She knew she should probably tuck the obnoxious accessory safely into one of the gilded chests that Grady had brought home from the Seat of Eminence. Edaline had supposedly conjured them all into Sophie’s bathroom.

But she didn’t feel like being tidy.

She felt like getting into normal clothes as fast as she possibly could.

“What about that patch?” Ro asked, pointing to the wolf silhouette on her cloak. “What’s that all about?”

“Long story,” Sophie mumbled, dumping the circlet on her bed and stumbling into her closet to ditch her cloak, gown, and heels.

“I like stories,” Ro called after her. “Unless it involves a lot of speeches about how you elves get to boss everyone around because you think you’re so pretty and powerful and sparkly. Then we can skip that snorefest.”

Sophie pulled on a pair of leggings and called back, “There was definitely some of that going on. And a lot of talk about the differences between sunlight, starlight, and moonlight.”

Ro started making very loud snoring sounds.

“You would’ve enjoyed all the horrible team name suggestions that Dex and Biana kept bugging the Council with, though,” Sophie shouted over the abundance of snorts and gurgles. If that was what Ro actually sounded like when she slept, poor Keefe probably had to sleep with a pillow over his head. “I thought Emery was going to exile them at one point.”

“Okay, now I’m interested,” Ro informed her. “And let’s hope Team Fancypants was the winner. Because I can almost forgive you for wearing all of those sparkly accessories if that’s what you’re making your stuffy Councillors call you.”

“Wait,” Keefe said, before Sophie could respond. “Dex and Biana were there?”

Sophie nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her. Which actually made it a little easier to tell him. “Yeah. And Wylie. And Stina. I guess the Council decided I’m way more successful when I have backup—and they’re not wrong. But I’m still trying not to be insulted that they built this whole team because I’m useless alone. Oh—and you’ll love this. They wanted to name us Team Prodigious.”

“Wow,” Ro said. “You guys shut that down, right?”

“First thing we did,” Sophie agreed, pulling on a blissfully boring gray tunic and wishing all clothes could be so unassuming. “The Council was not happy about it.”

She waited for Keefe to make his own team name suggestions, but he stayed noticeably silent. And when she made her way back to her bedroom, she found him turned away, fussing with the sleeves of his embroidered gray tunic as he stared out her wall of windows.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Pretty sure he’s pouting,” Ro told her.

“I’m not pouting,” Keefe argued—in a tone that definitely sounded pouty. “I just love how it took you less than a day after your little chat with Bangs Boy to cut me out of everything.”

“Hey, I had no say in this!” Sophie reminded him. “If I got to pick the team, do you really think Stina Heks would be on it?”

“Probably not—but that doesn’t mean you would’ve included me,” he countered.

Sophie sighed. “I won’t lie, if the Council had wanted you involved in all of this… yeah, I would’ve made Ro keep you away. Because this is exactly the kind of thing that Tam was warning us about. And I think it’s more important for you to be focusing on your memories, anyway. But, if it makes you feel any better, your name did come up. Dex actually pushed for you to be swapped in, instead of Stina—and even Grady agreed that you would’ve been the better choice for the ‘team’s Empath.’ ”

“He did?” Keefe asked, perking up a little as he glanced at her over his shoulder. But his smile faded just as fast. “The Council shot them down because of my mom, huh?”

There was no point denying it.

“Would you have honestly wanted to swear an oath to the Council?” she asked instead. “Doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”

“It’s not,” Keefe agreed. “I just didn’t realize it was your kind of thing either.”

“Honestly? Neither did I.” She made her way closer, watching the ocean shimmer with glints of pink and orange from the sunset. “But… it sounds like we’re going to need the Council’s help to deal with King Enki as we try to figure out what the Neverseen are planning in Loamnore. And if Mr. Forkle’s right that the Neverseen are also trying to turn the public against the Councillors, then it’s probably pretty important for us to be allies. So… I’m giving it a try. But it’s also good that they left some of our group out. That way you, Fitz, and Linh will have a clearer perspective and can let us know if it seems like we’re getting sucked into anything weird. And you can look into anything we don’t want the Council knowing about. Well… Fitz and Linh can do that last part. You can focus on your memories—and staying safe.”

“Great,” Keefe muttered.

“Hang on!” Ro said, stomping over to join them by the windows. “Did you just say that Pretty Boy’s not a part of this?” Her mouth fell open when Sophie nodded. “But… aren’t you two, like, a package deal? Team Obnoxious-Telepaths?”

“We usually are,” Sophie agreed, ignoring the “obnoxious” part of that nickname. “But the Council wants to separate us. They think I rely too much on my telepathy and am not taking full advantage of my other abilities. So they want me to work on stuff without Fitz and see if it helps me widen my focus.”

Ro blinked. “Wow! Okay—I officially take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about your Councillors! They’re my heroes! All hail the sparkle-fied twelve for breaking up the Great Fitzphie!”

“They didn’t break us up,” Sophie argued, her face burning when she realized how that sounded. “They just thought it was worth seeing what happens if we don’t work as closely as often—and they promised they’d let Fitz join the team if it turns out I need him.”

“You won’t,” Ro assured her. “Right, Hunkyhair?”

She elbowed Keefe, who’d gone back to staring at the ocean.

“Come on, Captain Sulky,” Ro said, elbowing him harder. “There’s really nothing you want to say?”

“Nope.” He scooted away before Ro could elbow him again, earning himself an epic ogre eye roll.

And he looked so miserable—so un-Keefe—that Sophie decided she was willing to sacrifice herself on the altar of humiliation if it got him out of his funk.

“You know what Dex has everyone calling me now?” she asked. “I’m sure you’d be proud of him.”

“The Mysterious Lady F?” Ro guessed.

“Ugh, I wish. Nope, it’s… Lady Fos-Boss.”

The confession was almost worth it when Keefe couldn’t help giving her a quick smirk.

“I knew I liked that boy,” Ro announced. “In fact, I even tried out one of his little tricks—see?”

She pointed to Sophie’s desk, and it took Sophie a second to figure out what she meant.

“You changed Iggy’s color?” she asked, heading over to his cage, where, sure enough, the tiny imp had yet another new look. His neatly trimmed, gold, sparkly fur was now a much poofier ice blue with tiny crimps.