Fake Daughter Is the Real Legend novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Offer

I walked into the Ashcroft house through the front doors with Leander one step behind me.

The tin from the nurse's trailer was under my arm. I did not hide it.

I had slept three hours and I felt every one of them.

Helen was in the great hall with the household staff lined up for a morning briefing.

She turned with her coffee cup still in her hand.

"Marin," she said. "How good of you to come home."

"I'm only visiting."

"Of course." She looked at the tin and back at me, and nothing moved in her face.

Bethany stood on the stairs in a cream robe, very pale. She would not look at me.

Helen set down her cup, took her time, and turned her warm gaze on Leander.

"Leander," she said. "I've been wanting to speak with you."

"Mrs. Ashcroft."

"You've served this family faithfully for six years. I hate that it ended badly."

She smiled at the staff. They were watching her the way people watch a stove.

"I'd like you to come back, with a raise and your old title," she said. "And the gatehouse on the east lane, with the deed in your name."

Every servant in the hall drew in the same quiet breath.

"All I ask," Helen said, "is that you bring Marin back where she belongs. She isn't well. She needs to rest, and she needs people who love her to decide for her."

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