“Wait—you’re not giving him any medicine?” Sophie asked. “Not even a painkiller?”

“I’m not sensing any pain. And like I said, I don’t want to interfere.”

Sophie slumped out of his grasp, curling into a ball again. “So… I brought him here for nothing.”

Elwin snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

“Sorry. It’s just… I left everybody in Loamnore because I thought I was helping Keefe—”

“You did help Keefe.”

“Yeah, but… not enough to make up for leaving my friends to face an army of angry dwarves without me—not that I was much help, honestly. Or any help.” She shook her head, resisting the urge to punch her pillow—that was never as satisfying as she wanted it to be. “I don’t get it. Sometimes I’m so powerful—like in London, when I inflicted. Or when I was running here, and I figured out this new way to teleport—”

“You did?” Elwin interrupted.

She shrugged. “I think that’s what happened. I’ll have to test it later—but, so… How come I can do that—and then other times be basically useless? My plans fail—or are ‘predictable,’ apparently. Or I get overpowered by dwarves. Or I get sidetracked by the wrong things, or—”

“Okay, I’m sensing that you could keep this Sophie-bashing going for quite a while, so I think it’s best to stop you right there. And first: I have to say, I love that in the same conversation, you can tell me you figured out a new way to teleport without really even trying and then beat yourself up for not being powerful enough. Sounds like someone’s expectations for themselves might be a little too high.”

“But… I’m the moonlark!”

“You know what, Sophie? I’m going to tell you something I don’t think people tell you enough, even if it means I’m going to have to be smart and pep-talky again. You are the moonlark. But you’re also Sophie Foster. A real person with real flaws and real limitations—and that’s not a bad thing! Honestly, if you got everything right all the time, you’d probably be kind of annoying.” He grinned when her eyebrows shot up. “You know it’s true. No one likes a show-off. And you know what else you’d be if you did everything perfectly all the time? Boring. And you know that’s true too. Just look at the friends you’ve chosen. Are any of them perfect?”

She wanted to say that Fitz seemed pretty close sometimes.

But she wasn’t sure if they were still friends.

That moment when she was leaving… the things he’d said…

She wasn’t sure that was really enough to fix them.

And she couldn’t decide how she felt about that.

She also didn’t understand why things between them always had to be so fragile.

And she definitely couldn’t believe she was obsessing about this when Fitz was probably still down in Loamnore fighting traitor dwarves.

She really didn’t have the energy for an endless conversation with all of the gruesome play-by-play. But she had to know one thing.

Are you safe?

She transmitted the words over and over, wondering if they’d even reach him. She didn’t want to distract him if he was still in the midst of everything.

But Fitz heard her.

And he must’ve been just as worn out as she was because he transmitted back, Everyone safe. Please don’t worry. We’ll talk soon.

“Well,” Elwin said, standing and stretching, “I should hail your parents and let them know you’re here—and safe. Should I tell them you’ll be staying here tonight?”

“Is that okay?” Sophie asked.

She knew she was definitely avoiding reality, and all the “what happened” conversations, followed by everyone asking her, “What now?”

But she’d also promised Keefe she’d be there for him through this. And she wasn’t done yet.

So once she’d assured her parents that she was fine and safe and sorry for not coming home and would tell them everything later—and of course that she loved them—she opened a tiny channel between her mind and Keefe’s.

I’m here, she told him.

He didn’t respond.

But she didn’t need him to.

She just wanted him to know she was there.

So she told him about her new teleporting.

And her conversation with Elwin.

And how she was so scared for him—but also so proud of him—and that it didn’t matter if some things about him changed.

He’d always be her friend.

Always be Keefe Sencen.

And when she couldn’t stay awake anymore, she let her eyes flutter closed. And in that last flicker of her vision, she saw Keefe’s eyes close too.

* * *

Keefe slept through the next day—and Sophie chose to stay in the Healing Center with him.

And everyone else in the Lost Cities woke up to a forever-changed world.

It definitely wasn’t every day that a dwarven king faced a multispeciesial Tribunal in Eternalia, where all twelve Councillors—as well as the leaders of the four intelligent species that had been affected by his crimes—unanimously voted that he be exiled for high treason and sentenced to the somnatorium.

And since Nubiti had been the one to capture and overthrow King Enki, by dwarven law, she had inherited the dwarven crown.

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.”