Queen Nubiti.
The title had a nice ring to it—though Sophie wasn’t sure she wanted to picture her former bodyguard shaved bald.
And Queen Nubiti’s first task would be to hunt down any dwarves who’d supported King Enki’s rebellion and see that they were properly punished for their treachery. Odds were, any remaining traitors had already fled to the Neverseen. But when Edaline came to check on Sophie after the Tribunal, she said that Nubiti had given an inspiring speech, vowing to prove that Loamnore was a haven for justice and an eager ally of all the other worlds.
And Sophie was sure that Nubiti would do everything in her power to keep that promise.
But it would be a long time before Sophie would ever want to go back to Loamnore.
And yet, the Black Swan and the Council apparently followed the Tribunal with a rousing speech of their own, standing united before the crowd and claiming the events in Loamnore as a victory—which might have made Sophie throw her bottle of Youth across the Healing Center when Grady first told her.
Victory?
Didn’t they care about what had happened to Keefe?
Or the fact that all of the Neverseen had gotten away again—except Glimmer, who didn’t count because she’d chosen to defect?
And how about the fact that—in Sophie’s group, at least—the Councillors had done basically nothing, and the Collective hadn’t even been there?
But then Edaline had gently reminded Sophie that her group had gotten Tam back, and that everyone who’d gone on the mission had also come home alive.
And Sophie had begrudgingly admitted that those things did count for something.
Plus, when Dex, Stina, and Biana stopped by to share their account of what had happened in the main marketplace, it did sound like a pretty clear win for their group—though it helped that Gethen and Vespera had left almost immediately.
Stina and Dex were convinced their success was because of their “mad fighting skills and super-awesome gadgets.”
But Biana had a different, much more interesting theory.
Biana thought Vespera wanted her plan to fail—at least a little.
After all, Lady Gisela had forced Vespera into their alliance, and Vespera had made it clear that they had opposite visions. So maybe Vespera had decided that the perfect moment to take control was when Lady Gisela was distracted by all of her grand schemes for her son’s legacy. It would explain why Vespera and Gethen had shown up, triggered every single alarm, said a bunch of half-truths to get everyone riled up, and then fled, leaving the dwarves to fight for them—which definitely didn’t have the spectacle and flair of Vespera’s usual schemes. And it would give Biana’s group time to finish up their fight and head over as backup against Lady Gisela.
And if Biana was right—Vespera had almost gotten what she wanted.
Tam had knocked Lady Gisela out—and bound her with shadowflux bonds.
But somehow, Lady Gisela had still gotten away.
Tam felt responsible, because he’d only bound her hands, thinking he was making her feel what she’d done to him, and he hadn’t considered that leaving her feet unbound would give her a chance to walk away if she regained consciousness.
But Sophie couldn’t help wondering if Glimmer had something to do with it—and Sophie wasn’t the only one who thought that.
In fact, after talking to all of her friends, it sounded like they wanted to know a lot more about the mysterious Flasher before they’d be willing to trust her—and Glimmer was being awfully secretive.
“She won’t even take off her cloak!” Linh vented to Sophie the next morning, when she’d stopped by the Healing Center to check in. “She left the Neverseen two days ago, and she won’t even lower the hood. I’m ready to blast it off of her with a tidal wave.”
Sophie smiled, watching Linh stomp back and forth. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
But she definitely understood why Linh was being so protective.
She’d just gotten her brother back.
And Glimmer wouldn’t even give them her real name.
Plus… Sophie had realized something else—something she decided not to point out until she’d had time to ask Glimmer a few more questions.
But… Glimmer didn’t have bonds on her wrists forcing her to do anything.
And yet, she hadn’t hesitated at all before blasting the ethertine crown on Keefe’s head.
“I don’t trust her,” Linh mumbled, gathering the water in the air and shaping it into a bird, making it fly around the room. “And Tam thinks we should invite her to live with us.”
