Sophie’s eyes narrowed. “Pretty sure you wouldn’t be okay with that logic if we tried to use it on you,” she snapped back—but now wasn’t the time for a huge fight. “Next time try asking. And… at least we learned something useful, right?”

“The showdown wasn’t an accident, either,” Fitz corrected. “Lady Gisela said the Neverseen have been watching that path, waiting for us to show up. She just didn’t count on Sophie’s inflicting being so strong.”

“Which is the most important thing that happened tonight,” Sophie jumped in. “We proved that I can handle problems by myself.”

“Sounds like you handle them best when you’re with Mr. Sencen and Mr. Vacker,” Bronte noted.

“They did help,” Sophie agreed. “So they should probably be a part of Team Valiant—but we can argue about that later. Right now, my point is”—she turned to Mr. Forkle—“you guys did your job. Now that my abilities are working right, I can tell, I’m… pretty powerful. And I have a bunch of crazy-powerful friends—and I can enhance them to make them even more awesome if I need to. So now… I think you guys need to realize that sometimes you’re going to have to trust that we’ll be okay without you—and yes, I am including you in this, Sandor. I’m honored that you’re willing to risk your life to protect me—and most of the time I’m happy to have you at my side—”

“Happy?” Dex repeated. “I dunno—I’ve heard an awful lot of bodyguard grumbling.”

“So have I,” Biana agreed.

“As have I,” Sandor emphasized.

“You’re right,” Sophie admitted, meeting Sandor’s eyes. “And I shouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for you—and I’m not saying I don’t want your help anymore. I’m just saying… sometimes I’m going to need you to trust me to do things on my own—and while I know that’s not going to be easy for you, at least tonight proves that I can protect myself.”

Sandor gripped his sword, and Sophie braced for his usual determined declaration of “I go where you go.”

Instead, Mr. Forkle jumped in. “We know, Miss Foster.”

“You do?” Fitz asked, pointing to the rest of the bodyguards in their group, who were all grinding their teeth. “Do they know? ’Cause it doesn’t really look like it.”

“They’re not happy,” Mr. Forkle admitted, “which proves how fortunate we are to have their protection. Not only do they defend their charges faithfully, but they’ve even allowed themselves to care—which is truly remarkable when you think about it. But there’s a reason I didn’t leap to London and drag you all home by your ears—and I assure you, it’s not because I didn’t consider it, or because your families and bodyguards didn’t want me to. In fact, there were times tonight when I suspected Sandor was considering taking my head off.”

“I was,” Sandor told him, his squeaky voice deeper than usual.

Deadly serious.

Mr. Forkle grinned. “Again, such astounding loyalty. And yet, despite that pressure, I chose to leave the three of you alone to fend for yourselves—and it was also not because I enjoy allowing you to risk your lives more than anyone else standing before you. Nor did I expect an uneventful evening. And still, I left you alone because I fear that as these challenges continue to escalate, our enemies are going to target each of you individually. And the better prepared you are for those moments, the more likely you’ll be to survive them.”

Dex cleared his throat. “Well, I feel all warm and fuzzy now.”

“You’re not meant to,” Mr. Forkle informed him. “You’re meant to take this very, very seriously. The stakes have never been higher—and I fear we’re still far from the pinnacle. So if you want us to trust you, you must prove yourselves capable and ready. Which means, Miss Foster, that the next time you decide on a bodyguard-free mission, you’ll discuss that plan before you put it into effect.”

“I can do that,” Sophie agreed, “as long as it doesn’t turn into hours and hours of debating.”

“It won’t,” Mr. Forkle assured her. “If you can articulate valid reasons that the task will have a better chance for success with a smaller group—and outline a brief plan of action—your parents and bodyguards have assured me that they’ll agree. You’ll also run into no problems from anyone in the Black Swan—or the Council.”

“Really?” Sophie asked, studying the twelve intimidating faces she’d been doing her best to ignore up until that point.

“Trust is a powerful thing, is it not?” Councillor Emery asked.

“But it must not be abused,” Tiergan added.

“It won’t be,” Sophie promised everyone.

“I hope not,” Mr. Forkle told them, “because I’ve also convinced your parents and bodyguards not to punish you for running off the way you did tonight.”

“I tried to tell Mom and Dad not to listen, but they’re being boring,” Biana told Fitz, “so hopefully they’ll remember this the next time I cause a bunch of drama.”

“Or you could choose to not cause any drama,” Alden suggested, looking a little more tired than Sophie was used to.

But it was the middle of the night.

“It should be noted,” Lord Cassius said, “that my son’s bodyguard was not here to concede to this agreement—and considering the state I last saw her in, and her general temperament, it might be best for Keefe to not come home tonight. Not until I’ve had a chance to discuss all of this with the ogre princess.”

Sophie couldn’t imagine a single scenario where that conversation would end well. But when she glanced over to where she’d left Keefe, he was nestled into the pillows, sound asleep. So it didn’t seem weird at all to say “he can stay here”—until Stina, Dex, Biana, and Grady all stared at her like she’d offered to cuddle with the gorgodon.

“I meant he can stay there,” she explained—then quickly added, “and I’ll obviously stay in my room tonight. I just—”

“That makes sense,” Fitz jumped in. “If he actually fell asleep, we shouldn’t wake him up.”

And he sounded like he meant it—which made Sophie want to throw her arms around him and tell him he was the best, most understanding boyfriend ever.

But that also would’ve earned her weird stares.

So she kept her mouth shut, grateful when Edaline broke the silence by yawning and suggesting they all call it a night.

No one argued. Even when Sophie told her teammates she’d check in with them the next day—and told Mr. Forkle and Elwin she wanted to know what they had discussed about Tam’s glowing bonds.

“Thank you,” she told Fitz when he pulled her in for a goodbye hug before he leaped away.

“For what?” he asked.

“For trusting me,” she whispered. And when he gave her one of his perfect smiles, she really, really, really wanted to kiss him.

But it had been a very long day.

And the timing still felt wrong—especially after everything that happened in London.