The Last Legacy: A Novel
3.5/5
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About this ebook
New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with The Last Legacy, a captivating standalone about family and blood ties, reinventing yourself, and controlling your own destiny.
When a letter from her uncle Henrik arrives on Bryn Roth's eighteenth birthday, summoning her back to Bastian, Bryn is eager to prove herself and finally take her place in her long-lost family.
Henrik has plans for Bryn, but she must win everyone’s trust if she wants to hold any power in the delicate architecture of the family. It doesn’t take long for her to see that the Roths are entangled in shadows. Despite their growing influence in upscale Bastian, their hands are still in the kind of dirty business that got Bryn’s parents killed years ago. With a forbidden romance to contend with and dangerous work ahead, the cost of being accepted into the Roths may be more than Bryn can pay.
Adrienne Young
Adrienne Young is a foodie with a deep love of history and travel and a shameless addiction to coffee. When she’s not writing, you can find her on her yoga mat, sipping wine over long dinners or disappearing into her favorite art museums. She lives with her documentary filmmaker husband and their four little wildlings in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Sky in the Deep duology and the World of the Narrows series.
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Reviews for The Last Legacy
28 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I bought.Thoughts: This was well written and easy to read. The characters were okay but all fairly unlikable. The story is about a young woman, Bryn Roth, who returns to live with her mafia-like family in some vague historical world. Bryn's family is trying to expand their trade and shift away from the shadowy side business that is their legacy. Bryn is a vital piece of their overall scheme. Unfortunately for the Roth family as a whole, Bryn has her own idea of what she wants her future to hold.This whole story was okay but not great. I have really loved all of Young's books but this was the weakest one she has written. It's not that it is hard to read or poorly written, it is just that the story isn't that exciting. There is a lot of Bryn learning the manipulative plans of her family by spying and then trying to turn those plans to her advantage. There is a subtle romance here but it felt a bit stiff and awkward to me. The characters are okay but remain fairly unlikable throughout because they are so manipulative. The world-building is very weak as well. The plot was very twisty but felt contrived. My Summary (3.5/5): Overall I am not upset I read this, it was okay but I will forget this story as soon as I finish writing this review. I would recommend checking out Young’s other books and skipping this one. It’s just not that interesting of a read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Legacy by Adrienne Young is a fun addition to the world Ms. Young first brought to us in Fable and Namesake. I personally enjoyed the chance to see a different aspect of Fable’s larger world. Bryn is not as fierce as Fable, which is a bit disappointing. I’m pretty sure Fable could have given any of the Roths a run for their money in attitude and danger. Her insta-love with Ezra is a bit odd given its intensity and their willingness to risk their lives for each other after only two days. Still, it’s a fun story that brings us back into the dark and shady world of gems and trade and gives us greater insight into Bastian’s ruling families.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I heard that Adrienne Young would be expanding the world she created in her Fable duology, I was slightly apprehensive at first. I mean, I loved Fable, but I was personally content with how that series ended. I was ready for the next adventure so to speak. But it was undeniable that the Roth family (introduced in Namesake) were an interesting force to be reckoned with. Plus, there's the fact that Adrienne Young has never steered me wrong so of course, I was going to read this. The Last Legacy begins about a year after the events of Namesake. Bryn Roth has waited for the day when she will get her letter from her Uncle Henrik and officially join the family in Bastian. Fourteen years ago when both of her parents were killed, Bryn's great-aunt took a then four year old Bryn away from Bastian (and the Roths) to be raised in Nimsmire on the condition that upon her eighteenth birthday Bryn would return to the family's multi-generational home and take up the family business. However, Bryn is unprepared for just what exactly the family business is. There are secrets that run deep within the family - everyone seems to be running their own game - but there's also this strong sense of loyalty - family above all else. As Bryn struggles to find her place, she realizes that her Uncle Henrik already has plans for her. But Bryn has spent her entire life meeting everyone else's expectations, she's ready to break free on her own, however, it soon becomes apparent that there's a high