Page 50 of Legacy of Thorns
As soon as they were seated, Lorne lowered his voice. “Your companion seems to be standing guard. Should I be concerned?”
“About Fin? Oh, no. He’s just making sure we’re not disturbed.”
“I see,” Lorne said in the kind of tone that suggested he didn’t see at all.
Daphne laughed shakily. “It’s a lot to explain.”
“That much, at least, is apparent.” Lorne shook his head. “But how do you come to be here tonight? Lord Castlerey knows I’m searching for you and mentioned nothing about inviting you here.”
Daphne grinned sheepishly. “That’s because we weren’t actually invited. Officially speaking. Or, in fact, unofficially either.”
Lorne’s brows rose. “How very?—”
He broke off, his head dropping forward as he fell into instant sleep. Daphne watched him in silence, memories of her childhood rushing back. His sudden moments of sleep had been rare then—so rare she had nearly forgotten about them. And yet they still occurred. She swallowed, trying not to think too deeply about what that meant.
“—thrilling it all sounds,” Lorne said, waking abruptly after thirty seconds and resuming his sentence without missing a beat. But when he caught sight of her face, he paused and took her hand.
“My dear Daphne, did I do it again? I assure you there’s no need for distress. It’s a pesky habit, but it does me no harm, nor anyone else either.”
“But you still fall asleep like that after all these years?” Daphne asked. “It never goes away?”
“It fades as the years pass,” Lorne said. “But then the itchy feet get the better of me, and I end up popping across the border. I don’t travel for long these days, but it always causes the sleeps to flare back up.” He smiled, clearly unrepentant. “My poor daughter quite despairs of me, I assure you. But then she never did have the wanderlust.”
“I thought my naps would just disappear completely as soon as I crossed the border,” Daphne confessed.
Lorne patted her hand. “It happens that way for some, your own parents among them. But the result of returning is different for each person, just as the original burden is different. For those who were away a particularly long time—or who went at a particularly young age—it can linger. And you were so young when you left.” He sighed. “Your parents have written to me of your affliction several times. It weighs heavily on them.”
“It weighs heavily on me!” Daphne cried, with more heat than she had intended. “I’m the one who suffers for it. I left my family and friends and came to Oakden to be free of it—but it was no use. The Legacy just keeps gripping me harder.”
She dropped her head into her hands, horrified by the tears on her face.
Lorne patted her shoulder. “It is a difficult burden for the young—and for those who didn’t choose it for themselves.”
Daphne forgot her tear-stained face enough to look up at him. “How could they do it to me, Lorne? My own parents?”
He sighed deeply. “They wanted to return while you were still a toddler, you know. Did they ever tell you that? They endured for years longer, believing it their duty.” He sighed again. “But everyone has their limit. If you had been in pain, I believe they would have returned to Oakden, but when it was only sleep that afflicted you…”
“Only sleep?” Words failed Daphne as she thought of the underlying fatigue that had shaped every part of her life. Of the strange looks and whispers that had always accompanied her. “I didn’t ask for this,” she whispered into the silence.
“No, you did not.” Lorne’s voice was heavy with grief. “But your parents do love you, Daphne. They are humans—flawed humans—but they love you deeply.”
“I know.” Daphne wiped away the tears, her voice thick. “They’ve always done their best to be there for me in every other way. I don’t even know why I’m crying.” She flashed a look at Fin. “A friend told me recently that I need to let out my feelings more, but I didn’t realize it would be so messy and exhausting.” She wrinkled her nose at the final word.
Lorne laughed. “That it is. But you will find the feelings ease as you share them. They won’t always be so potent.”
“I certainly hope not,” Daphne muttered, scrubbing away the last evidence of her tears. “I just…I’m just frustrated. I came to Oakden to discover who I truly am, and I’m even further from that than I ever was. Everything is a mess!”
“It does seem a little messy,” Lorne murmured with a slight smile. “But what do you mean about discovering who you truly are?”
Daphne shrugged. “I have so few memories from before the Legacy’s burden hit me. I want to know the true Daphne, the one unaffected by Oakden’s sleepiness. But ever since I arrived, the Legacy’s power has been gripping me even more tightly than ever. I can already feel I’ll need to nap right here before I can stand again.”
Lorne frowned. “It’s getting worse? That sounds unusual.” He hesitated. “I think you’d better tell me exactly what’s happened since you arrived in Oakden. But before you do, I have to ask. Do you truly think that you’re not the true Daphne now?”His voice grew even more gentle. “Because I can assure you that you are.”
“But this wasn’t supposed to be my life,” Daphne said. “How can it be the true me?”
Lorne sighed. “A profound question. I’m not saying that what was done to you as a child was an easy thing or a fair one. But there is no person alive who is unaffected by outside influences. We all have people and circumstances that affect who we become—whether we wish them to or not. And it is not granted to any of us to know who we would have been without those external influences. That would have been to live a different life.”
“You’re saying we have no say over who we become?” Daphne asked, defiant.
