Page 8 of Legacy of Thorns (Kingdoms of Legacy #3)

“This doesn’t look like the path to the front door,” she said, an amused lilt in her words despite the wariness in her eyes.

“He’s not in the main house,” Finley said. “He’s in an outbuilding to the rear.” The words weren’t technically a lie, given he didn’t clarify who he was.

Daphne sighed. “Not as generous as I thought, then,” she muttered to herself, moving forward again.

Finley let out the breath he was holding. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking earlier. It was much better to wait and tell her the truth when they were actually at the barn.

When they made it to the back of the sprawling manor, Daphne turned toward the structure that housed the manor’s outdoor servants. But the others held their course, heading for a large, wooden barn.

Daphne hesitated for a moment before trailing silently behind them. The old barn was set back from the main building and hadn’t been used for horses in generations. Trees had grown up between the two structures in subsequent years, and no one was likely to notice or disturb them out there.

When they stopped in front of the worn double doors, Daphne shook her head and spoke flatly. “Lorne is not out here.”

Finley wasn’t sure if she was speaking from actual disbelief or if she intended the words as an indictment of the local lord.

Such a lack of hospitality would certainly have reflected poorly on him if he had actually been guilty of it.

But as far as Finley knew, the manor’s owner wasn’t even aware of the occupant currently slumbering inside the wooden walls of his storage barn.

Finley didn’t think he’d even noticed the theft of the items within.

Morrow and Nisha both looked from Daphne to Finley, and he sighed. He couldn’t put it off any longer.

“No, Lorne isn’t here,” he said. “My brother is. And we need you to save him.”

Daphne tensed, her eyes jumping from Finley to Morrow and then Nisha. They all looked back at her gravely.

Her eyebrows rose. “Why is one of Lorne’s grandsons in there?”

Finley grimaced, and Daphne’s eyes hardened, although her voice remained level and light.

“I should perhaps mention that I’m not a doctor,” she added, “and I don’t think I’d make a good nurse, either. I fall asleep a little too easily to keep a bedside vigil.”

“Archie doesn’t need that kind of help.” Finley hesitated. “And he’s not Lorne’s grandson.”

Daphne took a step back, understanding igniting in her eyes. Finley’s story had been one big lie, and now she knew it. She didn’t look outwardly angry, but there was a whisper of hurt on her face that hit him harder than anger would have.

It’s for Archie , he repeated silently to himself. You had to do it for Archie.

“So you brought me here for this,” Daphne said slowly. “Perhaps you’d care to explain why.” She looked between them. “Unless you want someone who’s very good at napping, there’s nothing special about me.”

Finley was increasingly convinced that wasn’t true in the least. But he hadn’t lured Daphne to his brother’s side because of her personal qualities. She was there because of her royal connection, and it should have been a simple matter to say so. But somehow his voice wouldn’t speak the words.

“You’re the cousin of a princess,” Nisha said when the silence drew out. “We’re hoping that will be sufficient for the Legacy.”

“I’m here because of Olivia?” Daphne frowned. “You know she wasn’t born a royal, right? I have no royal blood.”

“Unfortunately there weren’t any actual princesses lying around,” Morrow said with a cajoling smile. “We won’t blame you if it doesn’t work. We just thought it was worth a try.”

He gazed at her hopefully, but she didn’t smile back. Instead, her eyes cut to the closed stable door.

“We’re in Oakden right now, so if your brother has fallen afoul of the Legacy and you’re looking for a royal to rescue him, I can only assume he’s asleep in there.

” She gave a snorting laugh of disbelief.

“Did he seriously prick his finger on a spindle? Don’t they teach you anything in school?

Isn’t that like a Glandorian child being foolish enough to pick someone else’s rose? ”

Finley ignored the deliberate provocation of her barb—he had been entertaining similar frustrated thoughts about his brother for weeks. But the truth was that he didn’t know how it had happened. Archie had been alone at the time.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” he said grimly. “Even if he encountered a spindle…” He trailed off and shook his head. “He’s just an ordinary boy, so I don’t know why the Legacy responded so strongly.”

