Page 25 of Legacy of Thorns (Kingdoms of Legacy #3)

The man from the manor glanced toward the trees, and Finley caught his first full view of the man’s face. He was furious. But he didn’t appear to have seen Finley.

His cold fury broke over the waiting men. “ What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at them. “I have been very clear about approaching me while I’m at the manor. What if it had been someone else who had seen you lurking outside? What if they started asking questions?”

One of the men tried to respond, but the newcomer held up a hand to silence him, and the man fell instantly quiet.

“We must get out of sight of the house. Immediately.” He stalked off in the direction of the trees, sending ice down Finley’s back.

The lordly man was leading the ruffians directly toward Daphne and Archie—and from their hiding place, they wouldn’t have been able to hear the man’s words to give them warning.

Finley plunged back into the trees, running as fast as he dared between the trunks, ducking and weaving and leaping over underbrush.

His instinct was to run straight back the way he had come, but that path would intersect with the men.

Fighting the screaming voice in his head, he aimed deeper into the trees, drawing a wide circle that would take him back to his original position from a different angle.

His breath sawed through his throat and lungs, but he pushed his legs faster. He had to reach Archie and Daphne first.

Running at speed, it was impossible to be completely silent. Some sound must have reached the waiting pair because when they came into sight, they were peering in his direction. And already, behind them, he could see flashes of the approaching men through the trees.

Finley froze, his face a grimace of alarm. Archie responded instantly, looking over his shoulder to follow the direction of Fin’s gaze. He went still at sight of the men, only his head moving as he turned back to look at Daphne and then Fin.

“Move! Move!” Finley mouthed, not wanting to speak or move himself in case he drew unwanted attention.

Archie sprang into action, leaping straight into the air and catching a branch above his head.

With enviable ease, he swung himself onto it, reaching one arm back down to Daphne.

She wasn’t usually one for fast movement, but she didn’t hesitate.

Taking his hand, she let him haul her silently into the tree, her feet scrabbling at the trunk as she moved upward.

Her foot whisked above eye height mere seconds before the men stopped only a few trees away. If they had arrived thirty seconds earlier, they would have discovered Daphne and Archie, and even now, if one of the men scanned the forest canopy, they would be spotted.

Finley eased himself slowly backward, moving silently and carefully so as not to draw any eyes. Safe behind a tree trunk, he peered carefully around it. He finally had a good view of the newcomer, and he intended to memorize his appearance. If Fin ever saw the man again, he would recognize him.

Unfortunately, Finley’s new position put him too far from the men to hear more than the general murmur of their quiet voices. It was obvious, however, that the newcomer wasn’t happy—and equally obvious that the ruffians answered to him.

Finley waited with growing impatience and fear as the conversation stretched on for what was probably only minutes but felt like hours.

Finally the murmur stopped, and Finley peered back around the tree.

The man from the manor stood alone, watching with a sour expression as the ruffians traipsed off.

Only when they were out of sight among the trees did he turn and walk back toward the manor. Finley waited until the newcomer, too, had disappeared from sight, and then forced himself to count to one hundred and twenty.

He stepped out from behind the tree at the exact moment Archie dropped to the ground. The two brothers’ eyes met, and Archie grinned. Finley had been the one to teach him to always count out two minutes before coming out of hiding.

Finley rushed toward his brother, but he didn’t arrive in time to catch Daphne as she slid from the tree. Instead, she dropped into Archie’s arms before quickly stepping away.

“Well,” she said, dusting herself off, “that was interesting.”

“You could hear them.” In his anxiety over their safety, Finley had forgotten that the two in the tree were perfectly positioned as spies. “What did they say?”

“Not the key information we want, sadly,” Daphne said.

“So we still don’t know why they want to harm you.

But we do now know that the first men are in the employ of that other one.

And he’s growing increasingly angry at their failure to capture you.

I assume that wasn’t Lord Castlerey? I had the impression from his words that he’s a guest in the manor. ”

Archie nodded. “Lord Castlerey is older. I’ve never seen this man before, but it definitely sounded like he was a guest. From the way he talked, I’d say he’s been visiting Lord Castlerey for some months.”

“A guest?” Finley shook his head. “Who is he? A relative? A wealthy merchant? How did Father get tangled up with someone like that?”

“You know what Father was like.” Archie shrugged. “He never cared much about position or wealth. He would talk to the lowliest person he encountered as if they were his long-lost brother—but by the same token, he would just as comfortably have interacted with the king himself in the same way.”

Finley groaned. “This could be even worse than we feared.” He dropped his voice to a mutter. “And it was already pretty bad. But I didn’t know the person after us had connections with the nobility.”

“At least we now know how they stumbled on Finley in the first place,” Daphne said. “But I guess we were wrong about why they circled back here. They weren’t tracking you either time—this is their current home base.”

Archie gave a low whistle. “What awful bad luck on my part to run into them by chance! They must have caught sight of me in the village or while I was scoping out the barn.”

All three of them fell silent for a moment, considering the unlucky coincidence. Archie was the first to break the silence.

“There’s really only one question left to ask about this incident,” he said.

They both turned to him with quizzical looks.

“However did you nap in that tree without falling out, Daphne? Your perch on the branch looked precarious at best. I think my heart nearly burst thinking you were sure to fall.”

“You were napping in the tree?” Finley asked. It sounded impossible, even for her.

“I never fall when I’m napping,” Daphne said complacently. “I think it’s part of the Legacy effect. But that’s hardly a relevant issue right now! We finally have a new clue. After all these weeks, the patrols have managed to accomplish something.”

“We need to follow that man into the manor and find out who he is and why he’s doing this!” Archie exclaimed.

“No,” Finley said firmly. “We need to go back to the cabin and make a strategy.”

Archie wrinkled his nose. “A strategy to do what?”

“To follow that man into the manor and find out who he is and why he’s doing this, of course,” Daphne said.

Finley threw her a wry look. “Without being discovered, that is.”