𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐄, sokeefe

TWO

SOPHIE GATHERED HERSELF TOGETHER, FOLLOWING LINH out of the supervisor's chamber and nodding quickly at Lord Dexter as he walked in as her replacement.

She didn't envy the troops—Lord Dex may have looked innocent with the deepest dimples, but he had claws he flashed at arguably the most inopportune times.

"Do you know what this is about?" she asked her friend, keeping her focus on what really mattered. Hundreds of theories were thundering through her head like a rampaging T-Rex, but she was trying her hardest to let her face remain impassive. Whether or not she was succeeding, she didn't know.

"Queen Edaline did not inform me as to what this is about—though I won't be surprised if it has to do with the prince."

Her mouth twitched like she was teasing. 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Good stars. Is he the only thing anyone wants to talk about to me? Why are you so obsessed with him anyway?"

"How can you not be?" she swooned. "He's so...so..."

"Entitled? Annoying? Obsessive?" Sophie suggested, though she honestly felt a little bad about it. Fitz wasn't any of those things—perhaps he had a short temper, perhaps he was a little paranoid and clingy, but he wasn't a bad person.

Linh glared at her. 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Oh no, will I face a death match now? I was joking."

"I hope you were," Linh told her, pushing open the door to the throne room. Sophie's mother sat there, on the appropriate throne for her status. The corners of her blissfully naïve turquoise eyes crinkled with her smile upon spotting Sophie.

Linh curtsied. "Your Majesty."

The queen waved her hand. "Thank you, Linh. You may leave."

Linh gave Sophie a fleeting smile before gracefully turning on her heel and leaving the room.

Also leaving Sophie and her mother very, very, alone.