Page 22 of Legacy of Thorns
“But why?” Archie asked, obviously still worried, even if it wasn’t his fault.
Finley shrugged. “Maybe because she was so young when she left, or because she was away so long.”
“She’s only been back a couple of days,” Morrow added.
“A couple of days?” Archie’s face turned horrified. “How close we came to never meeting her at all! To think I might have gone my whole life without knowing her. What good fortune that she decided to return and that you encountered her immediately when she did.”
Finley pressed his lips together, barely refraining from rolling his eyes at the overwrought speech. But he couldn’tdispute their good fortune in finding Daphne. He didn’t know anyone else with a royal cousin.
Daphne had given him his brother back, and he had repaid her by bringing her into their troubles. And the worst of it was that he had no idea how to get her back out of trouble again. The best he could do was keep her with them and protect her himself.
It was a solution he found all too appealing—a point that would likely count against him with Daphne. She was going to be even more suspicious of him than she currently was. He sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair.
Everything was his fault. He shouldn’t have gone off alone in the first place. He should have known Morrow and Nisha wouldn’t be able to stop Archie dragging them into some foolish scheme or other. The boy was too softhearted for his own good.
Finley had left, and their enemies had found Archie. If Archie hadn’t happened to prick himself on that spindle…Finley tried to shake away the thought. It was too terrible to bear thinking of. The last two times they’d been captured, Finley had been there, at least, and he’d been able to help Archie escape. If Archie had been captured without him…
He had failed his brother, and now he had failed Daphne. He ground his teeth together. He needed to find out who was pursuing them and why so he could end the matter for good. But attempting to discover that information was what had led him away in the first place, and look where that had gotten them.
His eyes traced Daphne’s face where it rested on her arms. He couldn’t deny Archie’s claims. She was achingly beautiful. But she also thought Finley was a villain—and she was justified in thinking so.
He shifted, turning slightly away from her and forcing himself to look at a solid wall of brambles instead of her face. There was little he could do for her, but at least he could refrain from watching her sleep.
He didn’t know if she was truly asleep or faking it, but he was grateful either way. The moment was already awkward enough, and they would have to wait hours more before it was safe to leave the tight confines of the brambles.
Chapter 8
Daphne
Daphne had thrown her head on her knees and forced her eyes shut as soon as she heard Archie’s demand of his brother, but the sleepiness wasn’t entirely faked. She had barely been holding off sleep since the moment she stopped running. It had been a while since she felt the pull so strongly.
She slept longer than usual as well, if the crick in her neck when she woke was anything to go by. How much time had passed? It was hard to tell beneath the forest’s canopy, but she suspected it had been hours.
She stretched, startling more than one of her companions.
“You’re awake!” Archer sounded joyous, and he spoke at normal volume, confirming her suspicion that plenty of time had passed.
“What about our pursuers?” she asked the group in general. “Have you heard anything more from them?”
“They’ve passed us three times,” Nisha answered. “But they’ve been further away each time, and we haven’t heard anything for over an hour. We’ve just been discussing if it’s safe to leave the brambles.”
Despite herself, Daphne smiled. She always woke up at the right moment. In this case she’d escaped several hours of simultaneous tension and boredom.
“Excellent.” She stood. “In that case, why don’t we get out of here?”
“Assuming we can,” Finley muttered.
Daphne felt a twinge of unease. Was it possible the strength of the Legacy had faded so significantly in only a few hours? If the brambles no longer responded to her touch, they’d have a long, unpleasant job trying to cut their way out.
She reached out her hand without speaking, brushing it against the closest leaf. A strange awareness blossomed inside her mind, a connection to the greenery that allowed her to send it a silent command to part. For a moment nothing happened, and then the branches in front of her quivered and moved. Their progress was slower than it had been the previous time, and she watched the tangled mass in front of her intently.
Finally the branches and thorns had pulled back far enough to allow a narrow passage to freedom. She gestured for the others to pass through it, keeping her fingers on a nearby thin branch.
“Hurry,” she said quietly, and they moved faster in response.
Even so, she could feel her connection to the greenery fraying, and she gripped the branch harder, pushing out her silent command more fiercely. When Finley stepped free of the bramble patch, she finally let go and ran after him. She leaped past the last of the brambles just as they closed behind her with a snap. She really had woken up just in time.
“Apparently that strategy won’t work again,” Finley murmured.