price for freedom in the Roth household. This is a plot that really unfolds in a slow and methodical way as Bryn navigates what it means to be a Roth. She's at once embraced within the family yet she's also and outsider. Because of this she quickly sees a common ground between herself and Ezra - the Roth family's silversmith. Ezra is not a Roth by blood but has essentially been raised as one for years now. Both of these characters find themselves in the same quagmire of not really belonging in one place or another. As much as it brings them together it also sows the seed of untrustworthiness - something that her uncle is always quick to manipulate if it benefits him. Bryn wants to much to belong somewhere that it takes bit for her to recognize her uncle's machinations. Personally, I could spot them a mile a way and I kind of wish that Bryn was a little more savvy to this as well, but I can forgive a girl who clearly so desperately wants a family that she misses this. Rest assured it's not long before Bryn sees the true colors behind the Roth name and what she does with this rivals Adrienne Young's other strong female characters. I liked that this story was less about the action and the physical strength and more about trying to outwit someone who basically wants to have you under their thumb. Someone who doesn't truly care for you as a person as much as cares how you can benefit the family. It's a strange dynamic within the household and one that I think Adrienne Young really gives some interesting thought while building. Suffice it to say, I was completely pulled in by Bryn's story. I loved how shrewd she was throughout. I wouldn't mind getting a short story showing readers a bit of the after. Adrienne Young has become an author that you can count on to deliver time and time again. With strong female characters doing what they can to survive. I look forward to what comes next.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So I just got done with the book and eh. The ending was kind of phoned in. I feel like the author was so over the book and wrote whatever just to end it. Totally, 7298739203% unbelievable that Bryn is going to walk in there be like, "look Henrik, this is how it's going to go down, cool? Cool." and get almost ZERO reaction from him. I was like seriously? Completely unbelievable. The story overall I guess was interesting? Sort of like a mob family, Bryn is trying to find her place in it, but I found it kind of boring. No part of the story really grabbed me, and the romance part was just meh. There didn't really seem to be chemistry between them. Ezra didn't seem all that jazzed about Bryn. I found myself starting to skim around the 65% mark because I was ready to get it over with so I could write this review. I could go days without reading it; if I really like a book I will usually finish it in a week tops. If I REALLY like a book I can finish it in 2 days. I think it took me 2 weeks to finish this one. It's not a horrible book, but it's not a great one. I've never read the author's other books, but fans of her other books I'm sure will like this one.
Book preview
The Last Legacy - Adrienne Young
ONE
The docks were no place for a lady.
My great-aunt Sariah’s words fell with the beat of the heavy rain as I snatched up my skirts, realizing the hem was soaked through. It was one of many lessons she’d imparted to me in my years beneath her watch. But while my great-aunt was many things, she was certainly no lady.
A rivulet of water rippled down the steps, where I stood beneath the harbor’s entrance, trying to stay out of the downpour.
I pulled my skirts up higher, looking again to the street. The city of Bastian was gray, its pointed rooftops cloaked in a thick, white fog. I’d arrived on the Jasper on schedule, but despite my uncle’s claims, there’d been no one waiting to receive me.
I shifted to the side when a cluster of men barreled past me and their eyes cut back, raking me from head to toe. The ridiculous frock Sariah had me wear was completely out of place among the hucksters, fishermen, and trading crews who filled the docks. But I’d spent my life not belonging anywhere and all of that was about to change.
The wind picked up, stinging my cheeks and pulling strands of hair loose from where they were tightly pinned back. By the time Murrow showed up, I’d look like I’d been hauled up out of the water in a fishing net. My skirts were growing heavier by the minute.
I cursed, reaching into my pocket for the letter. It had arrived on my eighteenth birthday, as expected. From the time I was a tiny girl in a ruffled frock learning to hold my teacup without spilling, I’d known about the letter. It was a harbinger that followed me through every one of my memories in Nimsmire.
The morning I woke to eighteen years of age, I’d come down the stairs of the gallery to find it sitting unopened on the breakfast table. My great-aunt sat beside it, spectacles propped up on the tip of her nose as she read the morning reports from her many enterprises. As if it were any other day. As if the very air we breathed hadn’t shifted the moment that wax-sealed envelope was delivered.
