She wanted her mom.
And Edaline didn’t hesitate to lie down beside her, pulling an extra blanket over them both.
Wynn and Luna snuggled in around their feet, and Calla’s songs filled the air with melodies about seeds taking root and growing stronger every day, and Silveny flooded Sophie’s mind with images of the two of them soaring higher and higher and higher—leaving everything behind.
And even though tears still stung Sophie’s eyes and she was pretty sure the knots inside her would never fully unravel, when Edaline whispered, “Everything’s going to be okay,” Sophie believed her.
And Sophie whispered, “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, Sophie—more than anything.”
* * *
“We need to talk,” Mr. Forkle’s wheezy voice said behind Sophie, and she was proud of herself for not jumping.
She’d had a feeling he’d be stopping by. That was why she’d stayed outside in the pastures, choosing to sit near the gorgodon, where she knew they wouldn’t have any eavesdroppers. Plus, it gave her a chance to see that Keefe had been right: Wynn and Luna were using their strange teleporting style to sneak into the vicious beast’s cage—which made it a little less terrifying to watch the three creatures “play.”
But only a little.
“Do you think Wynn and Luna are drawn to the gorgodon because it’s the last of its kind and they sorta know what that feels like?” she asked without turning to look at Mr. Forkle.
“I suppose that’s possible,” he said, and she could hear his footsteps bringing him closer and closer. “But you might also be giving two stubborn baby alicorns more credit than they deserve. Children don’t like when things are forbidden. It tends to make them want it all the more.”
The comment felt like a dig, and Sophie refused to acknowledge it.
Instead, she decided to take control of the conversation.
“I know what you’re here to talk about,” she told him. “And I’m really not in the mood. So here’s what you need to know: I’m done searching for my biological parents. And I’m not going to tell anyone what I know, even though it’s already messing up my life. So you can skip the lecture or the pep talk or whatever you were planning. You’re already getting what you want. I’ll be the good little moonlark.”
Mr. Forkle sighed and sat down on the grass beside her—which looked like a pretty uncomfortable process given how swollen the ruckleberries had made him. “Fair enough,” he said quietly. “And for what it’s worth… thank you.”
Sophie sat up straighter.
She wasn’t sure if that was the first time he’d used those words with her—but either way, it felt… different.
A real acknowledgment that she was making her own decision—even if it still didn’t feel like she had a lot of choice in the matter.
“I did actually come to give you an update as well,” Mr. Forkle added after a few seconds. “Nubiti sent a report from Loamnore—and it’s good news. She’s figured out how to remove those pieces of magsidian. So while it would be unwise to let our guard down, it’s looking quite promising that we may have managed to thwart the Neverseen’s plan before they could fully put it into effect.”
Sophie couldn’t return his smile. “It… can’t be that simple.”
“It’s not. Apparently removing the stones is quite a dangerous process, so it’s going to take at least a week to get through all of them. And given yesterday’s revelations, there’s a strong chance that what was being planned in Loamnore has nothing to do with Lady Gisela’s plans for Mr. Sencen’s legacy. So there is still plenty of work to be done. But it’s positive progress all the same. I’ve already updated the Council—I trust you’ll see to updating your teammates?”
Sophie nodded, wondering why the idea of that felt so nauseating.
Until she realized…
Checking in with her team meant checking in with Biana. And there was a very good chance that Biana knew about the breakup—and might’ve already told the rest of the team as well.
Suddenly it seemed absolutely essential for Sophie to help Grady and Edaline feed all of the animals. After all, she needed to show them that she was doing fine—keeping busy—not sitting around moping over boy problems.
Cleaning her room felt equally important.
And she definitely needed to sort through all of her gloves, since she’d decided she would still wear a pair every day, until switching her enhancing on and off felt like second nature.
She also decided to polish up all of the Articles of her Regency—though that was a mistake and made her think of the day she’d gotten them, and how Councillor Not-Her-Mom had brushed her hair and gently applied makeup and pretended to be so outraged when Bronte discussed the realities of being unmatchable. She’d even sat there so calmly while Bronte told Sophie not to try to find her genetic parents—and she’d surely been able to feel everything Sophie was feeling.
But she’d said nothing.
Done nothing.
Just lied and lied and lied.
And Sophie couldn’t help wondering what would happen if she requested a new point of contact on the Council.
Surely she and Councillor Not-Her-Mom weren’t going to be able to work together.
She spent the next several hours trying to come up with an unsuspicious excuse for reassignment when she realized…
It was sunset.
And she’d wasted a whole day because of personal drama.
And there were too many important things going on for her to let that happen.
So she grabbed her Imparter, giving herself three seconds to panic about the awkward conversation ahead. Then she hailed her teammates to share Nubiti’s discovery.
And the strange thing was…
Nothing felt different.
Biana was friendly.
The conversation stayed focused on the dwarves, and removing the magsidian stones, and whether or not they should try to get permission from King Enki to search Loamnore one more time to make sure they hadn’t missed something. They also tried to come up with theories about what Lady Gisela might be planning for Keefe—but didn’t really get anywhere. And Dex admitted he wasn’t making much progress on creating a gadget to keep Keefe protected.
