Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,251

also too tired to realize for several more seconds that she didn’t actually need the cliffs to teleport anymore.

And she was definitely too tired to tell Silveny about how she could teleport like Wynn and Luna now, and find out if there was anything she needed to know about that.

That had been her plan when she’d headed outside and settled under the swaying branches of Calla’s Panakes—she was going to have a nice long chat with the exuberant mama alicorn and take her mind off of everything.

But the thought of hearing Silveny chant, Keefe! Keefe! Keefe! had made Sophie’s stomach fill with bubbling lava.

So she’d just sat there, watching the petals fall and trying to pick out the words to some of the drifting melodies—but there was too much noise in her brain.

Too many unanswered questions.

Too many worries.

Too many truths she wished she could unlearn.

And the noise only got louder when the person behind her said, “We really need to talk, Sophie.”

Clearly, ignoring the person wasn’t going to make her go away.

Refusing to use her name hadn’t been working very well either.

So Sophie took a long, steadying breath and gave her eyelashes a soothing tug before she forced herself to face her biological mother.

Of course Oralie looked as pretty and perfect as ever, from her fluttering pink gown to the shiny pink gloss painted across her lips. She must be so disappointed every time she saw her daughter’s boring tunics and lack of makeup—which actually made Sophie feel a little better about the whole mess.

Until she let herself wonder if Keefe had felt the same way every time he’d defied his parents—and if that same thrill had played a role in why he’d gone to Loamnore after he’d promised to stay away.

The line between defiant and destructive was a razor’s edge.

“What do you want?” Sophie asked, needing to get this conversation over with.

Oralie lowered herself to the grass and fanned out her gown like a Disney Princess. “I can see why you like spending time out here. It really is remarkable.”

“What do you want?” Sophie repeated.

Oralie sighed, her gaze turning distant as she reached out her hand, catching one of the falling blossoms. “I want so many things, Sophie. That’s always been my problem.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m really not up for the whole ‘here’s my sad backstory’ conversation—”

“I know,” Oralie told her, blinking back to the present. “That’s not what this is. I’m here because I need you to help me.”

Sophie shook her head. “That’s a super-bad idea. I’m sure someone on Team Valiant—”

“It’s about Keefe’s legacy,” Oralie interrupted.

Sophie froze—wondering if she’d ever be able to hear that word without wanting to vomit.

She doubted it.

But her jaw also tightened. “If this is some ploy—”

“It’s not,” Oralie assured her. “I… think I know how to find out more about what Lady Gisela’s planning for him—and what she did to him.”

“You think,” Sophie emphasized. “Yeah… forget it—I’m done with theories and guessing.”

Oralie grabbed Sophie’s arm to stop her when she tried to stand. “So am I. Don’t forget—I was in Loamnore too.”

“Yeah, doing nothing,” Sophie muttered.

Oralie flinched. “You’re right. I didn’t do enough. None of us on the Council did—and not just that day. All the days before. King Enki’s treason didn’t happen overnight. And if we don’t change the way we do things, it could happen again. We have to start facing our world’s darker truths instead of washing them away. That’s why I’m here.” She stared at the sky for a second before focusing on Sophie. “In Loamnore, Lady Gisela said ‘stellarlune,’ and I can’t get the sound of it out of my brain. It feels familiar but unfamiliar, like it should connect to something—but that something isn’t there anymore.”

Sophie groaned, dropping back to the grass hard enough to send Panakes petals scattering. “Please tell me you don’t think Lady Gisela messed with your memories.”

Oralie shook her head, making her circlet shimmer in the sunlight. “She didn’t. I did. Or… they did—whoever they are.”

“I have no idea what that means,” Sophie told her.

“Don’t you?” Oralie stretched out her arm and snapped her fingers, making a tiny glass sphere the size of a marble appear in the center of her palm.

A cache.

Sophie’s heart changed rhythm. “You’re saying stellarlune is a Forgotten Secret.”

“It’s part of one, at least. This one.” She raised the cache to Sophie’s eye level—and when the light hit the glass, it caught the tiny blue crystal set into the middle.

The only inner crystal.

“You only have one