The sun hadn’t set yet, so they had time before she’d need to go to bed.

And she didn’t have anything urgent to do—which might not be true the next day, or the day after that. Things changed quickly when it came to the Neverseen, and the Council, and all the projects they were juggling.

If they actually had a free moment, they should probably take advantage of it.

“You need more time to prepare,” Sandor told her, grabbing her shoulders and pressing down like he was afraid she might try levitating any second.

“Do we, though?” she countered. “You heard Dex—all he needs is five to ten minutes. And our clothes aren’t that elf-y.”

She gestured to her outfit: a blue silk tunic with embroidered purple flowers along the waistline, paired with black gloves, black leggings, and knee-high black boots.

It might not be “fashionable” in the human world—or maybe it was. She’d been gone long enough that she had no idea—not that she’d ever really cared about that kind of thing. But either way, she knew no one would think she was wearing anything strange.

And Dex’s gray jerkin kind of made him look like he was wearing a vest—which would probably blend in super well in London. Didn’t their businessmen wear waistcoats?

She’d also definitely seen enough pictures of London to teleport them there—though she wasn’t sure which part of the city to head for. They’d need to go somewhere with a lot of security cameras, so…

Maybe Big Ben?

Or the Tower Bridge?

Or that big Ferris wheel thing—what was it called? The London Eye?

“Stop thinking about it, Sophie,” Sandor ordered. “It’s not happening.”

“What if I say you can come with us?” she countered.

Bringing a seven-foot-tall gray goblin to London definitely wouldn’t be ideal. But if it got Sandor to cooperate…

“I’m sure Grady has an obscurer we can borrow,” she told him. “And you can wear one of his hooded capes, just to be safe. It’s London—it’ll be foggy and raining and you’ll blend right in. But just you,” she added, glancing at Bo. Bringing an ogre to a human city would be a terrible idea. “It’ll be such a quick trip, I’m only going to need one bodyguard.”

“Exactly,” Dex jumped in.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Lovise told him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to her side.

“Fine,” Dex told her, “we’ll get you a cloak too—though it’s seriously ridiculous. The whole thing will be super fast. I bet if we’d left already, instead of standing here arguing about it, we’d be back by now.”

“The length of the trip is not the issue!” Lovise snapped. “It takes seconds to deliver a killing blow or to steal away a hostage. What you need is proper preparation! We cannot embark on such an excursion without scouting the area, planning escape routes, gathering the necessary weapons—”

“Eh, you’re forgetting about the power of spontaneity,” Dex interrupted. “It’s the easiest way to stay ahead of your enemies: Don’t plan anything. Just do whatever you need to do the moment you need to do it and leave them struggling to keep up.”

The glare Lovise shot him made it clear she was not a fan of being spontaneous.

“Dex has a point,” Sophie insisted.

“I have a better one,” Sandor said, crossing his arms and straightening to his full height. “I can end this right now by calling for your father and asking what he thinks of this plan. Is that what you want me to do?”

“No need,” Grady said behind them, and everyone whipped around to find him standing with a bundle of swizzlespice—and Wynn and Luna bounding around him, begging for the treats.

His eyes met Sophie’s, and between the deep creases across his forehead and the hard set of his jaw, Sophie assumed Sandor was about to be very smug.

But after Grady finished unleashing a shoulder-heaving sigh, he mumbled, “I can’t believe I’m saying this—especially since I’ve only caught bits and pieces of why this needs to happen, but… assuming there’s a good reason, they might as well go now. They’re Regents, so the Council won’t punish them for visiting a Forbidden City. And Dex has a point about spontaneity. The Neverseen would definitely expect us to calculate a visit like this for days—or at least hours. Going so suddenly—especially for such a brief amount of time—probably is the safest way to do it. And as far as the humans go”—he tossed the swizzlespice to the begging baby alicorns and reached into one of the many pockets lining his pants, fishing out a small black orb—“I’ve learned to keep an obscurer on hand, since I never know when you guys might need one in a hurry.”

“You’re seriously okay with this?” Sophie asked as he handed the gadget to Dex.

“ ‘Okay’ isn’t the right word,” he told her. “More like… I’m resigning myself to the fact that among a number of less-than-ideal options, this one might not be completely horrible. But I’d recommend going soon, before I change my mind.”

Sophie had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was truly awake and living this rare moment of cooperation.

“I trust you,” Grady told her, holding her gaze before he shifted focus to Dex and added, “and I trust you. And I trust Sandor to keep you both safe. And I trust that all three of you will be back in ten minutes. Not eleven. Not twelve. Definitely not thirteen. Ten—maximum. Which does mean that nine and under is perfectly fine.”

He unfastened his navy blue cloak and held it out to Sandor, who looked far from thrilled as he pinned it across his shoulders. The fabric barely hung past his thighs, but when he stooped, he looked kind of like an old, hunched man—with a quick glance, at least.

“And Lovise is going to need this,” Edaline said behind them, making everyone spin around again. She snapped her fingers to conjure up a bundle of thick black fabric and handed it to Dex’s bodyguard before moving to stand beside Grady. “That’s the longest cloak I own. You’ll still have to hunch, but it’ll only be for ten minutes—right?”

She directed the last question to Sophie, smiling when Sophie nodded. And Sophie was struck by such an overwhelming mix of shock, gratitude, and love for her adoptive parents that it nearly knocked her back a step.

Grady and Edaline had been through so much heartache, and yet they’d still welcomed her into their family, loving her despite all the stress and danger she’d brought into their lives. And somehow they’d gotten to a point where they trusted her enough to support a crazy plan like this?

It made her remember what Biana had said about Grady and Edaline being the family that mattered. And she found herself sprinting over and pulling them into a strangle-hug.

Grady laughed. “Don’t get too grateful there, kiddo. Remember, I’m only giving you ten minutes. Then I’m turning on the trackers that Sandor sews into your clothes and sending Bo after you.”

Bo flashed a rather ominous, pointed-toothed grin, and Sophie found herself needing to check with Dex. “You really can get it done that fast, right?”

He looked a little less certain than he had a few minutes earlier—but he squared his shoulders and told her, “I’ve got this.”