But it had.
I found the softened edges of the parchment, pulling it free. It was worn from where I’d unfolded it over and over. And though I had the words memorized, I read them again.
Bryn,
It’s time to come home. I’ve booked you passage to Bastian on the Jasper out of Nimsmire. Murrow will be waiting at the docks.
Henrik Roth
It wasn’t an invitation or a request. My uncle was summoning me home—part of a deal he’d made after my parents died. The penmanship was almost flawless, the script slanted in perfect black ink on pearl-white parchment. But there was an unruly flick of the quill at the ends of the words that was unrefined. Brutish, even.
The thought sent a chill up my spine.
I refolded the letter and slipped it into my cloak, gritting my teeth. He’d called me back to Bastian from Nimsmire, but he hadn’t had the decency to show up and greet me himself. From everything Sariah had told me about her nephew, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise.
Ahead, the great city I couldn’t remember hid beneath the mist, stretching along the rocky shore and disappearing into the hills. It had been fourteen years since I boarded a ship in my great-aunt’s arms and she took me from this place. She’d made me a promise as a child—that she’d never lie to me. Through the years, she’d answered my questions with a darkened gaze about the family we’d left behind here. But her answers often left me wishing I’d never asked. Because though I was the niece of one of the most respected aristocrats in Nimsmire, there was one thing I’d never been able to wash myself clean of: my name.
Bryn Roth.
I’d never had a choice in the matter. It was a truth as simple and as evident as the fact that I had brown eyes or that there were five fingers on each of my hands. While the girls in Nimsmire’s merchant families were being matched and given their own business ventures, I waited for my uncle’s letter. I’d known all my life that one day, I’d go to Bastian. I’d even hungered for it, longing for the day that I could disappear out from under Sariah’s attentive gaze and escape the dismal fate of my peers.
The harbor bell rang out, signaling the opening of the merchant’s house. There was already a long line of traders waiting to pick up their inventories before they set out for the next port city on their routes. More than one of them glanced at me, eyeing the trunk at my feet. It was filled with frocks and shoes and jewelry—things Sariah had packed for me. My armor, she’d called it. All the things she said I’d need if I was going to be of use in Bastian. That’s why I was here, after all.
I stared at the trunk, considering whether I could carry it. Certainly not in these blasted, heavy skirts. If no one was coming for me, I’d have to hire someone to deliver the trunk to Lower Vale. If I did, I figured I had about as much chance of seeing it again as I did of getting the mud out of the hem of my frock. For a moment, I thought maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
The long-lost Roth!
A smooth voice carried on the cold wind, finding me. Come home at last.
I dropped my skirts and turned in a circle, searching the faces on the street until I spotted him. A young man with a fine wool coat leaned against a lamppost ahead, one foot crossed over the other as he watched me. His hair was shorn to the scalp on both sides, but its top was a mound of dark, loose curls.
I scowled as he grinned up one side of his face. Murrow?
He smiled wider. Bryn.
How long have you been standing there?
I snapped, climbing the stairs and abandoning the trunk.
He had a sharp, handsome face, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. They were a pale, silvery gray that caught the light in a flash. He nodded in greeting and stood up off the post, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
Long enough.
He walked toward me slowly, and it was only when he was standing a few feet away that I realized how tall he was. He towered over me, tilting his head as he looked down into my face. It’s good to see you, cousin.
I glared at him. Henrik’s letter said you’d be waiting for me.
And so I am.
Sariah had told me about Murrow. A rascal, she’d called him. He’d been a boy when she left Bastian for Nimsmire, but the entire family tree was etched into my mind, each of the names that lived there branded into my memory. To me, the tales of the Roths were like the fantastical myths of the sea that the traders lived by. Except these tales were true.
Sariah didn’t come with you?
he asked, absently checking his pocket watch.
No.
In fact, Sariah had refused to come. She’d sworn when she left Bastian that she would never step foot in the city again and that was another promise she intended to keep.
Just as well.
He breathed out a sigh. Come on.
He jerked a chin toward the entrance to the harbor and started up the docks without me.
