But it might be good to have Dex build a backup, just in case, and key it to his DNA so there was no way the gadget could be used on anyone else.

“Tell Dex,” Keefe repeated, and that time Elwin got it.

“I will,” he promised. “Now take your medicine and go to bed.”

- FIVE - Sophie

I brought you some breakfast,” Edaline said as she made her way over to Sophie’s enormous canopied bed—even though the tray she was carrying of sliced purple fruit and sugar-sprinkled pastries pretty much spoke for itself.

And what the tray said was: I know I’m a Conjurer and could’ve snapped my fingers and made this appear in your room, but I’m using breakfast as an excuse to check on you.

Which was sweet.

Sophie knew that.

She also knew how lucky she was to have such caring, supportive adoptive parents.

But… she really wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“I know,” Edaline told her, proving that mom-intuition could sometimes be just as powerful as telepathy. “And I’ll leave you alone if you want me to. But… Elwin hailed me last night and told me what happened, so I have to at least make sure you’re okay.”

Sophie buried her face between Ella’s floppy blue elephant ears. “I’m fine. It wasn’t a big deal.”

That’s what she’d been telling herself ever since she’d fled the Healing Center.

Keefe was just trying to be extra careful until he figured out how to control his new ability—she should be grateful for that!

He was being cautious instead of reckless.

And it wasn’t like he’d told her to stay away forever.

But… her mind kept replaying that nod he gave Oralie. The set of his jaw and the determination in his eyes almost felt like…

Like he wasn’t even going to miss her.

Like he didn’t care at all.

Which was a really weird—really pointless—thing to be thinking about when she should be trying to figure out what Lady Gisela was planning, and what Elysian was, and how to find Kenric’s cache.

And yet, there she sat, strangle-hugging her stuffed elephant instead of getting up and getting dressed and doing something productive.

She’d also barely slept, despite the soothing images of meadows and mountains and endless starry skies that Silveny kept flooding her mind with—and she’d thought about camping out under the Panakes with Wynn and Luna, but… she didn’t feel like snuggling. Even with adorable baby alicorns.

She just wanted to be alone.

Okay, fine, maybe she wanted to sit there feeling sorry for herself for a few more hours—but in her defense, it had been a rough couple of weeks.

She’d sorta broken up with Fitz. Found out Councillor Oralie was her genetic mother. Watched helplessly as Keefe nearly died from his mom’s horrible experiments. Spent days sitting by his side in the Healing Center, worrying he’d never wake up. And now that he had, he’d basically told her to go away.

“Must’ve been pretty scary,” Edaline said as she set the tray on the bed next to Sophie and carefully sat down beside her. “Feeling numb like that.”

Sophie shrugged. “The thing about being numb is, you can’t feel anything.”

“I guess that’s true. But it sounded like what happened afterward was… intense.” She stopped there, as if she were hoping Sophie would fill in the rest of the details. But Sophie was sure that Elwin had already told her more than enough.

Edaline sighed. “Fine, I won’t force you to talk about it. But you do need to eat something. You went to bed without dinner.” She nudged the tray closer. “At least try one of the sugarknots—I guarantee they’ll be one of your new favorites. And Flori brought the fruit from her personal garden. I don’t actually know what it is, but she insisted you try it.”

Sophie stared at the neatly arranged slices, which were such a dark purple, they looked like they would stain her teeth. “Maybe later.”

Edaline blocked her from pushing the tray away. “Flori also wanted me to tell you that the fruit came from a very special tree—a tree she grew using seeds that Calla sent her right before she chose to sacrifice herself. And the seeds came with a note that said, ‘Grow these for my moonlark.’ ”

Sophie sat up straighter, setting Ella aside. “Really?”

Edaline smiled and held up the plate.

Sophie reached for a slice, and maybe she was imagining it, but she could’ve sworn she heard one of Calla’s soft songs as she lifted the fruit to her lips—a gentle melody about how shedding leaves helps a tree survive the harsh winter.

She closed her eyes, savoring that tiny connection to her lost friend before she took a taste and…

It was like eating sunshine.

Warm and sweet and a tiny bit tingly on her tongue.

She tried to savor each bite, but all too soon the fruit was gone. So she moved on to the sugarknots, which turned out to be flaky—like croissants—and were filled with some sort of rich brown-sugar custard.

“Thank you,” she told Edaline, dusting the extra sugar off her hands. “And thank Flori, too.”

“You’re welcome!” Flori called from the hallway. “I was so excited when that tree finally started to produce! I decided to name the fruits dawnlings, since they have to be harvested at sunrise. And I have a good crop growing now, so I can bring you some whenever you need another boost.”

“I’m sure that’ll be soon,” Sophie called back, feeling her mood already sinking.

Edaline snapped her fingers, making the empty tray disappear so she could scoot close enough to wrap her arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “I’m guessing you still don’t want to talk about it.”

“Not really.” Sophie tilted her head forward, hiding behind her hair before she added, “It’s just been… a lot.”

“I know.” Edaline tucked Sophie’s hair behind her ear. “That’s why I’m here. I wish you’d let me help. I doubt I can do anything for Keefe. But I might be useful for whatever you and Oralie are working on—and don’t even think about telling me you guys aren’t up to something. She was here for way too long yesterday. She also came alone, so I’m guessing this project is a bit less official than your Team Valiant assignments.”

“It is,” Sophie admitted, trying to figure out how much to say. “But I’m not working on it with Oralie anymore.”

Not since Oralie had proven that anything Sophie shared with her would go straight to the Council.

Plus, it wasn’t like they’d had much of a plan to find Kenric’s cache, anyway. All she was supposed to do was talk to Fitz about Alvar—and she’d left the Healing Center in such a rush that she’d forgotten to do that.

She could hail Fitz now, of course, but… if he knew anything, he would’ve already tracked down his brother, wouldn’t he?

She also wasn’t in the mood to get yelled at again.

Really, she’d be way better off looking for Alvar by herself. She just… didn’t know where to start.

“You can trust me, Sophie,” Edaline pressed. “I’m not going to freak out—and I know how to keep a secret. You can tell me anything.”