14. Rosalie
Chapter 14
Rosalie
R osalie still wasn’t sure she wasn’t being wildly reckless. She had been foolish beyond limit once before in a bid to escape the Legacy. But the circumstances were more urgent in this case, and she didn’t see any other option.
Having made the decision, she refused to second-guess herself, speed walking toward the manor at such a rate that Daphne complained a total of eight times. But Rosalie felt as if she were about to explode out of her skin, and the only thing she could think to do was keep moving. If she stopped, she was afraid she might implode completely. At least once the rose had been taken, there would be no possibility of turning back, and hopefully her nerves would relax.
She couldn’t even look at Dimitri. After everything that Jace had done, she was putting her fate in the hands of a handsome newcomer again. But at least this time they were natural allies. Dimitri hadn’t come up with the plan to save Rosalie—he had done it to save himself. Rosalie just hoped she could complete her part well enough that he was guaranteed to recover his normal form. If he was stuck as a Beast forever while her family lived in wealth and prosperity, she would never have another peaceful day.
Having rushed to the castle, she regretted her speed as soon as the grounds appeared. But she pushed her worries aside. She had a way to save her brothers and father, and she wasn’t going to turn away from it.
“You’d better go and hide among the trees,” Rosalie said to Dimitri. “Then you can emerge when Daphne picks the rose.”
She leaned toward Daphne and lowered her voice. “If we really have to pick one, you might as well pick one of the gold ones.”
Dimitri chuckled under his breath, and she glared at him. There was nothing funny about the situation.
Daphne, at least, didn’t seem to find anything odd in her statement. “That’s a good idea. Even if everything else goes wrong, I might be able to sell it for enough to pay Vernon’s debt.”
Rosalie nodded before cocking her head to the side in sudden confusion. “Did I ever say it was Vernon who borrowed the money?”
One side of Daphne’s mouth twitched upward. “It wasn’t hard to guess. Have Ralph or Oscar ever been the ones to get them into trouble?”
“They follow willingly enough,” Rosalie grumbled, but she didn’t disagree. Sometimes she didn’t know if she wanted to protect her brothers or wring their necks herself.
“You’d better move back a bit, Rosalie,” Daphne said. “If you’re going to be the substitute, you can’t be involved in this part.”
Rosalie reluctantly nodded her agreement and walked back to the far side of the road. She hoped it was far enough because she couldn’t bring herself to go out of sight completely. The important thing was that she not trespass on the manor’s grounds.
As soon as Dimitri disappeared from sight, Daphne sent Rosalie one last inquiring look. When Rosalie nodded at her, she stepped off the road.
Rosalie held her breath, but of course nothing happened just because Daphne had walked onto the manor grounds. Rosalie had done that herself without anything dramatic happening.
She resumed breathing but soon had to force herself to stop biting her lip before she gave herself an injury. At least Daphne didn’t walk far before she stopped in front of a rose plant. She was taking pity on Rosalie and staying in sight. Or perhaps the Legacy’s roses had managed to enchant her that quickly.
The bush she had selected was growing a mix of red and gold roses. As promised, she plucked the largest of the glowing golden ones. Holding it in her hand, she stared down at it for a moment before looking around the garden.
There was no one in sight, and Rosalie’s heart sank. Had something gone wrong already?
But she had barely finished the thought when Dimitri strode into sight. He struck a pose, hand on his sword hilt, and glared toward Daphne.
A slightly hysterical giggle worked its way up Rosalie’s throat. He looked like an overly dramatic actor in a traveling play. She only hoped the Legacy was easily manipulated.
“Who dares to steal what is mine?” he bellowed.
Daphne dropped back a step, clearly more affected than Rosalie. Was she feigning the startled response? If so, she was a much better actor than Dimitri.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was quieter than his, and Rosalie could only just catch it. “I took it for a friend of mine who is in great need. Surely you can spare one rose?”
“If you wish to take something of mine, you must pay the price,” Dimitri said before visibly hesitating over the next line. He finally sighed and continued. “I can either slay you where you stand, or else you can return tomorrow and agree to be my prisoner here.”
