” It flapped its wings as if particularly pleased with that effort.

Dimitri looked at Rosalie with wide eyes, but she burst into laughter.

“It’s a game I like to play with them,” she told him before calling to the parrot. “Be off with you now. Poor Dimitri isn’t used to you ridiculous creatures.”

The bird fluffed itself up, making a call that sounded disconcertingly like a chuckle.

“Yes, yes, I know you’re very pleased with yourself,” Rosalie said. “But we’re trying to enjoy a nice morning here.”

“Verynice,” the bird said with another cackle. “But nicer for him or for you?”

Rosalie flushed, her mouth dropping open and her eyes darting everywhere but Dimitri.

“They really are a nuisance,” she muttered.

“They can actually converse?” Dimitri asked, staring at the parrot who had begun preening.

Rosalie also looked up at the bird. “I often exchange insults with them, but a response that complex is new. It must befrom the strength of the Legacy here.” She frowned thoughtfully, whatever discomfort she’d felt earlier forgotten. “I wonder if it really understands us or if it’s just a trick of the Legacy?”

“Nasty girl!” the parrot called. “Lovely prince!”

Dimitri laughed. “It seems to like me more than you. Do you think that’s because you insulted it, or does the Legacy like me better?”

“Hmm…” She looked at him with a teasing challenge in her eyes. “How much did it improve your room?” She waited expectantly.

When Dimitri winced, she crowed triumphantly. “Ha! I knew it. Of course the Legacy likes me best.”

She grinned at him, and he grinned back.

“Kiss!” the parrot called loudly. “Smoochy kiss!”

Rosalie gave an outraged growl and stalked toward the tree. “I’m going to pluck out all your feathers!” she yelled up at the bird, although Dimitri caught the flushed warmth in her cheeks.

He was still fighting back the flush in his own cheeks as she hiked up her skirts and gripped the lowest branch. By the time he realized she truly meant to climb the tree, she was already halfway up.

The bird watched her from one beady eye until she reached his branch. The moment her hand gripped it, he took wing, cackling down at her as she swung herself up to sit where he had been. She shook her fist at him as he flew away.

But she was smiling as she swung her legs, gazing across the garden from her elevated position.

“I didn’t realize just how much land was attached to the manor,” she called down to him. “It’s beautiful.”

He gazed up at her from the base of the tree. “Are you planning to stay up there?”

“Why?” She grinned down at him. “Will you bring me a pillow if I decide to sleep here?”

“No, I’ll make a nest of them at the bottom for when you roll out.”

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