Page 43 of Legacy of Thorns (Kingdoms of Legacy #3)

DAPHNE

D aphne gazed out the carriage window, unable to keep the smile off her face. “I never thought I’d be so happy to see nothing but roses.”

She beamed at Fin beside her, and he smiled back. As always, he took delight in her joy, reminding her how fortunate she had been to find him.

“You really missed Thebarton,” he said.

She nodded. “I missed Rosalie more.” She hesitated and put a hand on his knee. “Thank you for doing this.”

He laughed. “You’ve already thanked me five times today. I told you when we crossed the river—you’ve been enduring this for most of your life. I can do it for a month.”

“From what Lorne said, it shouldn’t have any lasting effect if we’re only out of the kingdom for a month,” Daphne said.

“Do you think we’ll make it back in a month?” he asked. “We barely managed to get away from the Sovaran court, and from everything you’ve told me, I’m expecting Rosalie to be even worse.”

Daphne laughed. “Two months at most?”

But she knew Fin didn’t mind, despite the ache he said he could feel in his bones at all times—like the weariness after a long day. It had hit as soon as they crossed the river into Sovar, but he bore it without complaining.

There was no way Daphne could ask him to live like that forever, though, so she was pinning her hopes on Avery and Elliot. They had left for Halbury before she and Fin left Oakden, and they had been the ones to encourage her to take Fin on a wedding trip to meet her family and friends.

Lorne had added his voice to theirs. “After the life you’ve lived, it’s good for your husband to see a little of the kingdoms. And to experience firsthand what it means to bear the Legacy’s burden.

A month or two isn’t too high a price to pay, so you should trust him when he says he’s happy to pay it. ”

She still wouldn’t have suggested leaving Archer for so long if she hadn’t seen his obvious joy at court. The king had welcomed his long-lost nephews with open arms, tearing up at their close resemblance to their father. And Archer had blossomed in the presence of a vast extended family.

The boy had been born to live the life of a courtier, apparently, and Lorne had promised to remain in the capital to keep an eye on him. He would be keeping an eye on Gabrielle at the same time since Nanny clearly needed assistance in the task.

The Legacy infatuation had worn off, and she had turned on Archer with the same vigor she had once adored him with—fueled, Daphne was sure, by embarrassment.

And yet, despite their constant bickering, they didn’t use the size of the court as an opportunity to avoid each other.

Instead, Daphne rarely saw one unless the other was somewhere nearby.

She had her own suspicions about where that relationship was going, but for now they were still young and enjoying the crowd of young people at court. Between Archer’s feud with Gabrielle and his delight in his new, royal family, there was no room for him to miss his brother while he was away.

“Are you sure you’re not going to miss the Sovaran court?” Daphne asked Fin, a teasing light in her eye. “I know how much you love the Oakdenian one.”

Unlike his younger brother, Fin had not taken to court life—much to Daphne’s private relief.

While his charm made him an instant favorite, he had little patience for the frivolities or the falseness of many of the courtiers.

Every evening, when they finally escaped to their own suite, he told her again that he much preferred the company of the one person who had always seen behind his pretense.

For Daphne herself, if she was going to live in a palace, she would have preferred to live in Sovar with her cousin Olivia.

But far more than either court, her heart longed for the home of her youth—Glandore was the kingdom that called to her the most, and she desperately missed the sister of the heart she had left behind there.

“Daphne!” Rosalie’s scream reached her ears before the carriage had even stopped.

Laughing, Daphne pulled open the door and tumbled out, straight into her friend’s arms. For several minutes there was too much laughter, too many tears, and too many shouted exclamations for anyone to make sense of anything.

But when Rosalie stopped talking, Daphne was finally able to get a word in. She took Fin’s hand and pulled him forward.

“This is Finley,” she said, “my husband.” It was still new enough that she blushed at the word.

“But he’s gorgeous!” Rosalie exclaimed. “Not that I’m surprised since you’re so gorgeous yourself. But when you wrote describing his jawline, I thought maybe it was your love coloring the description.”

“You wrote to your friend about my jawline?” Fin asked, clearly trying not to laugh.

“It’s a very nice jawline,” Daphne said, unrepentant. “Any true friend would want to know about something like that.”

“About my jawline?” He was definitely laughing now.

“Of course,” Rosalie said loyally. “I wanted to know everything. Daphne has been gone SO long. Are you exhausted from your trip?” She shook her head. “What am I saying? You’re Daphne. Of course you are!”

“I’m sorry I can’t stay,” Daphne said, the smile falling off her face for the first time since she’d heard Rosalie’s voice.

“That’s all right.” Rosalie gave her another hug.

“You know I understand. And we can hold out hope that Avery will find a solution. If anyone can, I’m sure it’s her.

I wrote to her after I got your letter and invited them to stay here any time they’d like.

If they ever get sick of traveling—of if they want a home base of sorts to travel from—they would both be a welcome part of our little community.

I’ll certainly never forget what she did for me and Dimitri.

Ooh!” Her eyes lit up. “Now that you’re here in person, you can tell me all about this Elliot.

Somehow I never pictured Avery getting married. She seemed so independent and content.”

“I think she was until she met him.” Daphne happily let Rosalie lead her down the sweeping, tree-lined drive that led to Dimitri’s manor, telling her friend all about her interactions with Avery and Elliot.

