He Left Me - KotLC fic (after Unlocked)

Chapter 5

In the morning, I took the time to listen to Vertina help me twist my hair up. My shadows were particularly fierce this morning, too. I dressed in one of my simpler gowns, an ice-blue color, before heading down to breakfast.

Edaline conjured up a plate of blitzenberry muffins and an orange for me when I collapsed at the table. "You look tired."

I gave her a look and and she amended, "More tired than usual."

"I didn't sleep." I tore off a piece of the soft muffin and popped it in my mouth.

"At all?"

I shook my head as she came to sit next to me.

"Sophie, maybe you should take a sedative." Grady's voice came from the kitchen, and he walked in, eating his own muffin.

I shook my head again and tugged out a loose eyelash.

"Promise you will if you don't sleep tonight?" Edaline smoothed a stray hair back into my updo, and at her stern look, I agreed.

"Ready, kiddo?" Grady asked as I finished my breakfast a few minutes later. He pulled out his clear pathfinder, twisting the crystal at the end. I kissed Edaline on the cheek before rising to join him. Sandor took Grady's hand, and Flori mine, as Grady raised the crystal to the light. I let them pull me into the light.

The shimmering crystal palaces of the Councilors' homes greeted me, and I headed towards the one with pink flowers out front on the end. The dread, which had lightened during the night, reappeared with full force.

Outside the front door, Grady hugged me before leaping away and leaving me to knock on my own. I stared at the crystal for a few minutes before working up the courage to lift my fist and rap lightly.

The familiar blonde pulled open the door only a few seconds after I knocked, leaving me to wonder if she had been waiting. The pink sitting room was nearly the same as the last time I was here; it was fixed, however, from how I left it when I found out Oralie was my biological mother. The table was set upright, and the crystal shards had been cleaned up. My gloves and finger contraptions were folded in a neat pile.

I fought down the shreds of guilt and anger over Oralie and curtsied to Bronte, who was sitting in one of the overstuffed armchairs with a faint look of disgust on his face. I bit my lip to keep from smiling at the normally stern Councilor.

"Please, Sophie, take a seat." Oralie motioned toward the chairs, and I chose one nearer to Bronte but still facing the adults.

"I assume you know why you're here," Bronte said quietly, looking at me with a touch of sadness in his eyes.

I nodded. "You want me to... help with the planting. Keefe's planting." I blinked hard.

Bronte nodded. Oralie had sat in the chair next to him, quiet. "Lord Sencen said you were more his family than anyone. Despite his blood relations, Keefe would want it to be you."

I shut my eyes at Bronte's words. I didn't want to let him go, but I didn't want his father planting the seed like he truly cared for his son. I nodded again.

"Miss Foster, do you have a place in mind for his Wanderling?"

"Can I plant it next to mine?"

Bronte and Oralie both jumped, like they forgot she had her own tree in the elves' graveyard.

Bronte nodded. "Of course. The announcement is scheduled for tomorrow. The planting will be the day after that." His voice was much gentler than normal, like how he spoke to Amy when she met him.