Page 87 of Legacy of Glass
“Are you all right?” He sounded frantic with worry. “You weren’t hurt?”
Olivia shook her head, letting him pull her into his arms and feeling his relieved sigh all the way through her. As she rested against his chest, she remembered there was still one fight unfinished.
She peered toward the guard who had been wrestling with his opponent. The man had both hands propped on his knees, his back hunched as he sucked in breaths, clearly winded from the fight. His opponent lay at his feet. Daphne stood beside the downed man, a brick in her hand.
She looked up, met Olivia’s eyes, and shrugged. “Someone had to do something,” she said matter-of-factly.
Olivia laughed shakily, her eyes roaming over the men scattered across the ground. The other guard had already secured his opponent with a length of rope and was moving on to the most lively looking of the other prone men.
She relaxed into Julius again. It really was over.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Julius asked again, and she forced herself to pull away from him.
“Yes, just a little shaken. But what about you?” Her eyes roamed over him, looking for any sign of injury.
“I’m fine.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but with a shake of his head, he also stepped back and surveyed the chaos of the room.
Cade had finally succeeded in freeing Marigold, although Olivia didn’t know how he’d managed it. She was wrapped in his arms and had stopped sobbing, at least.
But when she caught Olivia’s eye over Cade’s shoulder, she launched into motion, wriggling free of his grip and flying across the room to throw her arms around Olivia.
“Cade said you’re betrothed to the prince in my place? And that you were the first to guess I was abducted. He said you never stopped looking for me. I’m so sorry, Olivia,” she wailed.
Olivia patted her back, meeting Julius’s eyes over her shoulder with a silent laugh. The reaction was so very Marigold—sincerity wrapped in the most noisy and dramatic shell possible.
Now that she understood being a royal involved constant restraint and a lifetime of doing and saying the right thing at the right time, she couldn’t imagine Marigold in her place.
“Right now I’m too relieved you’re safe to be angry,” Olivia said when her friend finally let her go. “But I intend to have stern words with you later. How could you trick me like that! It was an abominable thing to do!”
“I never intended to trap you into a betrothal, let alone a marriage!” Marigold dashed the tears from her face. “I didn’t think they’d actually go through with it! I just wanted them to see how ridiculous the whole thing was.”
“Well it didn’t play out like that,” Olivia said with what she felt was admirable restraint.
“Of course, I expected to be there the next morning to explain it all myself,” Marigold said in subdued tones. “I never meant to leave you to face everyone alone.”
Olivia squeezed her arm. “Yes, that much I knew almost immediately. It wasn’t at all like you to disappear like that.”
Marigold threw her a grateful look. “You had more faith in me than my own family.”
Olivia thought of her interaction with Lord Emerson. “I don’t think your father truly understands you. But I do think he loves you, in his own way.”
Marigold heaved a sigh. “I know. But really!” She fired up again. “To not even look for me!”
“He did start looking after a while,” Olivia said, before adding, “But he was looking thinking you’d run away, so he was looking in all the wrong places.”
“He would,” said Marigold darkly. “But I truly am sorry, Olivia. I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on what I did.” She wrinkled her nose. “And I can see that it was too much. You’re a true friend, and I never should have done that to you.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t my first plan. At first I was going to ask you to conspire with me and go to the ball in my place knowingly. I knew you shared my frustration at the royal family’s stance on the Legacy and the way they let it control matters rather than finding ways to fight it. I wanted us to show them how ridiculous the whole situation was and force them to let Julius choose his own bride.”
“How selfless of you,” Julius said wryly.
Marigold threw him a look. “Don’t pretend you wanted to marry me any more than I wanted to marry you!”
“So why didn’t you tell me everything?” Olivia asked, refusing to be distracted from the point—or to imagine Marigold and Julius married.
Marigold’s lips twisted, guilt suffusing her face. “You mentioned your misconception about needing glass slippers before I said anything, so I decided on a whim not to tell you. I thought it would shield you from any blame that way,” she hurried to add.
Olivia regarded her steadily, brows raised, and Marigold winced.