One of Daphne’s brows lifted. “If the Legacy’s power has latched onto your brother so strongly, won’t you need actual royalty to free him?”

“Do you happen to have a royal to hand?” Some of Finley’s frustration leaked into his tone. “We’ve been looking for weeks now, and you’re the best we’ve found.”

His eyes held hers steadily. He refused to weaken. He was too close to rescuing Archie.

Daphne gazed back at him, and he had the sensation of being weighed and measured, although her expression was hard to read.

“You can’t move people after they fall into a Legacy sleep,” she said after a moment. “So your brother must have been pricked inside that barn. What was he doing there?”

The challenge in her eyes told him she already suspected the answer, so he remained silent.

“He was stealing from the local lord, wasn’t he?” she asked at last.

Morrow winced visibly, and she seemed to take that—along with the continued silence—as confirmation.

“What about Lorne?” she asked. “Where is he?”

“I have no idea.” Finley forced himself to hold her gaze. “All I know is the gossip we heard in Ethelson. His son was traveling when he had the accident, I know that much, but I don’t know where. Lorne could be anywhere in Oakden.”

The disappointment that filled her eyes made his chest squeeze painfully.

“In that case,” she said, her voice somehow still steady, “I have no reason to be here.” She turned and began to walk away.

Finley lunged after her, grabbing her arm and swinging her back around to face him.

“Please, Daphne,” he pleaded in a low voice.

“I freely admit to everything—I’m a liar and sometimes a thief, and I brought you here under false pretenses.

If you never want to speak to me again, I won’t blame you.

But my brother is different. He’s barely more than a child.

And despite everything he’s been through in his short life, he has the purest heart of anyone I know.

If I could wake him up myself, I would—even if I had to bleed out to do it.

But I can’t. So when I heard Lorne had a houseguest—one who was the cousin of a princess—I had to take the chance. ”

Daphne looked down at his hand on her arm, her voice turning icy. “Let go of me now before I’m forced to expend a lot of unnecessary effort to make you let go.”

Finley dropped her arm and put both his hands up, taking a step back. But he caught her gaze and held it, putting every bit of his desperation into his voice.

“Please, Daphne. Save Archie. You might be his only chance. Don’t punish him for my wrongdoings.”

Daphne hesitated, and Finley leaped into the opening.

“Just come into the barn and see him for yourself. Please.”

Daphne glanced at Nisha and Morrow. Nisha’s face was stiff, her worry for Archie hidden behind a mask, but Morrow’s heart was in his eyes.

“He’s right about Archer,” Morrow said. “Heart of gold, that boy. I should have stopped him going in, but you could never stop Archer when he had it in his head to help someone.”

Daphne hesitated and glanced at the barn. “He was helping someone?”

“Just look at him,” Finley pleaded again, and Daphne sighed.

“Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?” she muttered as she stalked toward the barn doors.

Finley breathed a sigh of relief and followed her. He had to pick the locks, fighting to keep his hands steady beneath the judgment in her gaze. But the lock finally clicked open, allowing them inside.

“I guess I know how you got inside Lorne’s house.” Daphne swept past him, entering first.

She stopped a few steps in, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.

The cavernous space was littered with pieces of old equipment, most of it in various stages of degradation, and in one corner, an entire outdated carriage had been abandoned.

But Finley ignored the depths of the aging structure, focusing on the double-sized stalls just inside the doors, one on either side of the large central aisle.

The stalls had been fitted with rough shelving and were used for storing items that had no business being there.

Right now they were almost empty, thanks to Archie’s efforts. And he was currently paying the price for his altruism.

Finley unlatched the stall on the left and stood back, gesturing for Daphne to step inside. She paused in the open door, gazing down at the boy stretched out in front of her.

Her face softened at sight of him, just as Finley had expected, and hope filled him. No one could ever resist Archie.