Page 14 of Legacy of Thorns
“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was littered with pieces of old equipment, most of it in various stages of degradation, and in one corner, an entire outdated carriage had been abandoned.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.
Chapter 6
Daphne
The boy slumbering peacefully inside the stall looked young, just as Finley had claimed. Perhaps it was the softening of sleep, but Daphne guessed him to be fourteen at most.
The anger and frustration coursing through her lightened the longer she gazed at him, overtaken by her desire to help. But the feelings—directed at herself—didn’t entirely disappear. She had known better, she really had. She had sensed from the beginning that Finley was hiding something, and in the past she had always trusted her intuition. But being back in Oakden was interfering with her clear thinking. She had lived so much of her life as if watching from the outside—as an outsider, it was easier to remain detached. But now she had stepped foot into her own life…only to immediately trip up.
Not that she blamed herself entirely. Finley’s blasted good looks deserved a significant portion of the blame. She wouldn’t have ignored her intuition if she hadn’t been confused at the way he made her heart flutter. She would have walked away from him back in Ethelson.
But she hadn’t walked away, and now she was staring down at a boy who shared a youthful version of those good looks.But there was something softer about Archer’s face—something both boyish and peaceful. He looked like the sort of person who found something positive and hopeful in every situation he encountered.
He certainly didn’t look like a hardened criminal. And Morrow had claimed he was trying to help someone.
Daphne glanced around the old barn. It was an unlikely place for the lord to store valuables. What had Archer been stealing?
“Lord Castlerey is a genial person for the most part,” Finley said softly from behind her. “But unfortunately he has a large number of grandchildren and is particularly susceptible to the Legacy’s influence. Whenever one of his family approaches sixteen, he becomes convinced he needs to act to protect them by confiscating some new household item from all the locals. From what I’ve heard, he fastens on a different household item each time, and he always comes to his senses eventually and returns the items. But then another grandchild approaches sixteen…” He sighed. “Archie can’t abide injustice or the strong preying on the weak. He may have been technically stealing, but he was only returning the items to their original owners.”
Daphne looked at the sleeping boy again. “I take it this isn’t the first time he’s gotten involved in others’ troubles—whether legally or not.”
Finley winced. “Ever since he heard stories about Lathlain across the northern mountains, he’s been convinced he should have been born there instead of Oakden.”
