Page 15 of Legacy of Thorns
Daphne raised an eyebrow. “Stealing from the rich to give to the poor, is it?”
Little was known about the kingdoms that lay beyond the almost impassable northern mountains, but everyone had heard the tale of the thief from Lathlain with a heart of gold. If Archer had been trying to emulate him, it was no wonder he’d gotten himself into trouble.
Now that she had seen him and heard his story, Daphne had lost the desire to walk away or to refuse to help him out of petty revenge on Finley. But Archer was also basically a child. She couldn’t possibly kiss him. They needed to find a young girl his own age for that.
“I can’t do it,” she said, her words short and clipped. “You’ll have to find someone else.”
But when she turned to go, Finley blocked her path out of the stall.
“I can’t let you leave.” He sounded haunted but also firm.
“Do you really think you can force me to kiss him?” Daphne asked, her voice tinged with frost.
Something flashed in Finley’s hand, but the tiny dagger was too small to incite fear. Her determination hardened.
“Stand aside.”
Finley didn’t move. “This is an Oakdenian blade, not an ordinary dagger. One prick, and you’ll be sleeping alongside Archie.” He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure if it will work while you’re asleep, but I’m hoping one brush of your lips is all he needs.”
Daphne stiffened. Why hadn’t she seen this coming as well? Finley had already shown himself willing to lie and manipulate to get her there.
Finley sighed. “I don’t want to use this against you, Daphne. I swear I don’t. But I can’t let you walk away from my brother. How can you look at him and just leave?”
“People usually underestimate what I can do.”
“It isn’t like you have to kiss him on the lips!” Finley cried. “Is it really too much to ask you to brush your lips across his hand?”
Daphne’s brows rose, her eyes moving from the dagger in his hand back to the sleeping boy.
“Will that work? Really?”
“I’ve heard stories of at least two instances where it did,” Finley said. “I’m not asking you to do something unsavory. I’m just asking you to save a young boy.”
Daphne ground her teeth together. It went against the grain to reward Finley for all his lies, but when he put it like that, she didn’t really have a choice. Dagger or not, she had to live with herself, and she wasn’t sure if she could if she just walked away without even trying to help. Whatever her feelings toward Archer’s older brother, Archer had done nothing to earn her ire.
“Fine.” She spun. “One quick kiss, and if it doesn’t work, you let me go without another word.”
“Of course.” Finley’s eyes glowed as his gaze fixed on his brother’s prone body. “One kiss is all I ask.”
Daphne sighed and knelt beside Archer. His hands had been neatly folded on his stomach, but she didn’t like the idea of kissing one of them—as if she were a courtier flirting with a princess.
Her eyes drifted to his boyish face. The forehead would be better—as if she was kissing a child awake. It wasn’t hard to muster maternal feelings at the sight of the innocently sleeping boy.
Leaning jerkily forward, she pressed her lips against Archer’s forehead. She didn’t linger, pulling back quickly and looking for signs of life. Behind her, there was no whisper of sound from Finley. Apparently he was holding his breath.
As they both waited, disappointment seeped through Daphne. She had been tricked off course for nothing.
The boy opened his eyes. In wakefulness, he looked even more like his brother than he had while asleep, although his blue eyes lacked the greenish tinge that made Finley’s stand out. He also looked older.
Daphne, still crouched beside him, rolled back on her heels. His eyes latched onto hers, growing slowly wider and wider.
When he pushed himself into a sitting position, he seized her hand, moving too quickly for her to whisk hers out of the way.
“My lady!” he breathed.
Daphne tugged her hand free and scrambled to her feet. “I’m no lady.”
Archer followed her up, his eyes still fixed reverently on her face. “Yes, you are. You’re the lady of my heart.”
