Page 27 of Legacy of Thorns
She slipped out, closing the door on their protests. Breathing deeply, she moved away from the cabin. She wouldn’t go far, but she needed a few minutes of space.
Once she was out of sight among the trees, she stopped. She had no intention of risking her safety by going further. Drawing a deep breath, she settled into the starting pose for her training dance. She craved the stability of her habitual morning activity.
As adventurous travelers, her parents had long ago learned how to protect themselves, and they had first taught her the training dance while they still lived in Oakden. Once they returned to Glandore, and Daphne exhibited a propensity to fall asleep at odd moments, they had put even more emphasis on keeping her in peak form.
The familiar movements calmed her, providing an anchor to the life she had left behind. Some things had changed, but not everything.
Footsteps disturbed the peaceful solitude, but they were approaching from the direction of the cabin, so she didn’t break from the proper form to look behind her. “I told you not to follow me, Archie.”
But the voice that answered was deeper than Archie’s. “I thought I might find you doing this.”
She almost faltered, catching herself just in time to finish her lunge. Finley.
A half-dozen responses flashed through her head before she settled on silence. The prospect of an argument was too exhausting to contemplate, especially when she’d finally found a moment of peace. She would just ignore him.
Unfortunately, he proved frustratingly difficult to ignore. He didn’t speak again, but he positioned himself beside her as he’d done the morning before, timing his movements perfectly with the rhythm she had set for the traditional dance.
It was the place her parents used to occupy, and his presence at her side unleashed a flood of unwelcome emotions. Why did a stranger stand in their place? She should be with her own people, in her own home, not caught up in the troubles of strangers in a distant kingdom.
And yet it had been her own family who had ensured that she could never truly belong at their side. If her parents had only confined their travels to their own kingdom as Nisha had done?—
Daphne forced the thoughts down, ruthlessly squashing them. There was no use dwelling on the past or the decisions of others. She was seeking calm, not further turmoil.
She forced her mind to focus only on the trembling of her muscles and the soft sounds of the forest, reaching for her earlier feeling of peace. Her breathing slowed again. As she breathed in and out, her breaths aligned with those of the man beside her, just as their movements aligned. It brought a familiar sense of communion. Together they breathed in the quiet beauty of the morning—a peace that was stronger for being shared.
But it was one thing to feel such companionship with her parents. Sharing it with the man beside her was utterly wrong. Finley was a liar, a thief, and a charming flirt. He had tricked her into a situation of untold danger.
Daphne knew Finley couldn’t be trusted. And yet the moment of connection reached deep inside her anyway, as if she was only now seeing his true self. As if it was the lying that was a mask and a facade.
Daphne stopped abruptly, cutting off the dance mid-movement, as Finley had done the morning before. Finley stopped as well, turning to face her, a question in his eyes.
Daphne held his gaze, emotions roiling within her. The earlier anger and resentment burst free, roaring into new life. Finley was a safer and more comfortable target than her parents. He had earned every bit of her ire.
He looked back at her, silent and clear-eyed. She had the sensation that he was waiting for her accusations—that he was braced for the wave of her fury and had no intention of defending himself. He already knew what he had done to her.
The words of righteous fury died on her tongue unspoken. Daphne could no longer tell the true cause or target of her anger, and its mere existence drained her of energy. She let it wash away in a receding wave that left her more exhausted than thetraining dance. She turned on her heel, still not having spoken a word, and returned to the cabin.
Two minutes later, the cabin door opened, and Finley slipped quietly in after her. If he thought her behavior strange, he gave no indication of it. He gave no indication that they had met in the forest at all.
Chapter 9
Finley
Inside the cabin, Nisha had laid out their remaining supplies, and Archer was regarding the meager spread gloomily.
“The bread last night was bad enough,” he grumbled as Finley stepped through the door behind Daphne.
He instantly brightened at sight of Daphne, though, smiling in a boyish way. Daphne didn’t smile back, looking at the supplies instead, although Finley caught the sides of her mouth twitching. It was hard not to respond to Archer’s open face.
“Looks like we need to restock sooner rather than later,” she said, and Finley couldn’t dispute the words.
Morrow offered to go hunting, but that alone wouldn’t be enough. Someone would need to visit the local village.
“I should leave now,” Daphne said. “It’s a long walk.”
Finley’s eyes snapped to her. “You don’t have to be the one to go.”
She gave him a look that spoke volumes. He might not like it, but it was obvious that she was the best one to show her face in town. One or more of their pursuers might still be lingering around, and her face had to be the least familiar to them.