So there was still lots to keep them busy.
And Sophie tried to stay focused.
But a tiny part of her brain kept thinking: Fitz hasn’t told anybody.
And she tried to tell herself that he surely would soon—tried to order her brain not to read anything into it.
But…
She still felt the tiniest glint of hope.
It wasn’t even a full spark—and she did her best to smother it.
But it was still there.
A glimmer of possibility.
A faint whisper that maybe… maybe once pride had faded and tempers had cooled…
Nope, she couldn’t let herself go there.
Before she went to bed, she even forced herself to pack away all of the tiny gifts he’d given her—and she also made herself sleep in her room.
She needed to find her new normal—cling to it with all the strength she had.
But Fitz’s face still crept into her dreams.
And when she made her way down to the pastures the next morning and noticed teal ribbons tied around Wynn’s and Luna’s necks, Sophie’s heart did about fifty backflips—and then did fifty more when she saw the tiny folded notes dangling from each of the bows.
Her hands shook as she untied them, and she needed a deep breath before she read them—and then the world was spinning and her vision was dimming and she had to drop to her knees to keep herself from passing out.
Because the notes weren’t in Fitz’s familiar writing.
One had particularly loopy, pretty letters—so at odds with the harsh, threatening words:
You think you’re safe.
And you think you’ve thwarted our plans.
But you’re wrong.
&
nbsp; We can destroy everything you care about.
We can finish your friend.
And that will only be the beginning.
Or you can meet us in Loamnore tomorrow,
10 p.m. in the main marketplace.
Don’t be late.
The second note was somehow even worse.
It was stamped with the same symbol that Sophie had seen on the letter that Keefe had delivered in London: two crescents forming a loose circle around a glowing star.
And across that, in Lady Gisela’s familiar handwriting, it said:
Bring Keefe.
~XOXO
FORTY-SIX
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?”
That was the question that everyone kept asking after Sophie handed the Neverseen’s notes over to Sandor and unleashed a hurricane of panic and confusion.
How did this happen?
How did the Neverseen get past Sandor’s abundant security?
But what Sophie wanted to know was: What are we going to do about it?
No one had an answer.
And they needed to find one—fast.
So she hailed all of her teammates and told them to come to Havenfield. Same with Linh, Marella, and Maruca. And Keefe, since it sadly didn’t seem like they’d be able to keep him completely out of this.
The only person she didn’t hail was Fitz—but she didn’t need to because she told Biana to take care of that.
That was how she was going to survive this breakup.
Delegating!
Avoiding eye contact!
Hiding!
All of which were particularly easy to do later that day, given the size of the crowd that had crammed into Havenfield’s living room once everyone made their way there to argue about their next move: Grady and Edaline, Mr. Forkle and Tiergan, Lord Cassius, numerous bodyguards, all of Sophie’s friends—and, of course, all twelve Councillors.
And thankfully, The Councillor Who Didn’t Deserve Sophie’s Time seemed to be using her own avoidance strategies: keeping her head down, hiding her face behind her ringlets, and standing in the center of all the other Councillors.
Sophie pretended not to notice her.
She also pretended not to notice that Fitz had chosen to stand on the opposite side of the room from where she was hiding in the shadows of the staircase.
“Everything okay?” Keefe asked, and Sophie jumped, wondering how long he’d been there.
Surely long enough to read her mood, so she told him, “Um, the Neverseen just gave us an ultimatum—and they tied it around Wynn’s and Luna’s necks.”
“Yeah, and their notes didn’t even rhyme!” he added, clicking his tongue. “I mean, seriously, how hard is it to shape a threat into a clever couplet or two?”
He elbowed her when she didn’t laugh, and sighed when she glared at him.
“In all seriousness,” he told her, “you don’t have to worry. I’m not going to let my mom hurt anyone.”
“See, and I’m more worried about her hurting you,” Sophie countered.
“Nah. She needs me. Remember: I have a legacy. In fact, I should probably give myself a title at this point—but the Legacyanator doesn’t have quite the right ring, does it? What about Lord Legacy? I could see that embroidered on a tunic.”
Sophie shook her head. “You’re not going to make me laugh about this.”
“Challenge accepted!”
Keefe said something else, but it was drowned out by the arguing, which seemed to have reached a whole new decibel. Sophie hadn’t been paying attention, since it was basically the same conversation they’d had before the Celestial Festival—in that exact same room, no less—with everyone fighting over who should and shouldn’t go and trying to anticipate what the Neverseen were planning.
They’d had an equally long debate before their venture into Nightfall—and before the ogre Peace Summit in Lumenaria. And before they’d headed into Ravagog. And before they’d tried to ambush the Neverseen on Mount Everest.
Even the night Sophie had gone to have her abilities healed had taken all kinds of discussion.
That’s what they did.
Overanalyze.
Overprepare.
And it never worked.
We can’t keep doing this.
The words started out like static in the back of Sophie’s mind, but the more they repeated, the louder and louder they grew until she heard them ringing through the room and realized she’d actually said them.
