“Great, so basically it could be anybody,” Sophie grumbled.

“Not true,” Biana argued. “You have a lot of abilities. And it rules out all of those.”

“Yeah, but there are still way more abilities I don’t have than abilities I do,” Sophie countered, reaching up to rub her temples. “But it’s fine,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as them. “It doesn’t matter right now. We’re pausing the biological parent search.”

“We are?” Stina asked.

Sophie nodded, feeling ten pounds lighter for having decided it. “It’s just not the right time. There are too many huge things going on, and I can’t keep letting it be a distraction. We can always pick the search back up once things calm down.”

“I guess that’s true,” Biana murmured. “But… what about the whole unmatchable thing?”

Sophie sighed. “I’m just… going to have to deal with it. Fortunately, most people don’t know about that yet, and it won’t really be noticeable until our grade level starts picking up their match lists, which is still a little ways off. Hopefully I’ll have it figured out before then. But… even if not, that doesn’t change the fact that right now, we have to focus on the dwarves, and Keefe’s missing memory, and whatever else the Neverseen are planning. And I need to get out of this stupid bed.”

She tried to kick off her covers and regretted it when her legs proved to be extra achy.

“Want us to get Elwin or Livvy or Edaline?” Biana offered.

“No, it’s fine,” Sophie said, hating the next words she had to say. “I think… I just need to rest for a bit.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Stina agreed. “Seriously, Sophie. There’s nothing wrong with taking the time you need to get better.”

“Stina’s right,” Biana added, looking less uncomfortable with those words than she used to. “That’s why you have us. Is there anything else you need us to be working on?”

“I can’t think of anything,” Sophie admitted, even if it felt like there should be dozens and dozens of things.

Did they really have so few projects and leads?

She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter—that they were definitely on the right track with the magsidian stones they’d discovered, and that was going to give them a real advantage. But she still wished she could come up with something better to say than, “Just make sure you talk to the Council about getting Lady Zillah to Loamnore. And maybe check on Linh at Choralmere?”

“On it,” both girls promised, and Sophie had to marvel for a second at how well they were all working together—even if bossing them around still felt really strange.

Stina leaped away after that to hail one of her assigned Councillors. But Biana lingered, and Sophie suspected Biana had a bigger reason than just helping her adjust her pillow and blankets.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to keep working on the Biological Parent thing?” Biana eventually asked, tipping her hand. “I swear I can do it without it being a distraction! I mean, I’ve managed to test Bronte and Lady Cadence and keep up with all my other responsibilities.”

She had—which proved Biana was definitely better at multitasking than Sophie was.

But that didn’t change Sophie’s mind.

“I’m sure,” she told Biana. “Things are getting way too real right now. It’s starting to feel like it always feels right before something really big and horrible happens. And if I’m right, I don’t want to have to wonder if we would’ve been better prepared if I hadn’t wasted time on selfish, unimportant stuff.”

“This isn’t unimportant,” Biana argued.

“No. But it’s not urgent, either,” Sophie had to remind her. “It can wait.”

“I guess,” Biana said, and the way she was chewing her lip made Sophie pretty sure that Biana was asking herself the same question she was.

Would Fitz wait?

THIRTY

HEY—YOU’RE UP!” FITZ CALLED across the pastures as he made his way over, and Sophie mentally thanked the universe that she’d decided to brush her hair and change out of her pajamas before she’d headed outside for a little fresh air and some baby alicorn snuggles.

It wasn’t her first time out of bed since having her abilities reset—she’d managed that the day before. But she’d only been downstairs for a minute when her head got a little too spinny and her legs got a little too wobbly and Sandor had insisted on carrying her back up to her room.

So making it all the way outside to a nice shady spot under Calla’s Panakes tree felt like a huge victory.

If only it hadn’t taken her six days to get to that point.

And if only she hadn’t been sitting on the grass with her forehead pressed against her knees, trying to fight off a dizzy spell when Fitz found her.

The worry crease between his eyebrows looked especially deep.

“I’m up!” she emphasized, offering him her best seriously-I’m-fine smile and wishing the flutter in her heart felt a little more like excitement and a little less like nerves.

After all, her boyfriend was here to visit her.

And he was very, very cute.

Fitz’s fitted gray tunic made his shoulders look especially broad, and his dark hair was just the right mix of styled and tousled. And when his gorgeous teal eyes met hers and he flashed his movie-star-worthy grin, her brain definitely turned to melty mush.

Which was probably why she couldn’t think of something better to say than, “I… didn’t realize you were coming over.”

“I know, I wanted it to be a surprise.” He sat across from her in the grass, studying her for several endless seconds before his smile faded. “You still look really out of it.”

Sophie let her hair fall forward, giving her a curtain of blond to hide behind. “Yeah, that’s what Vertina told me too.”

“Vertina?”

“She’s this kinda annoying ‘girl’ programmed into Jolie’s old spectral mirror. And she usually tries to get me to do more with my hair, or put on makeup, or wear fancier clothes or whatever. But today she was like, ‘Wow, you look awful—why aren’t you in bed?’ ”

“Well, I’m kinda with her on the ‘why aren’t you in bed’ thing,” Fitz admitted. “But.” He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I also think you look really beautiful.”

And with that, he scored all the boyfriend points ever.

But Sophie still didn’t know what to do with the compliment—except maybe get choked up. And she really didn’t want to do that again.

So she leaned back against the tree trunk, giving herself a little breathing room as she responded to the first part of what he’d said. “I couldn’t lie around anymore. I had to move.”

“Yeah, I remember having that same feeling when we were on bed rest in the Healing Center.” He scooted closer to her side, and Sophie couldn’t help noticing that his recovering leg still moved more stiffly than the other. “I just don’t want you overdoing it and setting yourself back, either,” he added quietly.