They walked past a beautiful riot of garden, although the only flowers filling it were roses.

The sight of them brought memories flooding back to Daphne, and she fell silent as they reached the building.

In appearance, it was as much a castle as Gabrielle’s home, although the stone that formed it was gray rather than white.

But it wasn’t truly a manor anymore. Dimitri and Rosalie had turned it into a community, and it was Daphne’s first chance to see how the building had been transformed since her friend’s wedding.

In the entryway, she paused, looking around, once again assailed by memories.

“Do you need a nap before we do a tour?” Rosalie asked, clearly trying to be considerate despite her own brimming impatience.

Daphne smiled. “I knew you would want to drag me everywhere as soon as we arrived, so I napped most of the drive from Sovar. Marriage can’t have changed you that much.”

“But has my enthusiasm ever stopped you from napping?” Rosalie asked with a laugh. “I am eager to do the tour, though. I want to show you everything.”

“Marriage hasn’t changed her at all.” Dimitri strode into the entryway, his face laughing but his eyes soft as they rested on his wife.

“Dimitri!” Rosalie hurried over and threw her arms around him.

But she only embraced him for a moment before stepping back and frowning. “You said you’d be back before Daphne arrived. I want to introduce you to Finley. He—” She looked around and noticed for the first time that he wasn’t with them. “Where is he?”

Daphne looked back through the open door and stifled a laugh. “I’m afraid your brothers found him.”

Rosalie groaned. “If those terrors have scared him off before we have a chance to win him over, I’ll?—”

“Don’t worry,” Daphne said. “He’ll like you. Of course he will. I’ve already told him he has to.”

Dimitri gave a startled laugh, but Rosalie took the reassurance at face value. Leaning out the door, she watched the triplets with narrowed eyes as they escorted Fin up the steps and into the manor.

Vernon had his arm slung over Fin’s shoulders and was speaking earnestly, one of his brothers flanking them on either side.

“We’re just saying,” Vernon said, “that we’re fifteen now.”

“And there are three of us,” Ralph interjected.

“Exactly,” Vernon agreed. “There are three of us, so if you hurt Daphne?—”

“Or do anything to break her heart,” Oscar added.

“We’ll have something to say about the matter,” Vernon concluded.

“Ha!” Rosalie stared them down, hands on her hips.

They took one look at her and slunk away, all three smiling at Daphne as they filed past her.

“As if we need them,” Rosalie muttered as they disappeared. “I would deal with him before they ever got a chance.”

“Welcome to Oakden,” Dimitri said to Fin, shaking his hand. “I apologize for the…ahem…enthusiasm of my family.”

“They care about Daphne, and that’s all that matters to me,” Fin said. “I know they’re like family to her, as much as her own parents. And besides, I have a sixteen-year-old brother of my own, so you have my deepest sympathy.” He shuddered. “Three!”

Dimitri laughed. “It’s never boring, I can say that much.”

“Daphne’s told me a little about what you’ve done here,” Fin said, looking around the entryway.

“I’m looking forward to seeing it for myself.

Using an enormous place like this for a whole community—one that can create a thriving hub for the region—is an inspired idea.

I know a girl back in Oakden with a home far too large for one person, so I’m planning to learn as much as I can while we’re here and suggest the idea to her in the future. ”

Daphne glanced back, eyebrows raised. She hadn’t realized Fin was thinking of suggesting the white castle become a community like the Thebarton manor had become. It was a good idea, though.

The tour took so long that Daphne snuck in a nap along the way. But she enjoyed every minute of it. Her complaints when they crossed into the third hour were a mere matter of tradition.

Rosalie’s family had their own apartment, and Daphne’s parents would be moving in the following month. They had put off their move in order to travel into Oakden to attend their daughter’s wedding, and they had taken the opportunity to visit friends while in the kingdom.

It had been an emotional reunion on both sides.

She’d had time before their arrival to work through the anger Fin had encouraged her to release, but seeing them had brought up fresh waves of emotion.

Her love for them remained—a bond forged over a lifetime—but after Daphne’s travels, she saw them with the eyes of an adult instead of the blind emotion of a child.

Her parents had been emotional as well upon hearing Daphne’s unusually candid reflections on what the Legacy’s burden had cost her. But the honesty had also begun building new, deeper connections—ones that hadn’t been possible when Daphne had been holding herself back.

“We still need to prepare the rest of the individual apartments,” Dimitri explained, “and Rosalie is determined to save one for Avery and Elliot. But we have some ideas about who else might be interested in moving in.”

The conversation continued around the enormous dining table as they ate the evening meal, words and laughter flying across the table in every direction.

Daphne took a moment in the middle of the chaos to arch an eyebrow at Fin.

He grinned back at her, clearly more relaxed and happy here than he had been in either court.

Daphne smiled and slipped her hand into his beneath the table. She didn’t know exactly what the coming years would bring, but whether they were surrounded by friends and family in Glandore or Oakden, they would always have each other.

It had been a long road to lead Daphne back to her birth kingdom, but she didn’t regret any part of it because it had led her to him—and to a life that wasn’t like the one she had planned but was instead far fuller and richer than she could have imagined.