Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,116

blue, clearly upset over something she’s been worrying about all day and yet refuses to talk about, stick with mallowmelt for the cheer-up process.”

Sophie’s gaze dropped to the pack of Custard Creams they still hadn’t opened. “I didn’t need cheering up. And I’m not worrying about anything.”

“Uh, do I really need to remind you that I’m an Empath?” he asked. “Or can I just pelt you with the rest of these Digestives? It’d be way better than having to eat them.”

He wasn’t wrong about anything he’d just said—but Sophie still stuck with the safer topic.

“I’m not feeling a whole lot of gratitude from you here for all the effort I went through to bring you back your biscuit shopping list—plus bonus treats,” she pointed out.

“You mean having Dizznee pull some money from your birth fund and then hitting up a shop for a couple of minutes?” Keefe asked. “Yeah, Dex told me all about how not exhausting that was last night, when he checked in to tell me how things went for you two in London, while someone was off doing something with Mr. Forkle that was clearly both frustrating and intense—as most things with Forkle tend to be.”

“Hey, I still thought of you!” Sophie argued, ignoring the obvious nudge he was giving the conversation. “That counts for something.”

“It does indeed, Foster,” Keefe said quietly, fidgeting with another Digestive. “It does indeed.”

A beat of silence followed before he cleared his throat and added, “But do you really think you’re going to be able to leave here without telling me what happened with the Forklenator? If you do, you’re going to be sorely, sorely disappointed—and covered in biscuit crumbs.”

“Don’t worry, she came here to talk to you about it,” Ro jumped in. “The cookies were just her excuse. You gonna deny it?” she asked when Sophie turned to scowl at her.

Sophie definitely wanted to.

But… Ro was right.

Sophie had spent the day avoiding Grady and Edaline’s questions about where Mr. Forkle had taken her—and ignoring whoever kept hailing her on her Imparter. And after a few hours of that, her bedroom had started to feel smaller and smaller and smaller. She’d been ready to beg Silveny to fly her somewhere far away when she’d noticed the bag of biscuits on her floor, and the next thing she knew, she was teleporting to the Shores of Solace again and claiming she’d wanted to bring Keefe his London cookies before they got stale.

“The thing is,” she said, scooting back as far as she could on the swing, since space felt important in that moment, “I made a decision yesterday—and it probably wasn’t the right decision, or the smart decision, but I made it anyway because… I just had to. And I’m sure I can take it back if I want, but… I don’t want to. And I figured you might understand that better than a lot of other people would.”

“Soooooooo, what you’re saying is, you think I’m the king of bad decisions,” Keefe said, laughing when Sophie fumbled for an apology. “Relax—I know what you meant. I’m just giving you a hard time. And you have a point. I’m not necessarily great at doing what I’m supposed to do and giving people what they want. And I’m not usually sorry about it either.”

“Don’t forget about all of the self-sabotage!” Ro added. “I can happily provide numerous examples.” She ducked when Keefe flung the package of Digestives at her. “That all you got, Cookie Boy?”

Keefe rolled his eyes and turned back to Sophie. “Anyway… how can I help?”

Sophie dropped her gaze back to the packs of biscuits, tracing her gloved fingers along the logo for the Hobnobs. “I guess I just wanted to talk to someone who might not judge me for what I decided, since I’m pretty sure most people are going to say I made the wrong call—and they’re probably right. I know what the smart thing to do is. I’m just so sick of always being the good little moonlark, you know?”

“Sorta?” Keefe said, waiting for her to look at him. “I mean, you came to the right place—this is definitely a judgment-free zone. But it miiiiiiiiiiight help if you tell me what the decision actually was. Just, you know, for clarity.”

Sophie gave in to the urge to tug on her itchy eyelashes as she explained what had happened in her missing memory, and how Mr. Forkle wanted to reset her inflicting and enhancing, and why she’d refused and leaped away.

“So… you