Legacy (Keeper of the Lost Cities #8) - Shannon Messenger Page 0,87

at Sophie, as if she was mentally comparing her against whoever she was imagining. “Wanna hear it?”

Sophie curled into an even tighter ball. And she knew she was going to hate herself for this, but… “Who?”

Stina grinned, dragging out her dramatic pause until even Wylie was groaning and saying, “Never mind.”

Then she told them, “Lady Cadence Talle!”

If Sophie’s life had been a movie, the soundtrack would’ve screeched to a stop right there—and the narrator would’ve chimed in with a comment like, Definitely didn’t see that one coming!

“Lady Cadence,” Sophie repeated, testing the words on her tongue.

They tasted sour and disappointing, like a low-calorie human dessert.

And there were plenty of shocked murmurings in the background from Sandor.

“I mean, I guess she’s technically Master Cadence,” Stina corrected. “But yeah—she’s your linguistics Mentor, right? Think about it! You’re both Polyglots. And she saved your butt when King Dimitar tried to haul you off to an ogre work camp for breaking into his brain. And she was off living in Ravagog until the Council dragged her back to mentor you, so no one would ever suspect her. It’s perfect!”

“That… actually does kinda make sense,” Dex admitted.

“She doesn’t look like Sophie, though,” Biana argued. “Her hair is, like, raven-feather black.”

“So? Maybe Sophie looks like her dad,” Stina countered. “Or maybe Sophie’s hair color is another one of the things that comes from what the Black Swan did to her genes—like her eye color. And who knows? If we put Sophie next to Lady Cadence, we might spot all kinds of similarities we’ve never noticed, now that we know to look for them. We should do that!”

Wylie placed a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “You okay?”

At some point he’d scooted closer to her.

She hadn’t noticed.

Just like she hadn’t noticed that she’d started trembling a little.

Her brain was too busy replaying every moment she’d spent with Lady Cadence—and the memories were so…

Awful.

Miserable sessions, where Lady Cadence went out of her way to make it clear how unhappy she was about having to be Sophie’s Mentor—and how unimpressed she was with Sophie’s talent.

All the horrible, stinky detentions where Sophie had been singled out for additional punishments—though technically some of that was Keefe’s fault.

All the endless lectures and sighs and scowls and criticisms.

“Seriously,” Wylie said, squeezing Sophie gently until she looked at him. “Need us to change the subject? Or should you have your bodyguards take you inside for a break?”

“No, I’m fine,” Sophie mumbled, shaking her head to clear it. “It’s… a solid theory. Definitely worth looking into.”

“It can be worth looking into without you being fine,” Wylie pointed out.

“I know. But… changing the subject doesn’t actually change anything,” Sophie reminded him. “Neither does going inside and hiding from it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Wylie said as Sophie hugged herself as tightly as she could. “I learned that after my dad was exiled—and even more after I lost my mom. I think that’s why Tiergan was so big on making me talk it out. It’s like… giving your brain permission to think what it’s thinking and feel what it’s feeling, instead of shoving it all away. So… if you need someone to listen…”

He raised his eyebrows expectantly, and Sophie knew he had a point. But she needed a good, solid eyelash tug before she told him, “I was just thinking… couldn’t at least one of my biological parents be someone who’s been a little nice to me?”

“Or maybe that’s why they’ve been so mean,” Biana suggested, scooting closer and wrapping an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. “Maybe they think it makes them seem less suspicious.”

“Great, so they care way more about themselves than they ever will about me,” Sophie muttered.

“That kinda makes sense though, doesn’t it?” Dex asked, scooching closer too. “I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but… Project Moonlark was a pretty selfish thing for all of them to do. I’m not saying I’m not glad the Black Swan did it, since it’s why you exist, and you’re awesome. But they were also experimenting with your life in ways that were bound to cause problems for you—and that didn’t stop them from doing it. So, I’m just saying… anyone who helped with the project probably has some issues—especially the people who didn’t even want anyone knowing they were involved.”

“Plus, your adoptive parents are awesome,” Biana added. “And it sounded like your human parents were too. That’s the family that matters. Who cares about your genetic parents? You got what you needed from them. You exist. The rest?” She shrugged,