"You stole the caches?" Sophie whispered, watching them roll around his palm.
Together, the two gadgets contained sixteen Forgotten Secrets.
"It was the only thing that went right with my escape. And I was so smug about it. But who cares? I mean, seriously--who cares about a bunch of dusty old secrets when people can do that?" He gestured behind her, to the ruined castle.
"It's still huge," Sophie promised. "I know it doesn't feel like it--but the secrets in those caches have to be important. That's a victory!"
"A pretty weak one," he grumbled, trying to look away.
She reached up and turned his chin back, waiting for him to meet her eyes. "You have to let this go. Don't let this ruin what we have here."
"What do we have?"
She ignored the darkness shredding his tone. "We have a new start. A new lead. A new weapon in this fight."
Also a new world.
At the thought, Sophie forced herself to finally look back at the destruction. The majestic castle was nothing more than a few jagged pieces. When she squinted at it, she could almost imagine it was a giant gnarled hand, reaching out of the ground as the beast it belonged to tried to claw its way to freedom.
It also looked like a message. The Neverseen had just told the whole world that they were the ones to be feared.
"You should probably transmit to Fitz that you're okay," Keefe said quietly. "I hadn't found you when I saw Biana." He looked away again, swiping at his eyes. "If you hadn't been okay--"
"But I am," she assured him.
She closed her eyes and sent a quick transmission to Fitz, letting him know that she and Edaline were safe--and asking him to pass that on to Grady--then returned her attention to Keefe.
"I'm okay," she repeated, reaching out to wipe a tear off his cheek.
"I swore," he whispered. "I swore I was going to protect you. Instead I've endangered you. You don't know how scared I was when you leapt with me to the Lake of Blood...and when you showed up in that hideout with Fitz and Tam...and then today, watching Lumenaria fall, knowing you were in there somewhere..." his voice hitched and he stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I've never been so scared in my life."
"I'm fine," she reminded him. "You don't have to worry about me."
"Yes I do," Keefe mumbled, mostly to himself.
Then realization hit her.
Keefe was home.
After months of worrying, of begging, of crying over him.
He'd made it out alive.
She threw her arms around him, a few tears of her own slipping down her cheeks. "You're home," she whispered, holding him tightly. "You're home."
Keefe's arms wrapped around her waist and he chuckled softly in her ear. "You sound like me," he muttered, a hand stroking her hair as he hugged her. "When I found you—and saw that you were breathing, I just sat here and whispered, 'she's okay, she's okay' over and over before I woke you."
Sophie smiled at that.
And worried that if she didn't let go of him and back away soon, it might get awkward.
But...she couldn't stop thinking.
The last time she'd seen him...Tam had tried to convince him to come back and focus on what mattered before he lost her.
Fitz had asked who the "her" was, but Sophie had been too focused on trying to convince Keefe to come back with them.
But then, the way Keefe had looked at her as he said he knew what mattered...
His betrayal mere seconds after saying that had caused her to shove that down and not think about it.
She had not allowed herself to think about the intensity of his gaze. Of the way everything else had seemed to slip into the background as her heart fluttered.
She had definitely not permitted herself to think of how heartbroken she'd been when he'd left them that day, or what the implications were of how she'd seemed to hate him...and yet had been so thoroughly incapable of truly hating him.
But now?
She did finally pull away, but stayed close as she looked at Keefe--who was watching her with a curious but guarded expression in his eyes. "And you're okay?" She asked him. "With your mom missing, and who knows what horrible things you had to see while you were with the Neverseen..."
Keefe shuddered, though he tried to pass it off as a shrug. "I'm fine."
"It's okay not to be okay, Keefe."
He sighed and looked over at the crumbled castle, then at Edaline's sleeping figure beside them. "I just...betraying you like that was so hard...especially last time, when you begged me to come back. You'd just had to watch Brant burn me, and then you were so hurt that I wasn't coming back with you. But the only consolation I had was this overwhelming feeling of rightness. I was so convinced that I was doing the right thing, and as scary as it was to think about you guys maybe not forgiving me when I came back...it felt like I would have to run that risk for the greater good for everyone. I meant that oath I swore to the Black Swan--I really thought I was doing everything in my power to protect our world. But after this"--he pointed to what was left of Lumenaria--"I don't know, now. I thought they were starting to really trust me, but they hadn't given me any indication that a plan like that was in the works."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," she told him. "What you did was unwise, I won't pretend it wasn't, but...it was also incredibly brave. And you meant well. That counts for something." When he rolled his eyes, she reached for his hands. "No, I mean it. And look what you did--you not only came back, you came here just because I was here and you wanted to be close by in case I needed you. And I did. I do."
