Page 74 of Legacy of Roses

“The Legacy’s power isn’t going to pour into this place forever,” Daphne said, mild chiding in her voice. “At least I wouldn’t think so. Once Dimitri turns back into a normal man again, it will probably fade as quickly as it appeared. In that case, the chest will stop replenishing, and we’ll be left with whatever it’s already produced. So I’m making it produce more.”

“And you’ve been burying the pouches,” Rosalie said with foreboding. “Please tell me you remember where they all are!”

“Of course!” Daphne said cheerfully, then paused. “Most of them anyway. I’ve been making notes. Very cryptic ones in case someone else finds my notebook.”

“You remembermostof them?” Rosalie stared hard at the dent in the cushion that indicated Daphne’s position.

“Well, there was one afternoon when I buried four. But before I got back inside, the afternoon sun lulled me into taking a nap on a patch of grass. When I woke up, I couldn’t remember my mental markers for any of them.” Daphne related the tale without any audible sign of remorse.

Rosalie groaned. “So you’re telling me that once we finally deal with Jace, we’ll have treasure hunters from Thebarton digging up the manor gardens in an attempt to find the missing coins?”

Daphne was silent for a moment. “I didn’t think of that,” she finally admitted. “We’d better not tell anyone about them.”

“Oh, so you haven’t mentioned it to the triplets, then?” Rosalie asked with narrowed eyes.

“Well…” Daphne finally sounded guilty.

Rosalie sighed. “There’s no hope for it. We’ll have every youth under twenty sneaking out here after sundown every night. And even once they’ve all been found, the legend will no doubt live on—probably forever.”

“I suppose I’d better apologize to Dimitri,” Daphne said. “Do you think he would accept several pouches of coins as restitution?”

“He will no doubt be far more forbearing than you deserve,” Rosalie said.

Her lip suddenly began to tremble, tears springing to her eyes. Fabric rustled as Daphne stood, and invisible arms wrapped around Rosalie.

“Are you really that upset about it?” her friend asked, sounding worried.

“No, of course not,” Rosalie sobbed. “It’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

“Just…just everything.”

“Oh.” Daphne’s soft word contained a depth of understanding. “I imagine it’s normal to feel a bit emotional after everything that’s just happened.” She paused. “But don’t worry. Dimitri will be fine. He’ll be back here in no time, and then the guards will take Jace’s men away with them. You’ll be able to go back to how it was before.”

Rosalie wanted to tell Daphne that she wasn’t crying out of concern for Dimitri. But she wasn’t entirely sure the words were true. She didn’t even know why she was crying. Perhaps she just needed a release.

When the tears finally subsided, she sat on the bed next to Daphne. As soon as she had mopped up the mess that was her face, she peered at the empty air where Daphne was.

“That’s really unnerving, you know,” she said.

“Right?” Daphne agreed enthusiastically. “We’re invisible to each other and ourselves, too, and it’s horribly inconvenient. You try using your invisible arm to hand a pan full of food to an invisible person.”

Rosalie snorted and suddenly realized Dimitri had been wrong. She smiled smugly. It hadn’t been the Legacy that hadneeded practice with cooking but three young boys who always did their best to weasel out of their chores.

“I think I hear Dimitri and the guards,” Daphne said.

Rosalie jumped up, moving toward the door before stopping. “We should stay out of sight!” she said. “No one in Thebarton knows we’re caught up in all this, and it’s probably best to keep it that way.”

“That’s not going to be a problem for me,” Daphne said dryly, making Rosalie snort laugh at herself.

“No,” she said. “I don’t suppose it will be.” Her mouth twisted. “But it means I should stay in here.”

She paced up and down, ignoring Daphne’s pleas to stop being so exhausting. By the time she finally heard the double front doors swing closed with an echoing thump, Daphne had gone quiet. Rosalie listened for a moment and then laughed.

Based on the sounds of her breathing, Daphne had finally succeeded in stealing a nap on Rosalie’s cloud bed.

Chapter 21

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