Sophie sat up straighter. “You’re not going to let her, right?”
Linh’s waterbird swooped to Linh’s shoulder.
“I told him if he tries it, I’ll have a rain cloud follow her everywhere. Which isn’t that scary of a threat, but… I didn’t know how angry to make Tam. He’s… hard to read right now.” She sent the waterbird flying again.
“He’s been through a lot,” Sophie told her, which Linh already knew—but Sophie couldn’t think of anything else to say. “How’s he doing?” she added quietly. “Honestly?”
Linh sighed. “He’s… different.”
The word made both of them turn toward Keefe, who still hadn’t woken up—or stirred even slightly.
“How’s he doing?” Linh asked softly.
Sophie sighed. “Elwin says all his vital signs are normal and we just have to be patient. And when I checked his dreams, it was something about an army of elf-shaped cookies—don’t ask,” she added when Linh’s eyebrows rose.
“Well… that sounds like a very Keefe dream,” Linh decided.
“It does,” Sophie agreed. “But… I wish he’d wake up.”
He hadn’t woken up the next day either—the third day—even after Sophie decided to transmit the plea over and over.
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Keefe! Keefe! Keefe!
When that didn’t work, she tried bribes.
Then threats.
Ro had even stopped by and screamed right in his face.
“He’s just trying to get out of his punishment,” the ogre princess decided, “because he knows I owe him for the amoebas and breaking our bet.”
She started listing off possibilities—loudly.
Trying to scare Keefe awake.
“For the record, I vote for anything that includes a shaved head,” Fitz said from the doorway.
And Sophie made a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a squeak.
But she couldn’t help it.
This was the first time she’d seen him since Loamnore.
He’d checked in telepathically a few times—but only quick questions and single-sentence answers.
And now, there he was.
Looking gorgeous and perfect and… nervous.
And she looked like someone who’d run straight from Loamnore to the Healing Center and hadn’t left for three days, relying on hasty sponge baths and borrowing Elwin’s colorful pajamas.
Of course the jammies she had on at the moment were covered in tiny aardwolves.
“Is this a bad time?” Fitz asked when Sophie didn’t say anything, and his eyes darted to Ro.
“Let me guess,” Ro grumbled. “You two want to be alone?”
“We won’t be alone,” Sophie reminded her, pointing to Keefe.
Plus, Sandor was with Elwin in the other room.
“YOU HEAR THAT, HUNKYHAIR?” Ro shouted. “YOU’RE GOING TO BE FITZPHIE’S ONLY CHAPERONE. DON’T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD WAKE UP FOR THAT?”
Sadly, still no reaction from Keefe.
But Sophie and Fitz were definitely cringing.
Ro tilted her head to study them, and her lips stretched into a smile. “All right, guess I’ll leave you two alone to talk. Have fun!”
Then she was gone, and all that was missing was a background soundtrack of crickets chirping.
“Sorry I haven’t come by before,” Fitz eventually sai
d, tearing a hand through his hair. “I’ve been trying to find Alvar.”
Sophie slumped back against her pillow. “If you came here to—”
“I didn’t!” Fitz interrupted, holding out his hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like that. I just meant… I thought Alvar might know a bit more about this transformation or whatever—something that might help us know if Keefe should be awake by now or not.”
“It feels like he should be, doesn’t it?” Sophie asked quietly.
Fitz nodded. “But… I’m pretty sure I was unconscious for longer than that after I was exposed to shadowflux.”
“You were,” Sophie agreed. “But… Elwin was also sedating you.”
“Yeah. True.” He tore his hand through his hair again.
And the silence swelled again. Until Sophie said, “I’m guessing you couldn’t find Alvar.”
He shook his head, and she waited for him to point out that if she hadn’t let Alvar go, they wouldn’t have to find him.
But he just said, “Not yet. But I’ll keep looking. I promise. I mean… I know Keefe’s going to be okay. I know he’s going to wake up and have some really cool new ability and drive us all crazy with it. But… the waiting’s hard.”
