KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Reckless (Grady POV)

A/N: This chapter takes place during Nightfall and describes what I imagine would have happened if Grady had gone to visit  Keefe while he was on bed rest.
Also—this is part 170 in this one-shot collection!! Anyone else remember when I wrapped up my main story and said I'd be starting on my *small* collection of one-shots? And now here we are, approaching the limit of how many chapters a Wattpad story can contain. When I hit 200, I guess I'll have to mark this one as complete and start another collection—and just pick up wherever I left off!

Sophie hadn't been very forthcoming with the details of what happened in Ravagog.

She told Grady that King Dimitar had agreed to attempt a working relationship with the Black Swan, and was giving Keefe an ogre bodyguard as a sort of test.

And something about a sparring match and Keefe being on bed rest for a week while he recovered.

But she didn't seem to want to talk about it.

So Grady reached out to Blur and got more details.

Then he spoke with Lady Cadence, who also added her insight as one who had studied ogre culture.

The picture they painted gave Grady and Edaline a pretty good idea of what had happened.

That Boy was lucky to be alive.

"I think," Grady admitted to Edaline, "I need to speak with him."

Edaline nodded in understanding. "That might be a good idea. I can't believe he actually got into a sparring match with King Dimitar...or that he won."

"I know—it's actually pretty impressive."

Edaline raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Grady cracked a smile. "Not that I would admit that outside of this room."

She rolled her eyes. "You should. He certainly doesn't get praise at home."

"I know," Grady sighed. "But he doesn't make it easy. I was just starting to warm up to him when he ran off. And now it's very hard to trust him with Sophie's well-being."

Edaline studied his face. "You know what I think the issue is?"

"What's that?"

"You care about Keefe, and you don't want to. You would rather hate him for what he did, even though you understand it and you even like him, because you can see how close he and Sophie are getting, and that scares you."

"They're just friends," Grady said quickly. "As if we can't both tell what boy she has feelings for, and it's not Keefe."

"There is some truth in that, but if it were really that simple, you wouldn't struggle so much with their friendship. And you'd probably still call him by his name."

She wasn't wrong.

Sophie obviously liked Fitz Vacker--who was a really good kid, and the son of one of Grady's closest friends--but Grady still didn't much like it.

So the fact that That Boy was also very dear to her...

It made Grady want to lock her in her bedroom for the next hundred years and never let any boys anywhere near her.

If he'd done that to Jolie, she'd still be alive.

Shaking those dark thoughts out of his mind, Grady hailed Keefe and told him he'd like to visit if Keefe was up to it.

The boy agreed, but looked terrified at the prospect.

As soon as Grady arrived--grudgingly impressed at Keefe's reasoning for staying in Alvar's old apartment--Keefe asked him who had been hurt.