Chapter Thirty-Three

"Hey, Dex?" Sophie asked, tugging at her eyelashes and glancing over at him with nervous eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Do you… do you know what happened to Keefe?" Her face was pink with shame. "I'm sorry, I know it's selfish to ask, but-"

"They wiped him," Dex cut her off.

"Did you… did you see it happen?"

"No," Dex said. "But I know. They would never just let him go, not with him knowing what he knows."

"Oh."

"Sucks to have someone you care about not even know you exist, huh?" His voice was full of bitterness.

Sophie's eyes started to water. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Just stop, okay?" He turned away from her, unable to meet her gaze. "Just leave me alone. Please."

"I'm sorry."

Sophie turned and left the room.

She ran a finger across his jawline, making him shiver slightly. "You're so pretty."

"Pretty? Madam, you wound me." He clutched his chest as though he had been greatly offended.

"Well, you know," she shrugged, cheeks slightly pink. "You just… you're so soft. I know you try to be a 'man's man' or whatever, but you're really just… sweet. I wish you would let everyone see this side of you."

He shook his head. "How is soft a good thing?" He laughed, eyes slightly cloudy. "I mean, everyone always-"

"Shhh." She pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't put yourself down like that."

"You do it all the time."

She leaned back against him, clutching his hands and wrapping both their arms around herself. "It's not okay when I do it either," she admitted. "But it's hard not to, sometimes. Everyone wants me to be the cure for all their problems, but there's so much and I'm just… I'm just one person."

"I know, baby." He kissed her on the forehead. "That's why I'm here to help you."

"I'm here for you too, you know." She twisted around so she was sitting on his lap, resting her head on his shoulder. "Pretty." She lifted her head and nuzzled her nose against his.

"You're pretty, too." He fingered her soft blonde hair. "Turn around so I can braid your hair!"

"But I want to look at your face!" She whined, pressing a row of kisses up his cheek. She ruffled his hair. "I like your face. Pretty."

"You're such a baby," he scoffed as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Mmm hmm," she nodded, smiling at him. "Hey, can I kiss you?"

"As long as you'll let me braid your hair afterward." He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers.

When they finally drew away, breathless, he began to laugh. "For once, it's a good thing my dad doesn't care what I do."

She sighed. "He cares, I know he does. He just doesn't understand how to love you."

"How can a person not know how to love?" Keefe asked, his eyes slanting downwards with sadness. "I mean, it's only natural."

"People learn what they're taught, babe." She brushed his hair off of his forehead. "Maybe no one ever loved him. That doesn't excuse what he's done, but you can still try and, I don't know, understand him? It might make things easier."

"Nothing makes it easier," Keefe said quietly. "I thought he'd be happy about us being together, right? I mean, he loves you and your legacy or whatever. But when he found out, all he said was 'you should be spending more time on your studies and less on your girlfriend, since only one of them is actually going to last.' Like we're going to break up at the first sign of trouble." He looked into her golden brown eyes. "Are we?"

"Of course not," she laughed. "We've faced bigger problems than romance. I mean, we beat the Neverseen. We deserve to be happy."

"Yeah." He rested his chin on her shoulder, enjoying the warmth of their shared body heat.

"Babe?"

"Yeah?"

She pulled away slightly so that she could look at him in the face. "You know I love you, right?"

A smile broke across his face, his eyes filling with warmth as he looked at her. "I love you too, Sophie," he said, and pulled her closer, letting their lips meet.

Sophie.

Keefe hadn't been able to stop thinking about the girl since he'd woken up early that morning, unable to fall back asleep. A human name for an elven girl, a girl who had somehow ended up in his arms.

Had he imagined her? Somehow, he got the feeling he hadn't.

"Hey, Tam?"

Tam didn't lift his head from the lunch table to answer, his bowl of soup sitting untouched beside him. "Yeah?" He mumbled.

"Do we know a girl named Sophie?"

At that, Tam looked up, dark bags prominent beneath his silver eyes. "Keefe, are you on drugs?" He asked, apparently serious.

"Dude," Keefe responded, disgusted. "Come on, really?"

Tam shrugged. "Look, I don't know. Your eyes are all red and that's kind of a stoner question. Sophie is a human name, so there's no way we would know a girl called that."

"My eyes aren't red because I'm high, they're red because I'm tired." Keefe groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I just keep having these dreams, and I can't tell-"

"If they're real or not."

Keefe dropped his hands, looking at Tam with wide eyes. "You too?"

Tam waited a minute before speaking. "In my dreams, I have a… a twin sister. She has dark hair and light eyes, like me, but her hair is tipped with silver. But I always wake up before I find out her name, or what she wants."

"There was a girl in my dream last night," Keefe told him. "Sophie. And she said she loved me, and I don't even know who she is.

"In the first dream, you… you were hurt," Keefe continued, his eyes running over Tam's face. "And they took you, and they said… it was the Goblin Queen. She wanted it to happen."

Tam laughed shakily. "That's silly. Why would the Queen want us? And why would there be a girl?" He shook his head at Keefe. "You need to go home and get some more sleep."

Keefe waved away the notion. "Eat your food and then we'll talk, alright?"

Tam pulled his soup bowl closer, rolling his eyes. "Whatever, blondie," he said, trying to tamp down the heat rising in his cheeks.

"Shut up, Bangs Boy."

The two sat there in companionable silence for the rest of lunch.

"Linh?"

The two girls sat next to each other, Biana's dark head resting on Linh's shoulder.

"Mmm hmm," Linh responded absentmindedly, running her fingers through Biana's chocolate curls over and over again.

"Do you think he remembers me?" Biana asked in a small voice. "Fitz, I mean."

Linh's hand stopped moving through Biana's hair. "I don't know," she said after a long beat of silence. "I don't know what they kept, and what they threw away."

Biana wrapped her arms around Linh's waist and buried her face in the other girl's neck. "We have to get him back," she mumbled, her tears dripping down Linh's collarbone.

Linh began to stroke Biana's hair again, whispering soothingly. "We will," she assured the dark-haired girl. "I promise."

And I know they don't want to see Tam ever again, but all I want is for him to come home.

I never even got to say goodbye…

A/N: Well, another chapter. I don't know how much I like this one, but oh well. Hopefully you guys like it at least :) Have a lovely day, and please leave a follow, favorite, and/or respectful review! I would love to hear y'all's thoughts on what I should do next.

Love from,

Bunny