Forbidden ~ after unlocked

Chapter 50 - Sophie

Sophie breathed in the evening air, closing her eyes. The sounds of waves folding over each other and crashing against the sand danced in her ears. She liked the ocean better at this time of day—something about it just felt more magical. When it was still light but not quite dark, the sun slowly lowering onto the horizon, maybe half an hour away from sunset.

Escaping Sandor and coming to the Shores of Solace had been easy, she knew all the best tactics to lose him at this point. Wrapping her tunic tighter around herself, she spotted Keefe on the porch swings, sitting and staring ahead. Ro was nowhere to be seen, so probably inside falling victim to one of Keefe's pranks.

A smile was on her face as she went over to join him, watching as the breeze tousled his handsome mess of hair. The sun shone on his face, illuminating him in a gold light. He had his legs tucked up against his chest and head rested on his knees, and appeared so deep in thought he didn't even notice Sophie approach him.

"Keefe?" she said softly.

Keefe startled, but immediately broke out into a grin when he saw her. "Hey, Foster."

Sophie sat down next to him. "Are you okay? You looked... troubled."

Keefe brushed the comment away, shaking his head. "Nah, that's just my mysterious bad boy image."

She smirked a little. "You're not so much a 'mysterious bad boy' as you think."

Keefe gasped and clutched his chest in mock pain. "Really Foster? I'm personally offended."

"Seriously though, Keefe." She looked up at him, watching the ice blue of his eyes glowing in the golden light. "You good?"

Keefe shrugged. "I'm fine. Just processing... everything."

She sighed in agreement. "Yeah."

"I mean, there's everything that happened today, which was insane. But also... I feel like I can't go anywhere."

Sophie scrunched her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Like, I haven't really gone anywhere since I got back. Everyone was staring at me when we were in Enteralia. What's even supposed to happen? I have a wanderling. That doesn't even seem real." Keefe leaned back, resting his head against the swing. "I'm terrified to go back to Foxfire."

"You don't have to do anything right away," Sophie assured him. "I'm not sure what the Council is doing, but everyone will eventually figure out that you're not..." she swallowed. "Dead."

"Won't everyone at school... hate me?"

Sophie shook her head. "I don't think so. They don't know anything except that you have a wanderling." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Keefe, even I didn't hate you."

Keefe seemed hesitant. "Really?"

She exhaled. "No, and I wanted to, since I used to be so mad at you. But I couldn't hate you 'cause, well..." Sophie turned her head and locked his eyes. "I love you."

Keefe's smile grew, and his expression was like a mix of wonder and happiness. Then it faded a little. "You're probably one of the few people in the world who does."

"Don't say that! Lots of people love you, Keefe. Me, Dex, Fitz, all of our friends, even Ro." Her lips quirked up a little, teasing as she said, "your hundreds of fangirls at Foxfire probably do too."

At that, Keefe laughed.

Sophie grinned. "If anything, people are going to hate me, not you. Everyone's going to be so jealous of me."