But my things.
I turned back, only to find the trunk that had been sitting at the bottom of the steps was gone. When I searched the street for Murrow’s head bobbing above the others, two men were striding ahead of him, my trunk poised ungracefully on their shoulders.
Wait!
I called out, rushing to keep up.
Murrow slowed just long enough for me to fall into step beside him, pulling his hat low over his eyes. The rain beaded on the dark gray tweed like tiny diamonds and the chain of his gold pocket watch glimmered as it swung from his vest pocket. At first glance, he was as elegantly dressed as any of the young men in Nimsmire, but there was a roughness to his countenance.
Murrow tipped his hat at a man passing us and the man promptly frowned, edging a step away.
Murrow laughed, clearly amused. He won’t like it if we’re late.
Who?
I looked back at the man, confused.
Henrik.
Murrow said his name with a finality that made me pause.
My uncle Henrik was the patriarch of a generations-old trade in fake gemstones. He’d inherited the business from his father, Felix, my great-aunt’s brother. When my parents were killed in a scheme gone wrong, Sariah struck a deal with Henrik. If he let her raise me in Nimsmire, away from the dangers of the family business, he could have me back on my eighteenth birthday. He’d kept his end of the deal. Now my great-aunt had kept hers.
How was the journey?
Murrow picked up his pace.
I hauled up my skirts as we plowed into a puddle, dodging a rickety cart of red plums on the walk. It was fine.
I’d been on the ship only one night and hadn’t slept, instead staring at the stars out the window of the private cabin Henrik had paid for. I’d been thinking of Sariah. How she’d pulled me close and kissed me on the cheek before she let me go. It was a rare show of affection that had made my stomach twist with dread. Her soft skin had been cold against mine and fleetingly I had thought, This could be the last time I see her. Even so, I’d parted from her without so much as a single tear. In addition to teaching me how to read, write, and name every gemstone, Sariah had also taught me to behave. And there was no one so unbecoming in her eyes as someone who refused to accept their fate.
You don’t remember me, do you?
Murrow said suddenly, coming to a stop in the middle of the street.
I stared up into his face, my eyes searching his. I didn’t. There were moments when I thought I remembered the time before Nimsmire. I’d wake from a vivid dream, with distantly familiar images dissolving before my eyes. But they always slipped away just as I reached for them, lost to the past once more.
No,
I answered. Do you remember me?
Murrow’s eyes narrowed, as if he was sifting through his memories. Maybe.
Without another word, he turned onto the next street. A half-bewildered laugh escaped my lips before I followed. He might pass for well-bred in appearance, but Murrow was a different creature than the ones I’d been brought up with. There was a sly humor about him, and I wasn’t sure if I found it a relief or an irritation.
I followed him beyond the iron archway ahead, where a knot of tangled streets lay between the rows of buildings. The filtered light cast a glow over the rooftops, reflecting on the hazy glass windows. In every direction, the walkways were filled with people, and the smell of seawater and baking bread was thick in the cold air.
It was nothing like the small, quaint city of Nimsmire, with its well-groomed thoroughfare and small harbor. And for the slightest, fractured moment, I had the feeling that I could remember this place. As if I could see myself standing there at four years old, pulled along by Sariah’s hand, toward the docks. But again, the threads of the image were frayed, unraveling each time I tried to hold them in my mind.
Ahead, Bastian unfolded like a book and a small smile lifted on my lips. It was a city of stories. But not all of them had happy endings.
TWO
The house wasn’t a house at all. Not the kind I was used to, anyway.
Murrow stood before the narrow slab of brick wedged between two other buildings down an alley paved with cracked cobblestones. The rain had finally stopped, but it still dripped from the corners of the roof overhead, where three rows of windows looked out over the street. It was the ancestral home of the family, first inhabited by my great-grandfather Sawyer Roth. According to Sariah, there would never come a time when the Roths didn’t live beneath its roof, but compared to the estate in Nimsmire I’d grown up in, this was a hovel.
