Page 2 of Legacy of Glass
“Do you know your problem, friend?” Marigold asked in a reproving voice.
Olivia didn’t bother to open her eyes. “I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“You’re too good at your job. How can your aunt resist turning you into a glorified servant when you cover the roles of four paid ones, and make it look easy?”
Olivia wanted to glare at her friend, but the afternoon was too nice for her to muster anything but mild irritation. Besides, any day felt more lively and exciting when Marigold was present. Olivia could still hardly believe that the noble girl from the other side of the wall had chosen to befriend her. Apparently she’d never shown any particular interest in either of Olivia’s cousins.
“It’s because you’re different,” Marigold had told her once. “I knew the moment I saw your face that I was going to like you tremendously and that we would be best friends. I’m never wrong about that sort of thing.”
To be fair, Olivia’s cousins seemed to view Marigold with unease. Hattie had once confided to Olivia that she didn’t know which of Marigold’s dramatic pronouncements could be believed.
If she was objective, Olivia could understand her cousin’s confusion. If you didn’t know her, Marigold’s manner could easily come across as insincere. But Olivia had a method of testing people’s sincerity, and Marigold’s heart was true beneath her over-the-top manner. Olivia just didn’t want to tell her cousins how she had first gained confidence in her new friend—not when the information would make it back to her aunt.
Not that her aunt was a villain. Olivia had confirmed that using the same method. Just as her cousin’s uncertainty about Marigold was unfounded, so was Marigold’s concern about Olivia’s situation.
She straightened and sighed. “Do you think I haven’t tried being worse at my tasks? It’s harder than you’d think.”
“Ah, to be blessed by the Legacy,” Marigold said with a grin. “Do you think there’s any way I can convince the Legacy that it should assist me with my harp playing? I don’t mind performing for my parents’ friends—” Olivia snorted. Marigold never minded performing. “But I loathe all the practicing,” Marigold finished. “It’s so tedious.”
“Let me guess.” Olivia finally realized the reason for her friend’s appearance on the hill. “You’re supposed to be practicing right now.”
“Obviously,” Marigold said without a hint of shame. “It was an unexpected bonus to find you here. I thought that so-called aunt of yours would have you locked away somewhere, working.”
Olivia didn’t bother to protest Marigold’s disparaging description of her relative. It was true that Walt and Helen weren’t really her aunt and uncle since Walt was her father’s cousin, not his brother. But they were a generation above her and had claimed her as a niece on arrival, something Olivia had no issue with. Marigold, however, liked to take issue with anything and everything done byAuntHelen. She was a very loyal friend.
“I think she sent me out to gather flowers because she felt bad about my working through the heat the last few weeks,” Olivia said. “It’s not as if she hates me. She isn’t half as bad as you always make her out to be.”
Marigold poked Olivia with her toe. “You are too forgiving. Your supposed aunt and uncle wrote to your parents about their successful business and said they would happily provide a job in said business for any of their cousins’ children who might like to move to the capital.In said business.Not as a servant in their home.”
Olivia sighed. It was hardly the first time she and Marigold had gone over the issue. “I know that, obviously. I’m the one who told you. But you make it sound like it was some underhanded plan. They really did mean for whoever came to work in the business. But they were expecting one of my brothers.” She gave Marigold a look. “One of my many brothers.”
Marigold gave a dramatic groan and flung herself back against the tree. “Don’t talk to me of many brothers. Not today.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows. She and Marigold had first connected due to their overabundance of brothers, and Marigold often complained of hers. But something in her tone sounded different this time. Perhaps something of significance had happened after all.
But Olivia didn’t push her friend to say more. Whatever it was, knowing Marigold, she wouldn’t be able to hold it in for long.
“I’m not saying Aunt Helen and Uncle Walt are unwilling to employ females in their business,” she continued instead. “Or that they were unhappy it was me who came. Nell and Hattie were certainly delighted I was a girl. But if I’d been one of my brothers, the Legacy wouldn’t have been a factor.”
“What does it matter if you’re a girl?” Marigold asked fiercely. “It shouldn’t matter!”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter to any of us. That’s what I’m saying. But you know it matters to the Legacy. It wasn’t a boy who was forced by his stepfather into becoming a servant, only to eventually go to a ball wearing glass slippers and dance with a princess. It was the other way around.”
“More’s the pity,” Marigold said darkly. “We would all have been saved a deal of trouble if it was the other way around.”
Olivia threw her another curious look. Something was definitely going on with Marigold. Other than her staunch defense of Olivia, she had never shown any particular animosity toward the Legacy on her own behalf before.
Sometimes when Olivia was cooking or cleaning, she thought about the long-dead Queen Ella, only the second queen her kingdom had ever had. Had Ella realized during her lifetime the profound impact her life would have on the kingdom she helped rule? All the founding royal families of her generation had fallen prey to enchantments that had reshaped their lives. But had they realized those enchantments were also reshaping their kingdoms—seeping into the fabric of the kingdom itself and affecting everything from the plants and animals to the crafts that were possible within each of their borders?
Surely the Legacy had already begun to make itself felt before Queen Ella’s passing from old age? The history books said it had started then—exerting its mindless force, binding those born within Sovar’s borders to their kingdom and pushing the kingdom’s inhabitants to follow the elements of Ella’s own history whenever possible.
Of course no one got to live her entire fairy tale-worthy life. The unpleasant parts would be far less of a burden if you were guaranteed the happily ever after at the end. But as Olivia knew only too well, the Legacy mimicked elements from the original history wherever it could, regardless of the outcome.
For someone like Marigold, that mostly meant she had trouble keeping track of a matching pair of shoes. For Olivia, it meant she was currently stuck as a servant in her relative’s home.
It was the Legacy that ensured Olivia was far too good at her job to be employed in any other capacity. Her mistake had been entering her relatives’ home without finding out more about them first. If she’d known her father’s cousin had two daughters a similar age to herself, she would have been more cautious. Once she arrived in the household, how could the Legacy resist forcing her into the role of servant?
But if she could go back in time and make the choice again—this time with all the information—would she have chosen differently?
