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“Go, Mother,” she said. “And when you come back, all will be well here.” Better than well, she hoped.

She assisted her mother to pack a small case and waved her off in the direction of Thebarton. The last coach between the towns would be leaving soon, and she didn’t have any time to waste.

But once she was gone, a heavy silence descended on the cottage. It was tiny compared to the manor, but it felt huge in its emptiness. Rosalie went through the familiar routines of the evening mechanically, her thoughts with the inhabitants of the manor. She didn’t mind cooking for herself, but she wished she had Dimitri to share the meal with her.

Just thinking of him sitting at the table beside her made her smile. She rested her elbows on the table and relived their night by the campfire. She had already forgiven him for planning such an elaborate farewell. It had been time, even if she hadn’t wanted to admit it.

But she had only been gone for a day, and she missed him with a fierce ache. It wasn’t only the manor she had grown to think of as hers, it was the manor’s owner as well. The thought that he would be traveling to the capital while she returned to her old life was unbearable.

Rosalie herself had been the one to insist he needed to go, but she regretted her rash words now. Dimitri had only ever lived in a small, remote community, so Thebarton must have seemed grand by comparison. But once he experienced life in the capital that would change. Would his grandfather convince him to stay there? He might even try to plan a marriage for him, with a lady from his own station.

Dimitri had talked as if he planned to return, but he might change his mind once he saw the reality of the capital and its inhabitants. He and Rosalie had gotten along well, but in the capital he would surely meet many ladies more beautiful and more interesting than she was. Dimitri might only be impressed by her because he had no comparison.

Rosalie stood and paced in the small space available to her. When she had left for the manor, she had feared the Legacy might manipulate her emotions. But that fear had long since disappeared. Now that she truly knew Dimitri, it was obvious that no manipulation would be needed to make a girl fall in love with him.

She froze at her own thought. Is that what had happened to her? Had she fallen in love with him?

She didn’t even have to think about the answer. Of course she had. The realization filled her with a buoyant feeling, but it remained anchored by a subtle churning in her gut. She had been swept away by her feelings once before and been hurt. Giving way to them again scared her.

She didn’t fear that Dimitri would use her as Jace had. But that didn’t mean her heart was safe. Dimitri had made her no promises, and he had been open about his intentions to leave. She could already see how much it would hurt when she lost him.

She pushed aside those thoughts for the moment and let the buoyant feeling fill her again. For now, it was enough to admit to herself that she had fallen in love with Dimitri.

Despite the revelations of the evening, pacing could only occupy her for so long. She wished she could return to the manor immediately, but she had said she would come back after she awoke in the morning, and she needed to fulfill her final role.

With no one to talk to, and no current projects underway, Rosalie climbed into her bed early. She had thought she would be sleeping beside her mother that night, but she was once again alone—just without her comfortable bed from the manor. She had feared she might find her old bed uncomfortable after enjoying the manor’s comfort for so long, but after her lack of sleep the night before, she drifted off quickly, despite the poor quality of the mattress.

Her last thought as she fell asleep was that she would go straight to the manor as soon as she awoke. She wouldn’t even risk eating breakfast beforehand.

A loud bang woke her several hours later while the sky outside was still dark. It took a moment for her scrambled wits to make sense of where she was. She sat up just as her bedroom door crashed open.

The form of a man stood silhouetted by a faint light, making it hard to see anything but a dark outline. She screamed, but the startled cry was short-lived. There was no point wasting her breath when there was no one close enough to hear a call for help.

She tried to stand, but in the seconds it took her to untangle herself from the sheets, he had reached the side of the bed. Before she even had a chance to fight, the man had ripped one of the blankets off the bed and wrapped it around her, immobilizing her. She tried to protest, but a sack was placed over her head, and she was hoisted efficiently over his shoulder.

He grunted something to someone nearby, and she realized he wasn’t alone. Any attempt to fight him off and escape would be useless. She was only glad her mother was gone. She would have tried to fight the men and ended up hurt or taken as well.

She tried calling questions to her captor, but her muffled words were ignored, and she quickly desisted. From the length of time they traveled, and the sounds beneath the men’s feet, they were taking her into the woods. Her heart sank. It was a more sophisticated abduction this time, but they were treading a familiar path. She had made a similar journey already, and she could guess who was waiting at the end of it.

When she was finally lowered to the ground, she could barely keep her feet. Half her muscles cramped in protest, and the blanket upset her balance. Someone unwound it, and the moment her hands were free, she ripped the sack off her head.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust, but when they did, her fears were confirmed.

“Jace!” she spat out, too furious for a complete sentence.

“Naturally,” he said with what she had once thought was a charming smile. “Were you expecting another? I even sent a warning to your mother to make sure she was out of harm’s way. You should be thanking me.”

“My mother?” Rosalie groaned as she thought of the unfamiliar postman.

Her sisters were going to be very surprised when their mother turned up unannounced. But Rosalie couldn’t be sorry she and her mother had fallen for the ruse. Her mother wouldn’t have been able to stop the abduction alone.

“Only you would do something so foolish as abduct me a second time,” she said, wishing the words weren’t so hollow.

“Is it foolish?” Jace smiled again. “I thought it was inspired myself. You helped, of course.”

She glowered at him, and he stepped closer. She wanted to step back, but she didn’t want him to know she was afraid, so she held her ground.

“So convenient of you to have last night’s meal outside,” he said.