Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,155

the abundance of faces staring back at her. Twenty-two, to be exact, between friends, family, bodyguards, and Councillors—which made their speedy, unanimous agreement all the more unprecedented. “Does that mean you’re not going to try to talk me out of this?”

“We can if it’ll work,” Grady offered, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from Edaline.

“What your consistently overprotective father meant to say,” Edaline corrected, “is that you’ve obviously put a lot of thought into this decision—and it’s also something you’ve experienced before, and that means you understand better than any of us exactly how dangerous and painful it’s going to be. And if you’ve decided that it’s worth the risk, you must have good reasons. So… we trust your judgment.”

“Even if we’re not happy about it,” Grady added under his breath—and Sandor, Dex, Biana, and Wylie snorted their agreement.

“Well…,” Sophie said, still struggling to process this unexpected cooperation. “Thanks.”

And amazingly enough, that seemed to settle it.

No arguing.

No drama.

It was almost too easy—which made Sophie worry that there was some sort of trick or loophole she was missing.

“Are you doing this now?” Edaline asked Mr. Forkle, sounding much calmer than Sophie would’ve expected—though Edaline did also seem to be wringing her hands pretty tightly.

“Yes, if Miss Foster is truly ready,” he agreed. And there was a challenge in the way he raised his eyebrows at Sophie—as if he was reminding her that her stubborn demand for information had been the reason they hadn’t reset her abilities already, and that technically nothing on that front had changed.

“I need to fix myself,” she told him, holding his stare. “That’s my number one priority. So yeah—I’m ready. We’ll figure the rest out later.”

She added an eyebrow raise of her own with the final words—her way of challenging him back. Letting him know, We’re not done here—but this is more important.

Then she made her way over to his side, hoping no one noticed the way her knees shook with every step. “Do we need to head to the Healing Center, or…?”

“Your room here should work fine,” Mr. Forkle told her. “It’s probably best for you to be somewhere you’re relaxed and comfortable. I’ll hail Livvy and have her bring over the supplies.”

“That better not mean you’re thinking of doing this without me,” Elwin warned, stepping in front of Mr. Forkle—which would’ve been a lot more intimidating if Elwin’s tunic wasn’t covered in pink fluffy dinosaurs.

“Quite the contrary,” Mr. Forkle assured him, taking out his Imparter and tapping the silver screen. “I’d been planning on having you around as backup—”

“Backup,” Elwin scoffed, raking his fingers through his messy hair.

“I assure you, that’s not an insult,” Mr. Forkle promised. “Livvy’s been researching and perfecting the treatment we’re about to use for the last several months, so naturally she’ll take the lead. But she’ll need you at her side the whole way through. That’s why I’m glad you’re already here and on board with the ability reset. Saves me both an errand and a lengthy discussion. And if…” His voice trailed off as he turned back to the larger group. “Actually, that reminds me. Did I hear correctly that all of you chose to exclude me from whatever meeting I’m interrupting?”

Councillor Emery crossed his arms. “We chose to keep any members of the Black Swan out of the discussion.”

Mr. Forkle’s frown deepened. “I thought we were past these kinds of squabbles.”

“Squabbles?” Bronte repeated. “Is that your way of trying to trivialize our concerns? As if we couldn’t possibly have a valid complaint against your order?”

“No, it’s my way of reminding you that you can come to me, or anyone else in the Collective, and raise your complaints anytime, and we’ll do our best to address them—the way responsible adults do when they want to resolve an issue,” Mr. Forkle corrected. “Holding secret meetings is childish.”

“Funny you should say that,” Bronte noted, “considering we’re gathered here to discuss the problems caused by Granite’s secret meeting with King Enki yesterday.”

Mr. Forkle straightened.

“Ah, so you thought we weren’t aware of your subterfuge?” Councillor Emery asked.

“There was no subterfuge,” Mr. Forkle insisted. “We’ve made it abundantly clear that our current focus is on the dwarves, and that we’d be arranging a meeting with King Enki as soon as possible.”

“And yet you didn’t bother to tell us that you had a meeting actually scheduled,” Bronte argued, “which nearly derailed our visit. King Enki accused us of wasting his time and of misrepresenting our working relationship with the Black Swan, since you clearly