second it took Keefe to raise his crystal, he watched her realize what was happening.
“You’re going to regret this,” she warned.
He nodded.
He had zero doubt about that.
But he still stepped into the path, letting the warmth carry him away.
- FIFTEEN - Sophie
Why do you smell like smoke?” Grady demanded when Sophie’s group reappeared at Solreef—thankfully at the top of the stairs, instead of the bottom. “What happened?”
Sophie knew she should be the one to answer.
But her brain got a little stuck on the fact that Grady was still there.
So was Tiergan.
And Fitz.
And Biana.
And Grizel and Woltzer.
No one had gone after them yet—which should’ve been obvious, since no one had shown up at the storehouse.
But Sophie hadn’t really thought about what that meant.
They… hadn’t even been gone the full fifteen minutes.
She’d destroyed the Neverseen’s storehouse—and hopefully most of their plans—in less than a quarter of an hour.
If only she could wipe out the rest of their organization as quickly.
Grady took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. “Are you okay? Were you attacked?”
“No,” she told him—then realized how that sounded. “I mean, yes, I’m okay—no, we weren’t attacked. But before we left, I… It’s hard to explain.”
It was probably going to take her longer to tell him what she’d done than it had for her to decide to do it.
She wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“You should go inside for this conversation,” Sandor told her before turning to the other bodyguards and adding, “Grizel? I need you and Flori to do a security sweep with me. And Woltzer? I need you to cover the interior. Be extra vigilant.”
“Sounds like the mission was eventful,” Tiergan noted, gesturing to the scrolls cradled in Sophie’s and Tam’s arms.
“Discuss it inside!” Sandor ordered, practically shoving them through the front door.
The look he gave Sophie before he drew his sword and marched away was completely unreadable.
Furious?
Scared?
Proud?
All of the above?
Bo took Glimmer’s wrist. “I’ll make sure your guest is secured—and I suggest keeping any items away from her until they’ve been thoroughly inspected.”
“Hey!” Glimmer protested as Bo yanked her blue bundle out of her hands, along with everything else she’d collected. “I don’t care if you search my stuff—but you don’t have to be such a jerk about it!”
“I’ll take that,” Tam offered, adjusting the scrolls he was carrying to make room.
“I think it might be best if we move everything to my office,” Tiergan told him, taking Glimmer’s things from Bo and motioning for everyone to follow him down a different hallway.
“If you break my cat statue, I’m going to be super mad!” Glimmer shouted after them.
No one said anything else as they made their way up a spiral staircase to an enormous oval room, which looked like the kind of office that Sophie kept imagining someone in the Black Swan would have—complete with a giant fireplace, shelves full of strange, whirling gadgets, and an imposing desk covered in meticulously arranged stacks of paperwork. But the twisted tree sprouting from the center of the floor with flowering branches stretching toward the arched skylight was a bit of a surprise.
“Everything you took will be safe in here,” Tiergan assured them, setting Glimmer’s things in a neat pile on the floor behind his desk and gesturing for them to copy him. “I’ll make sure it’s properly examined and cataloged before it’s relocated to somewhere more permanent.”
“Like a storehouse?” Tam asked. “ ’Cause, uh, that may not be the smartest strategy.”
“Why not?” Grady, Tiergan, Fitz, and Biana all asked in unison.
Sophie had a different question. “Are you going to give it back to us—and tell us everything you learn?”
“Of course, Sophie. Just like you’re going to tell us everything that happened today, aren’t you?” Tiergan countered. He smiled when she nodded. “Good, I’m looking forward to it. But first”—he pointed again to the spot behind his desk—“please trust me. You don’t need the burden of having to protect these things.”
She didn’t.
And what was she going to do?
Hide the stuff under her bed?
Still, the second she set the scrolls and vials down, she wanted to grab them all back.
Instead she shoved her hand in her pocket and tightened her grip on the caches.
Tam added the scrolls and gadgets he’d taken, and everyone stared at the final pile.
“Quite a haul,” Tiergan told them. “Particularly since you went there for a single cache—which I’m assuming you recovered.”
Sophie nodded.
She was surprised by how impressed Tiergan sounded—and how excited Fitz and Biana were.
All she could think when she studied the pile was