Fitz’s glare could’ve withered forests. “And I thought the fact that I was about to kiss her made it pretty clear how I feel.”

“Does it, though?” Ro asked, tapping her chin with a painted claw. “I mean, I guess it could. Or it could mean you’re in the mood for some lip-on-lip action—and hey, no one’s judging you. Smooching rocks! But, if you really care about your Lovely Lady Foster, I’m guessing you’d want to make it clear that all the panicking and obsessing she’s done about her match status these last few days doesn’t bother you—assuming it doesn’t, of course.”

“Of course it doesn’t!” He turned back to Sophie, and repeated, “It doesn’t.”

“Really?” she whispered, feeling like she could finally breathe freely.

He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears. “Really.”

Sophie closed her eyes, letting the simple word chase away the doubts and worries she’d been carrying since she’d left the matchmakers’ office.

Her heart felt lighter—faster. Her head, clearer than it had in days and days.

Right up until the moment when Fitz added, “I promise we’ll find your genetic parents and make this whole mess disappear.”

Ro sucked in air through her teeth. “Ooooooooooooo, you were sooooooooo close.”

“Seriously, stay out of it!” Keefe ordered.

But Fitz had already turned back toward Ro. “What’s wrong with offering to help? Keefe clearly is. And I would’ve been helping already, if she’d told me what was happening.” His gaze shifted to Sophie, and his forehead crinkled with concern. “I’m sure finding your genetic parents is going to be super complicated and exhausting—and you already have a ton of other stuff going on with the dwarves, from what Biana told me. So I just wanted you to know that I’m here for anything you need, okay? Anytime. No matter what. We’re in this together.”

He held out his hand, and Sophie tried to come up with something to say.

But her head felt so messy.

All of the questions and confessions had shaken up her brain—left her thoughts scattered and twirly. And her emotions were even more chaotic—all tangled up like a bunch of wriggling snakes.

So she tapped her fingers to reactivate her enhancing-blockers and took the hand he’d offered, mumbling the only thing she could think of: “Thank you.”

Fitz tightened his hold. “You don’t have to thank me. This is what boyfriends do.”

Her breath caught.

There was that word again.

And it felt different this time—and not just because Fitz was the one using it.

It was more like… they were discussing something that had already been decided.

Maybe they were.

Fitz knew everything about her matchmaking status now—and he hadn’t run screaming away.

Yet.

He reached for her other hand. “Speaking of helping—hear me out on this, okay? I know you and Keefe have a plan—and I’m not saying it’s a bad one. But I really think I should be the one to go with you when you confront Bronte.”

Ro sniffed. “Of course you do.”

“Um, reading his thoughts will be way clearer than trying to translate his emotions,” Fitz argued, “and this is the kind of thing we need to be absolutely certain about.”

“It is,” Sophie agreed. “But… I’ve been in Bronte’s head. It’s really not a great place for a Telepath.”

“But you went in alone,” Fitz reminded her. “Now we’d be taking him on together.”

Ro clapped her hands, jumping up and down. “Oh! Oh! This is the part where he’s going to remind you that you’re Cognates!”

“Well, we are!” Fitz snapped back, looking like he’d had about all he could stand of Ro’s interruptions.

Sophie was equally done with them.

She also knew that Fitz was right. Reading Bronte’s thoughts would be more conclusive than reading his emotions.

She just… didn’t want to do it.

She’d learned the hard way, many times, how painful unguarded thoughts could be—even from people who loved her. So to hear what Bronte thought about being her biological father—whether or not he actually was?

No thank you.

She’d much rather let Keefe do the reading, so she wouldn’t have to hear anything more than “Yep, it’s Bronte” or “No, it’s not,” and then figure out how to live with either answer.

She just didn’t know how to explain that to Fitz.

The conversation still felt so… delicate.

“I think Bronte will get suspicious if he knows you’re going to be there,” she said carefully, “since we were going to tell him the meeting was about having Keefe join Team Valiant. The Council already made it pretty clear that they want you and me to work separately for a while—”

“Yeah, what’s that about?” Fitz interrupted.

The bitterness in his voice was hard to miss.

“Don’t feel bad, Fitzy—you’re not the only one who didn’t make the cut,” Keefe told him. “In fact, I’m kinda thinking you, me, and Linh should start our own team—Team We’re-Having-More-Fun-Than-You-Are! Instead of crowns, we can wear tunics that say ‘You Wish You Were This Hot.’ And all of our mascots will be gulons. You with me?”

Fitz didn’t smile.

“Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,” Keefe said, backing up a step. “Well, at least you’ll have more time to focus on finding Alvar. You making any progress with that?”

“None,” Fitz admitted, looking even sulkier. “I swear I’ve searched every single inch of Everglen. There should’ve at least been a trail showing which way he went. He was… pretty messed up.”

Sophie tried not to shudder.

She tried even harder not to wonder what it had to feel like to believe you’d willingly killed your traitorous older brother—and then find out later that he managed to get away. It had to be such a strange mix of anger and guilt and frustration and pain.

And instead of being there for Fitz, she’d ignored him and avoided him.

Because of stupid matchmaking.

If she really was his girlfriend, that probably made her the Worst. Girlfriend. Ever.

“Whoa. The mood is getting low in here,” Keefe said. And when his eyes met Sophie’s, it looked like he wanted to ask her what was wrong. Instead, he turned to Fitz and added, “All the more reason we need to make Team We’re-Having-More-Fun-Than-You-Are! a thing. Come on, Fitzy—I’m sure Linh would be okay with you as our fearless leader. Then you can order everyone around and I can call you Lord Bossypants. It’s a win-win!”

“You know what I don’t get?” Fitz asked, turning back to Sophie—and even though he was ignoring Keefe, she noticed the corners of his mouth were twitching, like he might’ve been trying not to smile. “Everyone knows how rare Cognates are—and you and I are some of the most powerful Cognates ever. So why would the Council think splitting us up is going to be a good thing?”

Sophie shrugged. “They said they think it’ll help me focus on my other abilities, since I don’t use them very often and the Black Swan gave them to me for a reason. But honestly? I think they’re just randomly changing things up, trying to push us all out of our comfort zones to see if it makes a difference.”