Maybe she’d start camping out there at night. At least until she got an answer to the Bronte conundrum. Which… might take a while, if she kept being such a wimp.

She’d planned to hail Bronte that morning to schedule the meeting with her and Keefe. But the thought of hearing his voice and seeing his face on that tiny screen—and then asking him the dreaded, potentially life-changing question, and having to face whatever new reality came with his answer…

“You okay?” Biana asked, plopping down beside Sophie on the grass and reaching out to brush some of the fallen pinkish, purplish, bluish petals out of Sophie’s hair. “Fitz wouldn’t tell me what you guys talked about last night. But he said it got a little… intense.”

“Uh, I think I speak for all of us when I say, ew,” Dex complained as he sat down next to Biana.

Biana shoved him. “That’s not what he meant. And gross—he’s my brother! He knows not to tell me that kind of stuff.”

“Um, there’s nothing to tell!” Sophie emphasized.

“Okay, but why not?” Stina asked, joining them on the grass. “We’re talking about kissing Fitz Vacker, aren’t we? Fitz! Vacker!” She curled her arms around her knees and stared dreamily at the swaying branches. “How are you not—”

“All right, just so we’re all clear,” Biana interrupted, holding out her hands like stop signs. “I’m good with Sophie dating my brother. It’s a little weird, but… whatever. But that doesn’t mean I want to hear about it.”

“YUP!” Dex agreed.

“And I really don’t want to talk about it,” Sophie added. “So how about we all just pretend it’s not happening?”

“But it is happening, right?” Stina pressed, tossing a handful of flowers at Sophie like confetti. “You’re done with all the pointless denial?”

Sophie honestly wasn’t sure if she knew the right answer to that question.

And all of her friends were watching her now, waiting to hear what she had to say—though Wylie looked like he was mostly wondering how much of this kind of drama he was going to have to deal with as a member of Team Valiant, and when he sat, he positioned himself a couple of extra inches away from them.

Sophie knew she could change the subject—demand they focus on the reasons they’d met up in the first place. But… Dex and Biana still didn’t know about her unmatchable status. And Stina and Wylie should probably be in the loop too, thanks to the potential Bronte ramifications.

“Fine,” she said, tugging out an itchy eyelash and making a mental note that the next time she had huge, life-changing news, she needed to gather everyone together and tell them all at the same time so she didn’t have to keep reliving the same stressful conversation. “There’s something I should probably tell you guys, and I really don’t want it to be another big, drawn-out thing. So I’m going to say it really fast, and then you guys each get to ask one question, and then we’re done talking about it. Deal?”

Stina’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. The Droolmonster’s bossy today.”

“That’s because she’s Lady Fos-Boss,” Dex said, flashing a smug, dimpled grin.

“And we’ll take the deal,” Biana decided for all of them.

Which meant it was time for Sophie to explain the whole messy situation again—though she was pretty proud of herself for condensing it down to one long run-on sentence. She blurted it out as fast as she could, then leaned back against Calla’s tree and focused on arranging some of the Panakes blossoms into a tidy circle.

She didn’t want to see how much pity was now being directed her way.

“All right,” she said, clearing the squeak out of her throat, “one question each. Who wants to go first?”

“I will.” Dex leaned closer, and Sophie braced herself for something especially awkward. But all he asked was, “Are you okay?”

When she looked up, she found his eyes shining with the kind of deep, honest worry that could only be found in the stare of someone who’d “been there.”

That’s when she realized…

Even knowing firsthand how much scandal and scorn came with defying the matchmaking system, Dex still talked about how he might choose to not register, as a protest. So… rough as the drama would be—it also had to be manageable.

And he must also believe he’d find someone who wouldn’t care whether or not his name was on their lists, or how the rest of their world would label their relationship.

She needed to remember all of that, in case the search for her biological parents spiraled into disaster.

“It hasn’t been fun,” she told him—but she actually felt like she meant it when she added, “but I’ll get through it.”

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here,” he promised.

“Thanks.”

He started to lean back, but Sophie reached out and pulled him in for a hug.

Dex lost his balance for a second. Then he wrapped his arms around her, squeezing as tight as he could. And when he let go a few seconds later, his cheeks weren’t red, and he didn’t look shy or nervous or fidgety.

He looked… like her best friend.

“Okay, my turn,” Stina announced, reminding Sophie that she still had three more questions to go. “And I won’t be getting all sappy.”

“Shocking,” Sophie deadpanned, leaning back against the Panakes again.

“You really think Bronte’s your biological father?” Stina asked, crinkling her nose like she couldn’t picture it—which might’ve been the best compliment she’d ever given Sophie.

Sophie added a few more blossoms to her flower circle. “I think there’s a strong enough possibility that I need to look into it—and not just because of the matchmaking stuff.” She glanced at Wylie, wondering how much more she should say. It seemed wrong to raise the horrible possibility when she could be on the complete wrong track.

But… if it was true, he could probably use some time to mentally prepare.

“The thing is,” she said carefully, still holding Wylie’s stare, “if Bronte was part of Project Moonlark, it makes what happened to your dad a whole lot creepier.”

Wylie straightened—and his voice was about fifty degrees colder when he said, “I want to know the second you find out anything.”

“You’ll be the first person I hail,” Sophie promised.

“Before you hail Mr. Forkle,” Wylie clarified. “If this is true, I want to be there when you confront him—make him look me in the eyes while he explains what happened.”

Sophie nodded. And when she saw how tightly his skin was stretched across his fisted knuckles, she added, “Remember: I’ve had wrong theories before.”

Wylie frowned. “Like who?”

Sophie hesitated, so he added, “That’s my one question.”

“Welllllllll,” Sophie said, shifting her weight as she tried to figure out how honest she should be. “I’m not sure if it’s weird to tell you this, but my first theory was actually your dad—because everyone kept mentioning his name and getting strange looks and not telling me why. But that was before I knew how Project Moonlark was connected to what happened to him. And it was before I met you…”