“It is,” Sophie agreed, tugging on her eyelashes.
She’d started wishing on them every time one slipped free.
Please wake up, Keefe.
Please, please, please.
“It helps to keep busy, though,” Fitz added quietly. “That’s why I’m here. I know you haven’t wanted to leave Keefe alone. But… I’m guessing you’re dying to go home and take a shower, change your clothes—”
“You trying to tell me I smell bad?” Sophie interrupted, smiling when Fitz’s eyes widened. “I’m kidding. I know that’s not what you meant.”
“I know,” Fitz said, staring at his feet. “I just… wasn’t sure if you’d ever tease me again.”
Sophie sucked in a breath.
Fitz paced to the other side of the room, dragging a hand down his face so hard, it made his features get all stretched.
“The thing is, Sophie—I know this isn’t the right time or place to do this—and I know I’m the one who messed everything up. But… I just… I need you to know that I miss you, okay? I miss my girlfriend. So if there’s anything I can do to fix it… let me know. Even if all you want to be is friends, I’d take that. I just… I miss you. And I wanted you to know that. And now I can’t stop rambling, and it’s making this really awkward.”
It was.
But it also made it sweet.
And when their eyes met, Sophie felt the familiar flutter in her chest.
But.
“I miss you, too, Fitz. You have no idea. And I will do anything for us to be friends again. But… just friends. For now, at least. There’s just… too much going on. And it was so much harder than I thought it would be, and I don’t know if that means I’m not ready or… I just know I can’t handle a boyfriend right now. But I’d really love my friend back. Can we do that?”
Fitz closed the distance between them, grabbing her hand and giving it a soft squeeze.
A friendly squeeze.
“Yeah, we can do that.”
Sophie squeezed his hand back. “Thank you.”
They stood like that for a few seconds, and the really amazing thing?
It wasn’t awkward.
Not even a little bit.
Even when Fitz met her eyes and said, “Well then, as your friend—and Keefe’s best friend, by the way—how about you take me up on my offer? Even if you only go for a few hours to shower and change—”
“Back to the shower hints again,” Sophie interrupted. “You really must think I smell bad.”
“No. I think you just need a break,” Fitz corrected. “That’s all.”
A break.
Maybe he was right.
“Okay,” she decided, stretching her legs as she slowly crawled out of her bed. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Fitz plopped down on one of the empty cots. “And I’ll be here. Probably throwing Prattles at his head, but hey… might wake him up.”
Sophie laughed, loving how easily they were already starting to joke with each other again.
“Thank you,” Sophie told him.
Fitz flashed one of his perfect smiles. “Anytime, Sophie. Anytime.”
FIFTY-THREE
EDALINE TOLD ME I’D FIND you out here,” a familiar voice said behind Sophie, and Sophie curled her knees into her chest, too tired to sprint for the cliffs and teleport away.
She was also too tired to realize for several more seconds that she didn’t actually need the cliffs to teleport anymore.
And she was definitely too tired to tell Silveny about how she could teleport like Wynn and Luna now, and find out if there was anything she needed to know about that.
That had been her plan when she’d headed outside and settled under the swaying branches of Calla’s Panakes—she was going to have a nice long chat with the exuberant mama alicorn and take her mind off of everything.
But the thought of hearing Silveny chant, Keefe! Keefe! Keefe! had made Sophie’s stomach fill with bubbling lava.
So she’d just sat there, watching the petals fall and trying to pick out the words to some of the drifting melodies—but there was too much noise in her brain.
Too many unanswered questions.
Too many worries.
Too many truths she wished she could unlearn.
And the noise only got louder when the person behind her said, “We really need to talk, Sophie.”
Clearly, ignoring the person wasn’t going to make her go away.
Refusing to use her name hadn’t been working very well either.
So Sophie took a long, steadying breath and gave her eyelashes a soothing tug before she forced herself to face her biological mother.