“Oh no!” Daphne cried, warming to his overly dramatic style. “I could not do so! I only sought to help a friend. She is far more beautiful than I and has a kinder heart as well.” She began to fake sob into her hands.
“In that case, your friend may choose to save you if she wills it. If she comes willingly in your place, you’ll be free.”
Daphne looked up, her face covered in instant smiles. “Oh excellent! Thank you!”
Dimitri frowned at her while Rosalie glared from afar. She shouldn’t have sounded so eager—no matter how relieved she was that Dimitri had gotten his lines right.
“I mean,” Daphne added quickly, “I couldn’t possibly sacrifice another in my stead.”
“Either you or she must come willingly tomorrow,” Dimitri said in an even sterner voice. “Otherwise I will find you in your home.”
“Very well,” Daphne said with the appropriate quaver in her voice, although Rosalie suspected it was covering laughter.
She sighed. At least it wasn’t Vernon in Daphne’s place. He would have turned it into a true farce.
Daphne turned, the golden rose gripped firmly in her hand, and ran back to the road. Dimitri stood watching her until the two girls were reunited. Then he spoke a final word.
“Tomorrow!” he called loudly, but his eyes were on Rosalie, not Daphne.
“Oh thank goodness, we made it through.” Daphne thrust the flower toward Rosalie. “I thought for sure I was going to break down into giggles at the end. I was nervous at the beginning, but Dimitri was just too much.” The suppressed giggles burst out.
Rosalie backed away from the offered rose. “I can’t take that. You should keep it safe. In case…”
Daphne pressed the rose into her hand. “I claimed that I stole it for you, remember? You’re supposed to take it. Just leave it hidden in your house somewhere. If I need it, I’ll find it.”
Rosalie reluctantly accepted it, tucking it into the small satchel at her hip before turning in the direction of home. It was better to have it out of sight, just in case Jace turned up unexpectedly.
She hadn’t made it more than a few steps, however, when she stopped, frowning toward the manor grounds.
“Is it just me,” she asked, “or have the grounds already changed?”
“Changed?” Daphne stared in the direction of the garden. “It looks just as lush to me.”
“I don’t mean anything physical,” Rosalie said slowly. “More the…feel of it. Doesn’t it seem different?”
Daphne blinked several times, gazing up and down the gardens where they bordered the road for a long stretch.
“It’s not glowing quite like it did before,” she admitted after a minute.
“And you don’t feel drawn to it, right?” Rosalie asked. “The pull to pick one of the roses is gone.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Daphne asked. “It means the plan is working.”
Rosalie sighed. “Just as long as Jace doesn’t notice.”
She led the rest of the way home, lost in thought. She did feel less like bursting out of her skin now that it was done, but that didn’t mean she felt comfortable either. She was going to have to come up with an excuse for her mother and brothers to explain her upcoming absence. It didn’t help that she didn’t know how long the Legacy would require her to stay at the manor.
“You’ll have to tell them you’re staying with me,” Daphne said, correctly guessing the trajectory of her thoughts. “I had a letter from Mother today. Father has injured his ankle, so they won’t be able to travel home for several weeks. So you can tell your mother that I don’t want to be alone for so long. Given how small the cottage is, they’ll understand if you come to my house instead of me coming to you.”
“Daphne!” Rosalie cried, dismayed. “Why didn’t you say something? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine,” Daphne said. “It’s a straightforward injury, and he should make a full recovery. I was actually on my way to tell you when you showed up in the square. But you looked terrified, so it didn’t seem the right moment to bring it up.”
Rosalie stopped outside the cottage gate. “I hope you know that you can always tell me anything. It doesn’t matter what chaos is going on in my life, I still want to hear about what’s happening with you!”
“I know you do, friend.” Daphne smiled at her warmly. “To be honest, I forgot about it myself in the middle of everything else going on. I’ve never taken part in something so thrilling.”
