Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,64

remember that there’s been a turning of the tide, so to speak. Gossip can now be a good thing for you. You’re no longer a girl steeped in suspicion.”

“Why is that?” Sophie asked, turning to look at him, even though she could tell Oralie wanted her to hold still. “I mean… what happened at Everglen was a disaster—and I barely did anything except run around trying not to get eaten. I don’t really get how seeing that could’ve inspired people to trust me.”

Oralie set down the brush and dabbed a cool pink gel on the apples of Sophie’s cheeks. “You know what I think it was? Out of all the people there, you were the one who could flee from the danger the easiest. Everyone else needed to get their hands on a leaping crystal. But you could’ve teleported away—and your trollish bodyguard even tried to convince you to do exactly that. And still, you stayed. That kind of loyalty means something to people.”

“As it should,” Bronte agreed. “Why do you think you’re here with us now? Though I wish we weren’t here.” He gestured around the room as Oralie smeared Sophie’s lips with a balm that tasted like lushberries. “So while Oralie finishes whatever nonsense she’s doing, I’ll walk you through the Articles of your Regency. The more we multitask, the sooner we can escape this pink monstrosity.”

Oralie flung one of the powder puffs at his head, showering his face with a cloud of glitter.

But Sophie was all for Bronte’s plan—even if the term “Articles” had her bracing for a bunch of thick, boring books she’d be expected to read from cover to cover in order to learn all the various laws and procedures of the nobility.

Instead, Bronte grabbed one of the larger chests resting at her feet and flipped back the lid to reveal…

“I have to wear a crown?” She scowled at the gilded circlet resting on a black velvet cushion. The band was decorated with curls of gold that hooked together to form pointed spirals, and tiny diamonds were dotted throughout the design. The main focal point, though, was an oval ruby that glittered at the circlet’s center.

The delicate headpiece was actually quite pretty, in that horrifying, everyone-will-definitely-be-staring-at-her-when-she-wears-this kind of way. But she would’ve preferred the jewel not be bloodred.

“It’s only for official occasions,” Oralie assured her. “Like elections or special announcements—or today, when we’re trying to get people’s attention.”

“I guess.” That was still a whole lot more crown time than Sophie wanted.

“And remember, we decided on the starlight circlet,” Oralie told Bronte, spraying Sophie’s face with something that smelled citrusy, “because the glow from the lumenite will draw more attention.”

“Uh, how many circlets are you giving me?” Sophie asked as Bronte lifted the velvet cushion, revealing a nearly identical silver circlet hidden underneath. Then he lifted that cushion and there was a third nearly identical glowing white circlet, which had to be the one Oralie meant.

“There’s one to represent each of the Sources,” Bronte explained.

So… three crowns.

Ugh.

“Occasionally we may request that you wear a specific one—like today,” Oralie explained, leaning back as she dusted Sophie’s forehead with one of the powder puffs. “But you’ll generally be able to choose your favorite. The important thing will be making sure that everyone on your team is wearing the circlet for the same Source as you are, so the five of you come across as unified—and the same thing goes for your cloak clasps.”

Before Sophie could ask, Bronte lifted another smaller trunk and flipped back the lid to reveal three pins—one gold, one silver, one lumenite—each in the same swirled shape as the pattern woven throughout her circlet. It reminded Sophie of some of the Celtic symbols she’d seen, only the spiral was a little looser.

“It’s the symbol we created for your team,” Bronte explained, handing her the gold pin to examine. “Each of the three lines represents one of the Prime Sources, and the design shows them evenly uniting. Hopefully it will remind you of the need for proper balance in your collaboration.”

“Do you not like it?” Oralie asked, pausing in the middle of lining Sophie’s eyes with black, smudgy pencil.

“No, it’s fine.” Sophie ran her finger along the smooth metal curls. “It just… feels a little weird that I’ve never heard people talk about the Sources before. Seems like they’re super important.”

“The Sources should definitely be covered better in the Foxfire curriculum,” Bronte admitted. “I’ll have to make sure that Magnate Leto has that oversight corrected when