“Yes,” Edaline whispered, leaning in to kiss Sophie’s cheek.

Sophie blinked hard, willing her vision back into focus as Edaline pulled away, so she could study Edaline’s expression.

“Wow, was it that bad?” Sophie asked, hating how swollen and shadowed and red Edaline’s eyes looked.

“I’m sure it was far worse for you than it’s been for us.” Edaline swiped at the sweaty hair on Sophie’s forehead, but it seemed to be plastered there. “How much do you remember?”

“I don’t know,” Sophie admitted. “It’s sort of surreal as it’s happening, so it’s hard for me to connect it to anything physical, if that makes sense. Plus, my head’s still really foggy.”

Edaline nodded. “That’s probably from the sedative.”

“Sedative?” Sophie wanted to jolt out of bed in protest, but it felt like she had a woolly mammoth standing on her chest—and like maybe that mammoth had trampled her before it settled down, because she ached in every bone and muscle and nerve. “Last time I couldn’t take sedativ—”

“Last time was different,” Edaline interrupted. And there was a noticeable crack in her voice as she added, “Or so I hear, since I wasn’t there. But last time they didn’t have to do chest compressions until your heart started beating again.”

“Chest compressions?” Sophie knew she needed to stop repeating things, but… chest compressions didn’t sync with her scattered memories.

They did match the pain in her ribs, though.

“I don’t remember that,” Sophie admitted.

“Well… I guess that’s good.”

Something in Edaline’s tone made Sophie wonder if Edaline wished she could’ve forgotten that particular moment too.

But Sophie had other questions—better questions. Most important: “Did it work?”

Edaline sighed. “They think so. But we won’t know for sure until you inflict—and you need to get your strength back before we can try that. Which might be a slow process. Not as slow as it was with the echoes, I promise. It’s just that Elwin and Livvy don’t think we should give you any elixirs right now. That’s why you’re not on any pain medicine.”

“Then why did they give me a sedative?” Sophie wondered.

“They only gave you a fraction of a dose to keep your pulse steady while the last of the limbium worked its way out of your system,” Edaline explained. “They were afraid your pulse might stop again, otherwise. But if they needed proof that your body can’t handle anything extra right now, the fact that you ended up knocked out for three days seems pretty telling.”

“Three days?” Sophie wanted to throw off her covers and leap out of bed—but the woolly mammoth weighing her down was having none of it. “How could I lose that much time?”

“It’s called almost dying,” Edaline said gently.

“Actually, it’s called ‘Fostering’ now,” Keefe corrected—and it took Sophie a second to find him smirking at her from her desk, where his notebooks and art supplies were scattered all around Iggy’s cage.

Keefe’s hair looked as rumpled as his clothes, and Sophie wondered how many hours he’d been there.

Or how many days.

“I swear I haven’t been, like, creepily watching you sleep or anything,” he promised, probably misunderstanding her mood shift. “Elwin and Livvy had to rework some of the treatments they’re planning for you, and they didn’t want to leave you alone—but they also didn’t want to set up an alchemy lab in here. So everyone started fighting over who would keep an eye on you—because everyone wanted to, not because they didn’t,” he clarified. “And Fitz definitely did, in case you were wondering, or worrying, or… he’s been here a lot, okay? The only reason he’s gone right now is because he’d promised my dad that they’d work through more memories, and you know how my dad is—he gets his way no matter what. And Dex, Biana, Stina, and Wylie have been around a bunch too, but they had some Go Team Awesome! stuff that the Council needed them to do with Grady today. And Flori and Sandor are reorganizing the security now that Nubiti’s gone. And Edaline’s here now, but she also has all the animals to care for. Meanwhile, I basically have nothing to do, thanks to Tammy Boy’s warning—not that I wouldn’t be here even if I did have stuff… I just… we figured you wouldn’t want someone sitting here when they could be off investigating things—and I can draw anywhere so… it seemed like the most logical solution, you know?”

“Smoooooooooooooth, Hunkyhair,” Ro told him. “Really, really smoooooooooth.”

It sounded like Ro was inside of Sophie’s closet, but Sophie wasn’t propped up enough to be able to tell for certain—and if she was right, Sophie could only imagine what kinds of chaos the ogre princess might cause in there.

She sorta hoped it included shredding some of her ridiculously frilly gowns.

“So you’ve been here for three days?” Sophie asked, glancing from Keefe to Edaline, both of whom nodded—though Keefe looked way more fidgety about it.

“We left once,” Ro admitted, “but only because I made Hunkyhair shower and change—and you’re welcome, by the way. I swear the stench radiating off of him was making the flowers in your carpet wither.”

“It was not!” Keefe argued. And Sophie had never seen him turn quite so red. “It also wasn’t my fault,” he mumbled. “Elwin and Livvy made it super hot in here because it was supposed to be good for your healing or whatever. So of course I got all gross and sweaty.”

“We all did,” Edaline added, trying and failing to wipe away the hair shellacked to Sophie’s forehead again—which made Sophie realize she probably didn’t want to know what she looked like in that moment.

Or what she smelled like…

“That doesn’t change the fact that no one could go near Hunkyhair without coughing!” Ro called from the closet.

Keefe gritted his teeth, and Sophie had to laugh—and then whimper as the pain punished her for daring to use her chest muscles.

“I’m fine,” she promised, but Edaline was already on her feet heading for the door.

“I need to let Elwin and Livvy know you’re awake so they can check on you,” Edaline called over her shoulder. “Try not to move too much in the meantime, okay?”

Sophie nodded.

But she still had to try to sit up—and then regretted it when prickles shot up her arms and down her legs.

Keefe snorted as he rushed over to help. “You listen almost as well as I do, you know that, Foster? Here.”

He lifted her gently by the shoulders and eased her into a sitting position, propping her back and arms with extra pillows. “Better?”

She nodded, needing a second to catch her breath. “Definitely wouldn’t mind if Elwin and Livvy let me take some pain medicine.”

“Yeah. Me neither.” He shook his arms as he backed away, and she realized his empathy was making him suffer through everything she was feeling—and she’d just made it worse for him by being stubborn.

She cleared her throat, planning to say, Sorry. But at the last second she changed to “Thank you.”