“That’s because you don’t spend enough time around my brothers.” Rosalie marched toward her front door, bracing herself to face them.
Usually her brothers swarmed Daphne the moment she appeared, so it spoke to the depths of their concern and guilt that they shrank into themselves instead. When they turned to their sister with pathetically hopeful expressions, her heart softened.
She glanced around for their mother, and her brothers instantly understood her caution.
“She’s out the back,” Oscar said quietly. “In the garden.”
“You can stop worrying,” Rosalie murmured quietly when she confirmed they were alone. “I’ve found a way to get the money we need. I should have it for you by tomorrow evening. Or the next day at the latest.” She hoped she wasn’t wrong about how quickly the Legacy would move.
“You have? How? Where is it coming from?” Vernon grabbed her arm, his eyes locked on her face. Ralph leaned in as well, although he looked too relieved to speak.
“I can’t tell you that,” Rosalie said.
Vernon’s brows immediately lowered. “Why not? You haven’t done something terrible, have you?”
“Of course she hasn’t.” Daphne stepped forward and wound her arm through Rosalie’s, smiling beatifically at the boys.
Vernon immediately nodded in silent acceptance of her reassurance. Rosalie rolled her eyes. If she had said the same thing, he would have refused to believe her and kept pressing her for answers.
With the buoyancy of youth, the boys recovered almost instantly in response to her news. They fell over each other to show off their cooking to Daphne, who largely ignored them. She did, however, wink at Rosalie.
Rosalie grinned back at her friend, relieved to have Daphne at her side. Everything would have been harder without her.
They waited until the whole family, plus Daphne, were seated around the table for the meal before Daphne passed on the news about her father.
“Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that.” Rosalie’s mother’s voice was laced with genuine concern. Not only was Daphne like another daughter to her, but her family had been the only ones to offer to take them in during the immediate aftermath of the fire. She viewed them all as family. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Actually,” Daphne said, “I was hoping you might loan Rosalie to me. I’ve already been alone in my house for days, and I don’t fancy being alone for weeks more. Do you think she could come and stay with me?”
“You could come here,” Oscar said eagerly, earning a repressive look from their mother.
“You can’t ask poor Daphne to squeeze in here!” she said before smiling at Daphne. “Of course Rosalie should stay with you. It’s the least we can do after everything your family has done for us.” She reached out and squeezed both Daphne’s and Rosalie’s hands.
Rosalie looked away, blinking furiously to fight back the moisture gathering in her eyes. She didn’t want to deceive her mother, even in the mildest way. But they couldn’t risk telling more people about their attempted ruse. If her family knew, they would just try to stop her, and it was too late for that.
The boys would probably be dramatic and claim she was sacrificing herself for them when she was only going off to live in luxury for a few weeks. At least, that was what she was telling herself. It was easier to focus on the luxury of life at the manor than to think about who would be sharing it with her.
Rosalie moved through the rest of the evening in a daze, helping her mother clean the dishes and tidy the kitchen, only pausing from time to time to chase her brothers away from Daphne who was barely staying awake. They were like bees to Daphne’s flower, but Rosalie was willing to take the stings as she swatted them away. She couldn’t even stay annoyed at them for long when she knew she would be leaving in the morning.
Squeezed into bed that night between Daphne and her mother, Rosalie listened to the steady rhythm of their breathing and wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. Dimitri had said the Legacy didn’t create love—or any other emotion. It just manipulated situations and created oddities.
But sometimes, when the memory of her past foolishness was hardest to bear, Rosalie wondered how anyone could be sure. What if they were wrong, and the Legacy could create emotions? Maybe it hadn’t been her fault she had fallen so quickly and foolishly in love with Jace. Maybe the Legacy had made her do it.
Although she usually shook off such thoughts with the light of morning, she was susceptible to them again in the dark of night, especially as she contemplated the task before her. Could it be true? And if it was, what would happen when she moved into the manor? Would the Legacy force her into false feelings of love just so history could repeat itself? Was she about to make a fool of herself for yet another handsome face?