Love Through War

C h a p t e r T w e n t y t w o

"Yes." Grady said. "We decided on larger carriages instead of more numbers of them. I'll see in a bit."

He kissed her on the cheek and walked over to Edaline who was waiting by the first carriage.

Sophie went to the second where the others were talking.
She was surprised, however, to see Tam, Linh's twin brother, there as well.

"Hey, guys." She greeted.

"Hi, Soph," Linh said with a sweet smile. "Ready?"

Sophie nodded and they all clambered into the carriage. Tam going in last.

Once they were all in, the carriage sped down the road and to the Neverseen.

"So, Tam," Sophie said after a few moments of silence. "You suddenly had the urge to participate in the signing of a peace treaty?"

"I have to be here," the twin said, tugging at his bangs. "Because for some reason Fitz chose me to be his 'companion' for this thing. And apparently he needs one since now he's the Vacker's eldest child. So here I am."

"Huh," Sophie said. "That's cool, I'm glad your coming."

"I could have explained that," Fitz said to Tam.

"Yeah well, you didn't." Tam snapped.

Fitz had nothing to say to that, so he stayed silence.

They went on talking about whatever subject that came up, from why Tam alway wore black, to whether the S or C was silent in the word "Scent."

Soon they arrived at the Neverseen's grounds, it was the first time Sophie had have been there, though Keefe had been to the Blackswan's grounds plenty of times to see her—now is not the time to be thinking about Keefe.

She climbed out of the carriage followed by her friends.

"So..." Dex said from where he was standing next to her. "What do we do now?"

"I guess we should go in with the Collective and our parents." Sophie shrugged.

No one had any objections, so they all started toward the first carriage stationed a little ways ahead of theirs.

Grady and Edaline told Sophie the leaders of the Neverseen were to show them to their meeting room where they'd discuss the peace treaty.

The Blackswan walked toward a large Villa in the distance with their heads held high.

The reality of the situation hit Sophie at that moment.
She was on enemy grounds, walking to what might be the end a war that's been ruling two clan for three decades. And she had helped make it happen.

Once they'd reached the Villa's entrance, Sophie and the others were met by Lord and Lady Sencen.

Mr. Forkle stepped forward. "Hello, Lord Cassius and Lady Gisela. It is an honor to be welcomed onto your grounds."

Sophie knew he was lying.

"I wasn't aware you were bring so many teenagers," Lady Gisela said. "Just the First Lady."

"They are members of the clan," Edaline spoke up. "Their word is important to this discussion."

"Vary well," Lady Gisela gave a curt nod. "We'll show you to the meeting room."

They followed the leaders inside.

The Villa was cooler then it had been outside, but not to cold. Refreshing even, refreshing from the hot summer evening.
Sophie took that as a good sign.

The meeting room was vary different then a war room.
It was a bright space with a large rectangular table in the center, surrounded by farthingale chairs.

The room was  already filled with various Neverseen members all seated on one side of the table.

"Take a seat and we shall begin." Lord Cassius growled and he and Gisela seated themselves on two of the larger chairs on the right side of the table.

Grady and Edaline sat down on the two large chairs opposite them on the left side.

Sophie was about to sit down next to Biana, when Edaline stopped her.

"This is the heir's seat," she whispered and gestured to a chair next to her's, it was smaller then Grady's and her's, but still bigger then the others.

"Oh." Sophie peeped and settled down onto it.

She looked to the Neverseen's side of the table to find Keefe's chair, since he was a heir too she figured he would have one.

Instead she found a girl about her age with blonde hair and tiny braids seated in it, next to another girl with pale skin and a dark pixie cut.

The blonde girl appeared slightly uncomfortable sitting there, and—Sophie noticed—she looked strangely similar to Keefe. Slender with blonde hair and ice blue eyes.

Sophie wondered if he had a sister he never told her about.

She'd been so distracted with studying the girl and thinking about Keefe, that she didn't notice Lord Cassius had started talking, until Dex elbowed her to pay attention.

"—and we were surprised to receive your proposal of a treaty, but our clan has come to terms with discussing it," Lord Cassius was saying.

His words made Sophie's heart beat a little faster.

This was real and it was actually happening. There would finally, finally be peace if the Neverseen agreed to sign.

Sophie only wished Keefe could be there when it happened.

Little did she know, the beautiful blond boy was racing to get back to her right that second.

~

Hello everyone!
Woah, that was a long but vary fun chapter to write!
The next one will be Keefe attempting to escape Exillium with Leroy and Zadie.
AND AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 1K READS! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST READERS EVER!
~T
(Thank you againnnnnn)