Page 78 of Legacy of Roses

“Whatever do you mean?” Vernon asked in mock surprise. “We are only doing as instructed by our venerable masters. We wouldn’t wish to do anything in asneakymanner.”

“Oh really?” Rosalie glared in their general directions. “So you’re going to stick to the claim that the frog in my bed yesterday morning got there entirely by its own efforts.”

“Perhaps it was a love gift,” Oscar suggested innocently.

When Dimitri growled quietly, he quickly added, “From the Legacy. To its beloved Beast and merchant’s daughter.”

“At least Mother will be pleased to discover your improved cooking skills,” Rosalie said sweetly. “Does she think you’re working for a chef? If not, I’ll be sure to let her know that you were given kitchen duties and are now experts. I’m sure her delight will be so great that she’ll put you on meal duty for the next year.”

“We scurry quickly from the room like the lowly servants that we are,” Vernon said in a monotone, his voice growing gradually quieter as they both presumably sped from the room.

“I’m sorry about them.” Rosalie sighed, but it turned into a hum when she took her first bite of the food. “But I’m honestly impressed Daphne’s whipped them into shape so quickly with the cooking.”

“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Dimitri agreed. “When she wants to be. Which isn’t often.”

Rosalie laughed. “I see you’ve gotten to know her quickly. You’re a good judge of character.”

“Even if I want to pitch all three of your brothers into the closest river?”

“An understandable instinct,” Rosalie said sympathetically. “But I’m afraid they can all swim.”

“I was hoping it would carry them away.” Dimitri took a bite and paused. “Or maybe not. This is better than anything I can make. Or my mother either, to be honest.”

Rosalie gazed around the room. “I suppose she never learned to cook growing up in this manor. I wonder how many people worked here when she was a child.”

“A great many,” Dimitri said. “I’ve been looking through the records my grandfather left behind. He paid generously and had a long payroll. Whole families lived and worked here. It was as much their home as my family’s.” His voice dropped. “I wonder what happened to them.”

“Maybe your grandfather took them with him?” Rosalie suggested. “Surely my parents would have mentioned it if his departure left whole families homeless and without work.”

Dimitri sighed. “I hope so. But if not, I need to find them and make restitution.”

Rosalie smiled. “You will. Once all this mess is sorted out, you’ll be free to do even more of that. Perhaps some of them will even wish to return.”

“I glide into the room with far more grace than your two previous servers,” Ralph’s voice announced. “If you could see me, you would weep at the beauty of my movements.”

Rosalie groaned. “Not you, too.”

“You’d weep buckets of joy,” he said firmly.

“Get back to the kitchen,” Daphne commanded from the doorway.

“Yes, ma’am!” he cried and departed in silence, his tray of rolls deposited between Dimitri and Rosalie.

Dimitri took one eagerly, but Rosalie stared toward Daphne.

“Ma’am? How did you manage that?”

“I’ve decided that I’m the housekeeper,” she said tranquilly. “And any junior servants who fail to show the proper respect risk being turned off without a character.”

Rosalie laughed. “You mean you’re shamelessly exploiting the fact that all three boys think they’re in love with you.”

“I have to make some use of it,” Daphne said serenely. “Who knows when they’ll grow up enough to develop an interest in girls their own age.”

She left the room to laughter from both Dimitri and Rosalie.

Two days later, Rosalie wandered through the conservatory with Dimitri, examining the plants.

“Do you think if you brought a pot from another kingdom—one that was already filled with dirt from that kingdom—that it would grow something other than roses?” she asked.

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