UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 46

"What are you doing here?" Fitz spat, venom dripping from his words as goblin bodyguards leaped in front of the Councillors, and beside her, she could feel Sandor and Ro readying very pointy weapons at Fitz's traitorous brother.

Alvar coughed and spluttered, slumping against the Councillor's royal pedestal.  Sophie caught Della about to go over to help Alvar- after all, even if he was evil, he was still her son -but Alden restrained her, his eyes dancing with just as much fury as Fitz.

"Wanted.... to...warn-" Alvar croaked, and then broke into a coughing fit. Fitz looked like Keefe when he was trying to restrain himself from doing what the Neverseen was controlling him to do- fists clenched with restrained anger.

Sophie knew that the longer he kept that anger boiling up, the bigger the spill was going to be when it overflowed.

"I wanted to- to.... warn you- the Neverseen... coming- be...careful," he managed to splutter.  It took Sophie a minute to piece together what he was saying- and then fully digest it without throwing her ridiculous tiara at his head.

"Why would you warn us about that?  Aren't you on their side?" Sophie demanded.

"Yeah, and how are we even supposed to believe you?" Keefe added, sounding a little bit more choked up than he let on.

Here he was: on trial because his traitorous Mom was controlling him by reprogramming him, and then his best friends older brother, who'd also betrayed him, and who he'd looked up to for his entire life, was close to death and warning them about the evil organization he worked for- or used to work for? Sophie had no idea.

"Just...trust," he rasped, his voice crackling, but probably not from emotion.

"Trust," he repeated, and for just that second his eyes cleared to teal, and he looked so peaceful despite the fact that he was seconds away from death.

Then he fell limp, his eyes rolling back to his head.

And understandably, Emery called the meeting to and end.

____________

Sophie flopped onto her bed.

She would probably sleep for a week after this. Or maybe a month. And possibly a year.

But all she could hear, pounding repeatedly like waves washing onto wet sand through her head was Alvar's eerily vague warning... "Neverseen...coming-be....careful."

Even though it was boiling outside, she shivered.  She knew how slim the chances were that Alvar had been telling the truth but.... he had never really said or done anything to prove he wasn't with the Neverseen anymore.

And it was probably a trap. All things were.

But then.... why did it scare her so much?

Which is why she really needed it, more than she could bring herself to admit, when Fitz's face faded onto the screen of her Imparter and his crisply accented voice filled the room.

"How are you holding up?"  Fitz asked, his features laced with concern.

Sophie looked at his bruised knuckles, probably from punching walls, to the dark circles covering his puffy, bloodshot eyes.  "About as good as you are," she admitted.

"You know.... you don't have to believe him," Fitz said, tearing a hand through his dark hair.

"And you don't have to pretend like you're doing alright even though you obviously aren't.  Alvar's still your brother.  He's still dead."

"I realize that," Fitz snapped, but his face softened as Sophie jumped back, startled.  "Sorry.  I don't want us to fight anymore."

"Neither do I," Sophie told him, resisting the urge to add you don't make it easy to the end of that sentence.

"Do you really believe him?"  Fitz asked quietly, shattering the ice that was slowly forming through the awkward silence.

"I think....." Sophie hesitated, trying to pick her words carefully.  "I think there's something to be said about the fact that he went out of his way to warn us about it.... and risk you doing whatever you were going to do if Biana wasn't restraining you.  How is she holding up, by the way?"

"I mean... she doesn't hold grudges like I do so she was a bit more saddened by his death, like Mom, even though he's evil."

Sophie noticed he hadn't made any major Alvar slams at the moment.... maybe it was because in death, Fitz realized there was a purpose to what Alvar was doing.

Not like Vespera, or Gethen, who were evil just to be evil.

Lady Gisela was there for Keefe's legacy.  Adela had been injected with a much too high dose of shadowflux. Alvar had joined because he didn't fit in.

And all her life Sophie hadn't quite fit in either.

"Maybe he changed.  At the end of his life.  He made a choice to set things right."

"Sure," Fitz snorted.  

"I think so," Sophie said, mostly to herself.

She was speaking for the part of her who did  believe it.  Her mind.

Brilliant. Impenetrable. Game changing.

Unfortunately, her mind was the one inside of her that always got it wrong.