My hands fisted in my skirts as I studied the face of the dark row house. It was the subtle shift of a curtain in one of the windows that drew my eye. But behind the glass, there was only darkness.
Murrow drew a key from his pocket and it clicked as he turned it in the lock. My trunk had been waiting beside the steps when we turned the corner and I’d instantly frowned, disappointed that it hadn’t been carried off to the market. Its contents were like a chain around my ankle, keeping me from venturing too far from the role I’d been born to play.
This end of the alley was empty, tucked away from the busy main street of Lower Vale, and the mud wasn’t pocked with footprints. It was apparent that there weren’t many who passed by this way, and there wouldn’t be. Those who had business with the Roths weren’t the kind of people who’d knock on this door in the daylight.
It opened with a sharp creak and a small, scowling face peered out of the darkness. A smile broke onto the boy’s lips when he laid eyes on Murrow and he opened the door wider. But my brow furrowed as I looked him over. He couldn’t be any older than ten years, but he was dressed in the same tailored jacket and trousers that Murrow wore, his made of a deep blue tweed instead of gray. Even the boy’s white shirt was spotless and unwrinkled.
Is this her?
His wide eyes moved over me from head to toe, like I was a tea cake waiting to be eaten.
Yep,
Murrow answered, mussing the boy’s perfectly combed hair as he pushed inside.
The boy groaned, pushing him off, and I hesitated before I took the steps. With the door hanging open, the house looked like a beast, mouth open and tongue unrolled.
You coming?
Murrow didn’t wait for a response, disappearing into the shadowed hall.
I glanced up and down the alley again. For what, I didn’t know. The Roths weren’t just residents of Lower Vale, they were its keepers. There probably wasn’t a safer place in this part of the city than under this roof. So why did I feel like I was crossing a dangerous threshold?
The boy closed the door behind me as I stepped inside and I unclasped my cloak, letting it slide off my shoulders.
I’m Tru.
He watched me with a bright grin, thumbs hooked into his suspenders. Aside from the playful twinkle in his eyes, he looked like a miniature man.
Tru. I found the name in the mental register I kept of the family. He was the eldest son of my uncle Noel. I’m Bryn. Nice to meet you.
Don’t you have work to do?
Murrow arched an eyebrow at him, unbuttoning his jacket so that it fell open more comfortably.
Tru gave a sigh before he turned on his heel and reluctantly went up the stairs. They curved as they rose and he disappeared, leaving only the sound of his footsteps beating behind the walls.
The house was cold, pricking over my flushed skin as my eyes trailed across the entry. Old wood paneling reached up the walls like the cabin in a ship, but the hallway was papered in a rich garnet. It rippled with the damp and curled at some of the edges along the ceiling, where a few oil lamps were lit on brass mounts. They badly needed polishing.
You’re the same, you know,
Murrow said, suddenly. He held out a hand for my cloak.
I gave it to him, feeling the heat come up into my cheeks. So, you do remember me?
Oh, I remember you.
He gave me another wry grin, hanging the cloak on one of the pegs in the wall. Remember that temper, too.
I frowned. If Sariah were here, she’d give me a knowing look. My temper was the one wrinkle she hadn’t quite ironed out of me.
I didn’t like the idea that Murrow might know me in a way that I didn’t know him. I’d grown up with tales of the Roths, but what stories had they heard about me? Maybe none. My great-aunt hadn’t spoken to the family since we left, except for essential correspondence with Henrik about their overlapping business.
Her residence in Nimsmire and her ability to run her family stake away from Bastian was a privilege granted by her brother, Felix, but now that he was gone, it was sustained by Henrik. From what I could tell, she knew better than to tempt my uncle’s wrath by refusing him anything. It was the reason she hadn’t hesitated to pack my things when his letter arrived. That said more to me about the Roths than the whole of what she’d told me over a lifetime.
Murrow led me down the dark hallway, past the kitchen, where a small woman stood at a butcher block kneading a round of dough. Strands of icy-gold hair fell into her eyes as she glanced up at me, but Murrow didn’t stop, breezing past the opening. I followed him around the corner, and he waited before a set of doors that were painted black and fitted with bronze handles.
