The Phoenix

Chapter 9

Your P.O.V.

I had mixed feelings about the kiss I shared with Keefe. Did he kiss me to distract himself from Sophie?

"Whoa, Edaline wasn't kidding about the whole 'Lady Sophie' thing," Keefe murmured.

"I know, you look like a princess to me," I replied, eyeing Sophie's new tiara and patch. She looked...... regal. I could feel the knot inside my stomach tightening. It would always be Sophie who got the attention, and I'd be stuck on the sidelines, being known as the stolen Moonlark instead of Project Moonlark. Some things sucked sometimes. I could see Keefe nearing me out the corner of my eye. He could obviously feel my emotions. Then Keefe walked in a slow circle around Sophie and whistled.

"Sorry, was I supposed to bow?" 

"If you had, I would've flung a pillow at your head," she told him with a grin he didn't return. "And you can forget the Lady Sophie thing, too."

"Thank goodness," Ro said, dropping her feet from where she'd had them propped on Sophie's desk. "I never would've been able to pull that off with a straight face. And, uh, please tell me this isn't your permanent new wardrobe."

"Parts of it are,' Sophie admitted, pointing to her new cloak clasp as an example. "But I'm done with the dress. And this."She tried to yank the much-too-conspicuous circlet off of her head, which made her hair a mess as it always is.

"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." I stifled a laugh, Ro was one of the most entertaining people I've ever met. 

"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?" 

"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." I would think that Keefe would start to make him own team names, but he seemed... disappointed. Sophie came out.

"Hey, Keefe, you okay?"

"Pretty sure he's pouting," Ro said.

"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 ofthing either."