Keefe's lips tugged up into a smile. But then his brow furrowed. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why did your emotions get crazy intense when you took my hands? I mean, I can always read your emotions even without contact, and then they get clearer with contact, but this...it's never been this intense."
"Oh," Sophie said, feeling embarrassed as she wondered just what emotions he was picking up. "Well...I kind of manifested again. As an enhancer."
She thought he'd laugh and say 'I told you so', but instead he just let go of her hands for a moment, sitting there quietly, a look of deep concentration on his face. Then he placed a hand on her arm for a few seconds before taking her hands in his again. Then she understood that he was comparing his readings of her emotions without contact, with contact, and with enhancing. "Whoa," he murmured. "That's intense. I get a much clearer reading of your emotions when you enhance my empathy, I guess." He looked at her, leaning in slightly. "And it's very enlightening."
Her heart flipped to hummingbird mode as she looked up at him. The way Tam had spoken that day made it sound like maybe Keefe liked her--and the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like they'd been having a moment outside the Sanctuary the day they'd let the alicorns go. At least, until Grady interrupted.
But she didn't know for sure. So she didn't know if she was about to have another moment with Keefe, or if she was about to be humiliated.
But there was only one way to find out: plow forward and see what Keefe does.
She thought of her first evening in Gildingham, when she'd overheard Sandor and Grizel's big confession. She remembered the way she'd been mentally chanting kiss! but then the moment had slipped away from them. Of course, Sandor had known Sophie was there, so he'd probably saved that particular romantic moment for when they could have more privacy.
But still...Sophie didn't want this moment to slip away. So instead of trying to deny it, instead of pulling back, making light of it, maybe even shoving him away playfully, she stayed right where she was.
But she could absolutely feel a blush warming her cheeks as she looked up at him and whispered, "enlightening how?"
There.
The rest was up to him.
He was reading her emotions. He could now choose how to respond.
"I..." Keefe started. He looked hopeful. And...he was blushing too!
He recovered himself, and smiled softly at her. "Like you really missed me."
"That's because I really, really did," she agreed.
Somehow, they had both managed to lean in even closer to each other without her realizing. His face was mere inches from her own.
Sophie's heart was pounding so hard she thought he for sure could hear it. In fact, she was surprised the sound of her beating heart hadn't woken Edaline.
"I missed you too," he breathed.
And then...
He kissed her.
And it felt so right.
He finally let go of her hands so he could wrap his arms around her waist and hold her closer.
When they finally broke apart, he smiled shyly at her.
Keefe...looked shy?
Wow.
"So," he murmured, "does this mean you've forgiven me?" Then his trademark smirk returned. "Wait, that wasn't just like a 'welcome home' thing, was it?"
Sophie grinned. "No. At least...that's not all it was."
Keefe's smile turned much warmer as he replied. "Good." Then he looked around again at their surroundings and sighed.
"What?" Sophie asked him.
"Not exactly the most romantic setting," he pointed out. "Having our first kiss just outside your most recent near-death experience."
"That's okay. It just redeemed this whole horrible day in my eyes, that's all."
"Plus," he said as he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ears--lumenite dust falling out of her hair as he did so, "we'll always remember we had our first kiss while you were coated in a fine layer of lumenite. Who knows, maybe that's a good sign. Your enemies definitely can't keep you down."
She laughed. "Not if you're done pretending to be one of them."
"Are you kidding?" Keefe placed both hands on her cheeks and drew her in closer. "I'm definitely never leaving you again."
With that, he kissed her again, softly, before letting out a big sigh. "Okay, Foster. As much as I don't want this moment to end, I think we should wake Edaline, and go let Elwin check you both over really well. Plus we can find out the final count--make sure everyone made it out okay."
Sophie knew they had a few things they needed to talk about, but he was right--it was time to face all the hardships ahead of them. The Neverseen had just changed the game--and the world as they knew it. So she turned her attention to Edaline so they could join the others.
But nothing could have prepared them for the news that Elwin gave them.
Oralie and Mr. Forkle were both missing.