All heads turned her way, and Sophie tilted her chin up, trying to look confident as she repeated, “We can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?” Mr. Forkle asked.
“This.” She waved her arms at everyone. “All of this exhausting scheming. It never works. The Neverseen always have some twist planned, and then everything falls apart.”
“That’s how these things go,” Mr. Forkle reminded her gently. “For every move, there’s a countermove.”
“But this isn’t a game!” Sophie snapped. “It’s a battle in a longer war.”
“The same principle applies,” Mr. Forkle noted.
“Yeah… well… I’m tired of guessing and reacting,” Sophie informed him. “There has to be a better way.”
“Like what?” Councillor Emery wondered.
Which was a very good question—and Sophie was about to admit that she had no idea, when she realized… she might.
“I think it’s time to take a stand,” she told everyone. “Time to show the Neverseen they’re not in charge, like they clearly think they are—and go to Loamnore on our terms.”
“And what would those terms be?” Mr. Forkle wanted to know.
“Well.” Sophie pictured the Neverseen’s notes in her head. “First… we position ourselves in the Grand Hall instead of the main marketplace, and make the Neverseen come to us. That way, they don’t get to rely on whatever trap they’ve laid—since we all know there has to be one—and instead we make them come to the safest, hardest-to-reach place in the entire city.”
“Um… but doesn’t that mean we’d all have to go through the King’s Path again?” Biana asked, turning a little pale.
“I’m sure once we tell Nubiti what’s going on, she can get us enough magsidian to make it so we pass through unaffected,” Sophie told her. “Especially since being in the Grand Hall puts us in the best position to protect King Enki.”
“Really?” Marella asked. “Kinda sounds like we’d be leading the Neverseen straight to him.”
“Assuming they even come after us,” Stina added. “Which they might not.”
“They will,” Sophie assured everyone. “I don’t know why, but they clearly need us in Loamnore—otherwise they wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to get our attention. And I’m sure they’ve been planning this all along, so we have to assume they have a way past all of the city’s security—even the King’s Path—and that they picked the main marketplace for a reason. So we get there early and set up in the Grand Hall instead and make it clear that that’s where we are. If King Enki wants to be somewhere safer, that’s his call. But we stand our ground and say, ‘You want us? Come and get us.’ ”
“And then what?” Wylie asked.
“Then… I don’t know,” Sophie admitted. “Probably a fight of some sort.”
“Oh, is that all?” Grady grumbled, falling silent when Edaline put a hand on his shoulder.
“I know that sounds scary. But I can control my inflicting now,” Sophie reminded him. “And they might not have Ruy—and Maruca can keep all of us shielded and—”
Wylie cut her off with a grunting sound.
Maruca rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever you’re about to say, stop it,” she said, tossing her dreads. “This is happening. I’m helping. And you need me, bad.”
“We do,” Sophie agreed.
“You also need your bodyguards,” Sandor informed her.
“Probably,” Sophie said, “but goblins aren’t allowed in Loamnore.”
; “Oh, I think I can convince King Enki to make a few exceptions,” Councillor Alina chimed in.
“Better include an ogre, too, then,” Ro added.
“I’ll do my best,” Alina said with the kind of mysterious smile that made Sophie wonder if she was planning to use her beguiling on the dwarven king.
“Does that mean you’re in favor of this plan?” Councillor Bronte asked Alina.
Alina shrugged, smoothing her hair. “I have to admit, it sounds more promising than everything else we’ve been discussing. Sophie’s right—we’re never going to be able to anticipate everything the Neverseen are planning. So maybe it’s better to just say, ‘Forget this—here’s what we’re doing.’ I’m sure King Enki would certainly appreciate the authority it demonstrates, rather than letting him see us capitulating to the Neverseen’s demands.”
Councillor Emery exchanged a look with the other Councillors. “I suppose.”
“I still don’t see why the Neverseen would come to us if they’ve set up a big thing in the marketplace,” Stina pressed.
“Well… we’d have Keefe,” Biana reminded her.
Keefe clapped his hands. “Oh goody, I get to be the bait! Should we make it extra dramatic and have you guys, like, tie me up or something?”
Sophie shook her head. “Nope. Because you’re not going to be there.”
“Uh… you saw the note,” Keefe pointed out slowly. “I’m the only one invited by name.”
“Which seems pretty desperate, doesn’t it?” Sophie countered. “And if we’re taking a stand, we’re taking a stand.” She turned toward the group, meeting most of their eyes before she added, “Tam warned us what would happen if we let Keefe get near the Neverseen. And I saw the way Lady Gisela reacted when she realized he’d done that. We have to take that warning seriously. So Keefe’s not going anywhere near the dwarven city. And if the Neverseen don’t like it—tough. That’s the point of this. Showing them that they’re not calling the shots anymore, and proving we’re stronger and smarter than they are.”
“You seriously think it’s a good idea to show up in the wrong place at the wrong time—without the person the Neverseen told us to bring—and hope they don’t immediately make good on all the threats they made in their note?” Fitz asked, and the heavy skepticism in his tone hurt more than anything he’d said to Sophie the night before.
Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 8) Page 58