Page 17 of Legacy of Thorns (Kingdoms of Legacy #3)

But when Daphne stopped at a final stall near the edge of the market, the stallholder caught his attention.

The woman smiled readily enough at Daphne and gathered the requested items without issue, but her eyes kept jumping to Finley and Archie.

When she lowered her voice and leaned toward Daphne, Finley came to full alert, his attention focused on the woman.

“Awfully self-conscious for such strapping fellows, aren’t they?” she murmured, her voice tinged with excited curiosity.

“Sadly, yes,” Daphne replied in a serious tone, not missing a beat.

She mirrored the woman’s movements, leaning across the stall to close the distance between them and dropping her voice.

“It’s the hair, you know. A family affliction among the males.

I’ve tried to tell them there’s no shame in going bald, no matter your age, but… ” She sighed and shook her head.

The woman smiled triumphantly. “I guessed as much! Their egos are fragile when they’re young, my dear, so there’s no point telling them not to mind it. I know just the type, and I have the very thing for you.”

Daphne clasped her hands together, her expression hopeful.

The woman pulled out a tiny bottle with a flourish. “We had roving merchants through town recently, and I managed to acquire a hair tonic from Stonyfell.”

Daphne gasped dramatically and clasped her hands to her mouth in apparent astonished delight. Finley growled too quietly for the woman to hear, and Daphne’s smile grew. She was clearly enjoying herself.

But she let her face fall, biting her lip and twisting her hands together as she glanced back at the two robed figures. “It would be just the thing, but an item from Stonyfell must be expensive. How much are you asking for it?”

The woman named a price, and Daphne’s face fell. She glanced into her purse and then gazed wistfully at the miniature bottle.

“So much…” she sighed.

The woman broke into voluble praise of the tonic and assurances of its rarity, and Daphne sighed again.

“Undoubtedly it’s worth it,” she assured the woman. “But I’ll have to save my coin and come back another day.” She leaned forward, talking more quietly. “I’m sure they’ll both work extra hard with such an incentive, so hopefully we’ll have the coin saved in no time.”

The woman nodded, clearly disappointed. “I can’t promise it will still be here,” she warned. “I was able to spread it across several bottles since you need such a small amount to be effective, but if other customers take them…”

“Of course!” Daphne assured her quickly. “I wouldn’t expect you to hold it for us.”

She paid for her other purchases and thanked the woman, leading the way quickly out of the market. As soon as they were safely within the trees, Finley pulled back his hood.

“Daphne, you wretch!” he growled. “What were you thinking?”

She turned to him with a look of satisfaction. “It was rather brilliant, wasn’t it? But I didn’t expect her to pull out a hair tonic.” She pressed her lips together, clearly trying not to laugh.

“You were brilliant,” Archie assured her, taking off his cloak and helping Daphne out of hers. “I didn’t know you were such a good actress.”

“It was my debut performance. Perhaps I have a future on the stage.”

“We were supposed to go unnoticed!” Finley cried, his frustration growing in the face of his companions’ frivolity. “That woman is definitely going to remember us now.”

“Ah, but she’ll remember you as the two balding young men.

” Daphne eyed both of their generous heads of hair with significance.

“There’s no danger in that. And if there does end up being any talk about the two men in cloaks, she’ll spread the rumor that it’s because you’re self-conscious. It’s perfect.”

“Maybe we should do it for real,” Archie said, entering into the spirit of the moment. “We could shave some of our?—”

“No,” Finley said firmly. “Absolutely not.”

Archie sighed and shook his head at Daphne. “Their egos are fragile when they’re young, my dear.” He gave such a credible impression of the stallholder that Daphne laughed.

“You’re the one who should become an actor,” she said. “I bow to the master.”

Finley seized the two cloaks from Archie’s hands. “I’ll return these,” he growled. “You two try not to get into any trouble in the three minutes I’m gone.”

He stalked off back toward the village, aiming for the house on the edge where they had found the cloaks.

But as he carefully arranged the garments just as they had found them, he had to admit Daphne’s reasoning was sound.

Their behavior had been just odd enough that an explanation wouldn’t do any harm.

He sighed and ran a hand through his curly hair, a wry smile stealing onto his face.

Given his reaction to Archie’s suggestion, there might be some truth in the mention of fragile egos…

Although Finley hadn’t thought half so much about his supposed good looks until he had started to wonder what Daphne thought of them.

When he rejoined the other two, Archie was back to his usual chatter, and the three of them turned toward the path home. But Daphne kept glancing his way as they walked, and after a few minutes, she broke into Archie’s flow of talk.

“Is that how you always do it?” she asked. “Returning the things you take?”

“As often as we can.” Archie threw an expression of affectionate exasperation at Finley. “Fin will only take things in the first place when my safety is in question. But I follow the Lathlain principle.” He sounded inordinately proud of himself. “That’s why I stole those looms.”

“Except we don’t live in Lathlain.” Finley repeated the familiar refrain in weary tones. “So the Oakden Legacy isn’t going to help you with that goal. As you’ve now experienced firsthand.”

Archie grinned at him. “That’s why I have you to get me out of scrapes.” He looked at Daphne. “Finley taught me everything I know—how to pick locks, how to evade capture, how to blend in, how to make people want to help me.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Daphne muttered, but she looked more thoughtful than disgusted.

Finley watched her surreptitiously. He needed to explain the full truth of their history to her—as he had once related it to Nisha and then Morrow. But it wasn’t the moment for that sort of conversation.

Or maybe he was just reluctant for Daphne to discover the full truth of who Finley really was.