Becoming Magical [2]

C H A P T E R - 2 7

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Grady said when her bedroom door creaked, jolting Sophie from her strange, alicorny dreams. "I just wanted to check on you."

Sophie sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as Grady crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed. "I also wanted you to know how sorry Edaline and I are that we got so upset yesterday. We should've been comforting you—not the other way around."

"It's okay. It was hard news."

He cleared the thickness from his throat. "I still can't believe it. But I went to Everglen this morning and saw for myself how . . ."

He didn't finish, and Sophie was grateful.

"Wait—what time is it?" She clapped her hands to open her drapes. The sun blazed high in the sky, like it was almost midday. "How long did I sleep?"

"We didn't want to wake you. Dex stopped by, but we told him we were letting you rest and you'd see him tomorrow. You've been through so much."

She had. But still—how many hours had she lost?

"Edaline and Meredith are over at Everglen, trying to help Della figure everything out. Will you be okay if I leave you alone here?"

"Of course. Where are you going?"

His hand moved to the Ruewen crest clasping his jewel lined cape, and Sophie realized he was dressed in an embroidered tunic and fine linen pants, with his hair immaculately combed. He looked almost regal as he sighed and said, "I'm going with Tiergan to speak to the Council. Someone will need to take over Alden's duties."

Sophie frowned. "You're agreeing to be an Emissary?" She was glad he'd finally come around, but . . . why was he willing to do it for Alden and not her?

"Alden did so much for us," he said, reaching out and stroking Sophie's cheek. "It's the least I can do."

His eyes brimmed with the tears, and Sophie felt her own well up too. She blinked back the sadness. She wasn't going to cry for Alden—she was going to fix him. And if Grady and Edaline weren't going to be home, she knew exactly where to start.

She hugged Grady goodbye and waited for the house to fall silent. Then she threw her covers off and ran for her bedroom door and . . .

Slammed into a wall of rock-hard goblin muscle.

"Ow, Sandor!" She rubbed her forehead. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question."

She tried to move past him, but he blocked her with his beefy arms.

"Will you relax?" she asked. "I'm not going anywhere."

"If you're not going anywhere, then why won't you tell me what you're doing?"

"Aren't I allowed to have any secrets?"

"Secrets hinder my ability to protect you."

"I don't need your protection for this."

"You always need my protection."

His stubbornness made her want to tear out her hair. She settled for tugging out an eyelash.

"Fine," she said after several deep breaths. "I need to look around a room that Grady and Edaline don't like me to go into, and since your job is to report everything I do—"

"That's not my job," Sandor interrupted. "If it were, I would've told them how you sneak out of bed to read by the light of the moon jars you keep in your desk."