Page 103 of Legacy of Glass
“Do you really have to go?” Olivia stood at the palace’s entrance, gazing disconsolately at the carriage waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’ve been here for six months,” Daphne said with an amused smile. “So I think we both know the answer to that is yes. It’s past time I was heading for Oakden.”
“Couldn’t you just marry Ashton and stay forever?” Olivia wailed, giving her cousin yet another final hug goodbye.
Daphne snorted. “Appealing as that sounds, I think I’ll leave that honor to Nell or Hattie. I wouldn’t like to earn either of our cousins’ enmity by stealing their favorite lord.”
Olivia sniffled and chuckled weakly. “I’m sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.”
“It’s already been three months since your wedding, Princess Olivia,” Daphne said with a long-suffering look. “And I even let you twist my arm into being one of your attendants. And I thought Rosalie’s wedding was exhausting! When it’s my turn, I think I’ll just run away to a beach somewhere and get married on the sand.”
“Don’t be silly,” Olivia said. “You’re on your way to Oakden. You’ll no doubt meet some handsome, charming man there who will convince you to settle down in your birth kingdom and have twenty babies. You’ll forget what exhaustion even is!”
“With twenty babies? You must be joking.” Daphne stared at her in horror. “Legacy burden or not, there aren’t enough naps in the world to cover twenty babies.”
“You wouldn’t have them all at once,” Olivia pointed out, warming to the topic.
“I won’t be having them at all,” Daphne said firmly. “I’m going to Oakden because I have to know what life is like without the constant burden of the Legacy. I’m not going there for romance.”
“That’s what you say now,” Olivia said, but in a small voice and with a cheeky smile.
“Stop harassing your cousin, love, and let her leave before the sun sets and the coachman refuses to set out at all.” Julius’s welcome voice lifted some of Olivia’s sorrow.
She smiled at him as he reached her side and slipped an arm around her waist. But Daphne regarded her with a wounded look.
“Ah! Your plan has been revealed! That’s why you’re waffling on about twenty babies.”
Olivia laughed. “We only just finished breakfast. You’ve got plenty of daylight left. But Julius is right; I should let you go.”
Daphne stepped forward for yet another final hug, and Olivia clung to her tightly.
“Don’t worry,” Daphne said lightly. “Marigold and Cade get back from their wedding trip tomorrow, remember? You won’t be lonely for long.”
Julius’s arm tightened around her waist. “She won’t be lonely at all.”
“Whoa, slow down there, lovebirds,” Daphne said lightly. “Wait until I’m napping in the carriage, and then you can gaze passionately into each other’s eyes for as many hours as you like.”
“I suppose you really will nap all the way to Oakden.” Olivia shook her head. “I can’t imagine you without the tendency to sleep everywhere you go. It’s hard to imagine an Oakdenian Daphne.”
“Which is precisely why I need to go,” Daphne said softly. “Even I don’t remember anymore.”
There was nothing to be said to that. Instead, Olivia gave the actual final hug and called repeated goodbyes as Daphne descended the stairs and climbed into her carriage. Her face didn’t appear at the window, but Olivia still waved until the carriage had passed through the distant palace gates.
She lowered her arm with a sigh, and Julius pulled her around into his arms, her front flush with his.
“You’ll miss her.” It wasn’t a question. “But we can hope she’ll come back.”
“To visit, yes.” Olivia sighed. “But this isn’t her home. If she ever decides to live outside of Oakden, she’ll go to Glandore and Rosalie.”
“You don’t need to be jealous of Rosalie anymore,” Julius reminded her. He now knew all about her complicated feelings toward Daphne’s best friend. “You’re not in Henton. Here you have your own best friend to make trouble with. And as Daphne said, that friend will be back tomorrow. We should probably brace ourselves. It’s been unnaturally peaceful for the last month.”
Olivia laughed. “Marigold isn’t that bad! Especially once her father admitted defeat and agreed to let her marry Cade. I think he’s a settling influence on her.”
“We can only hope.” Julius didn’t sound convinced. “She may just be biding her time.”
“I’m so glad Lord Emerson did relent,” Olivia murmured, gazing across the front of the palace. “Marigold would have married Cade anyway, of course, but it’s much more peaceful at court without having to manage feuding Emersons.”
“Listen to you, talking like an old hand,” Julius said with a teasing smile.