Of course Oralie looked as pretty and perfect as ever, from her fluttering pink gown to the shiny pink gloss painted across her lips. She must be so disappointed every time she saw her daughter’s boring tunics and lack of makeup—which actually made Sophie feel a little better about the whole mess.
Until she let herself wonder if Keefe had felt the same way every time he’d defied his parents—and if that same thrill had played a role in why he’d gone to Loamnore after he’d promised to stay away.
The line between defiant and destructive was a razor’s edge.
“What do you want?” Sophie asked, needing to get this conversation over with.
Oralie lowered herself to the grass and fanned out her gown like a Disney Princess. “I can see why you like spending time out here. It really is remarkable.”
“What do you want?” Sophie repeated.
Oralie sighed, her gaze turning distant as she reached out her hand, catching one of the falling blossoms. “I want so many things, Sophie. That’s always been my problem.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m really not up for the whole ‘here’s my sad backstory’ conversation—”
“I know,” Oralie told her, blinking back to the present. “That’s not what this is. I’m here because I need you to help me.”
Sophie shook her head. “That’s a super-bad idea. I’m sure someone on Team Valiant—”
“It’s about Keefe’s legacy,” Oralie interrupted.
Sophie froze—wondering if she’d ever be able to hear that word without wanting to vomit.
She doubted it.
But her jaw also tightened. “If this is some ploy—”
“It’s not,” Oralie assured her. “I… think I know how to find out more about what Lady Gisela’s planning for him—and what she did to him.”
“You think,” Sophie emphasized. “Yeah… forget it—I’m done with theories and guessing.”
Oralie grabbed Sophie’s arm to stop her when she tried to stand. “So am I. Don’t forget—I was in Loamnore too.”
“Yeah, doing nothing,” Sophie muttere
d.
Oralie flinched. “You’re right. I didn’t do enough. None of us on the Council did—and not just that day. All the days before. King Enki’s treason didn’t happen overnight. And if we don’t change the way we do things, it could happen again. We have to start facing our world’s darker truths instead of washing them away. That’s why I’m here.” She stared at the sky for a second before focusing on Sophie. “In Loamnore, Lady Gisela said ‘stellarlune,’ and I can’t get the sound of it out of my brain. It feels familiar but unfamiliar, like it should connect to something—but that something isn’t there anymore.”
Sophie groaned, dropping back to the grass hard enough to send Panakes petals scattering. “Please tell me you don’t think Lady Gisela messed with your memories.”
Oralie shook her head, making her circlet shimmer in the sunlight. “She didn’t. I did. Or… they did—whoever they are.”
“I have no idea what that means,” Sophie told her.
“Don’t you?” Oralie stretched out her arm and snapped her fingers, making a tiny glass sphere the size of a marble appear in the center of her palm.
A cache.
Sophie’s heart changed rhythm. “You’re saying stellarlune is a Forgotten Secret.”
“It’s part of one, at least. This one.” She raised the cache to Sophie’s eye level—and when the light hit the glass, it caught the tiny blue crystal set into the middle.
The only inner crystal.
“You only have one Forgotten Secret?” Sophie had to ask.
Kenric’s cache had glittered with seven.
“Empaths shatter more easily, so the Council has to be very selective with how often they involve me in their more fraught situations. And the only challenge that they’ve ever decided was desperate enough to need my help was this one.” She tilted her hand, letting the cache roll slowly around her palm. “And… it had something to do with stellarlune. So I’m willing to help you access the memory—but only if you promise we’ll face this truth together.”
Sophie plucked the cache from Oralie’s palm, watching the light shift in the tiny inner crystal, which was more of a pale blue than a deep blue. “If this is your idea of mother-daughter bonding…”
“No—this is about trust. If I show you what’s in this cache, I’ll be violating some of the most fundamental vows I’ve made as a Councillor. And you’re the only person I’m willing to take that risk for.”
Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 8) Page 65