It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how quiet the house was. It didn’t have the feeling of being lived in or a sense that there were people between its walls. It was unsettling, as if the rooms had been empty for years, the hearths cold. When Murrow reached for a handle, I stopped him, setting two fingers on the crook of his arm.
What’s he like?
I asked, trying to keep my tone more curious than wary. The truth was, I was half-terrified. And I wasn’t even sure why. I’d been invited here, but the unfamiliar atmosphere of the house made me feel like an intruder.
Murrow let go of the handle and he turned toward me, his face only half lit by a beam of light coming from a high window. Henrik?
Yeah.
For a second, he looked almost suspicious of the question. His head tilted a little to one side, but when his mouth twisted, I realized he was really thinking about his answer. He’s … serious. Resourceful. Intelligent. Nothing matters more to him than loyalty.
There was a calm honesty in the words that almost put me at ease. But when he reached for the door again, he hesitated. But, Bryn?
I looked up into his face, smoothing my hands over my skirts. What?
The muscle in his jaw ticked. "Don’t ever, ever cross him."
A stone sank in my stomach as the door swung open and the heat of a fire came rolling out into the hallway, wrapping me in gooseflesh. The room was a study, with a polished wooden desk set before an illuminated fireplace. Stacks of unused parchment were neatly arranged at one corner of the desk, a quill and pot of ink at the other. At its center was a small leather book.
The light didn’t quite make it to the edges of the room, leaving everything slightly dark despite the roaring fire, and the mantel was littered with pipes and mullein boxes, a trinket left here and there. But my gaze was pulled to the wall behind us as we stepped inside. Portraits in gilded frames hung on the short wall, clustered together like a chaotic constellation. The most prominently placed among them was a painting of my great-grandfather Sawyer, who had built both the house and the business that was run in its workshop. To its left was a portrait of his children, Felix and Sariah. Sariah’s son Jori was beneath it, her only child who was lost at sea as a young man. But the place on the wall next to that portrait was missing, leaving behind a discolored circle on the wall.
The painting that hung over the fireplace was the most recognizable to me. Three young men and one young woman were posed together, the tallest of the boys standing behind the others. I guessed it was Henrik. The others had to be Casimir, Noel, and my mother, Eden.
Henrik, the oldest, was followed in age by Casimir and then the youngest of the three brothers, Noel. Eden had been the only daughter, born third in line.
There was something about those faces that felt familiar, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I recognized them or because I wanted to. Everything I knew about my mother had been spoken from Sariah’s lips and only in reverent whispers. When her son, Jori, died, Sariah had taken to Eden and they’d been close when she died. Sariah had once told me it felt like losing another child.
In the portrait, Eden was dressed in a green frock with her brown hair unbound and falling over her shoulders. I took a step closer when I spotted the tattoo on the inside of her arm. The ouroboros, two entwined snakes eating one another’s tails. It was the same mark every member of the Roth family bore. Even Sariah. Only one of the snakes’ heads was visible in the painting, the rest hidden against her frock.
There was no portrait of my father. Only those in the direct bloodline had a place here. In the same way, I’d been given my mother’s name instead of my father’s. It didn’t matter which side of the parentage you had, anyone born in this family was a Roth.
The door on the other side of the study opened and Murrow straightened beside me, clearing his throat. In an instant, he lost his easy, lazy manner and his chin lifted in the air, his shoulders pulled back. Impossibly, he looked even taller.
Across the room, a man I would know anywhere was framed in the open doorway. Not because I remembered him, but because his presence flooded the study around us, filling its dark corners like black ink. His cinnamon-colored hair was combed and tucked behind his ears, his face cleanly shaven except for a thick, curling mustache. His sharp gaze focused as he surveyed me.
Jacket, Murrow.
His gruff voice was too loud for the small study.
Murrow immediately reached for the buttons of his jacket, rebuttoning them. Sorry.
He cleared his throat.
A rag was clutched in Henrik’s big hands, and I bristled when I saw the knuckles of his right fingers. They were covered in healing cuts, the skin red, as if they’d recently landed blows on someone’s