Free Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities) by Shannon Messenger Page A

have?”
    He nodded as his eyes traced every inch of her face, finally settling on her neck.
    His metal tin of custard bursts clanged against the ground as he lunged for her.
    Sophie shrieked and tried to block him, but he pinned her shoulders to her chair with one arm while his other hand tore at her cape.
    “That’s mine!” he shouted as Grady yanked him away and tossed him to the far side of the room.
    “What’s gotten into you?” Grady yelled as Brant cowered in the corner, murmuring, “Mine,” to his fist.
    Edaline rushed to Sophie, checking her for injuries. “Are you all right?”
    Sophie nodded, not quite able to speak yet. She kept one eye on Brant as she adjusted her clothes, frowning when she noticed something missing. “He stole my family crest.”
    Brant kissed his fisted palm, and Sophie noticed the tiniest speck of yellow sparkle peeking between his fingers. “Mine,” he said, laughing this time.
    “I . . . guess he recognized Jolie’s pin,” Edaline mumbled, her eyes turning watery.
    “Brant, give it back,” Grady ordered, stalking toward him.
    “It’s okay, he can keep it,” Sophie told Grady as he grabbed Brant’s hand and Brant screamed and tried to shove him away. She seemed to be making everything worse by being there—and she didn’t want that. Besides, Brant had known and loved Jolie in a way she never could. Jolie’s pin belonged to him much more than it ever would to her.
    “Mine!” Brant shouted, laughing and kissing the jeweled bird before he slipped it into the pocket of his long cloak. His whole body relaxed when his treasure was safely tucked away and his face twisted into an ugly smile.
    Edaline straightened up. “Maybe we should go—”
    “No!” Brant shouted, coughing and shaking his head. When he met Sophie’s eyes he seemed calm again. “Stay.”
    “Really, I’m fine,” Sophie promised, and after hesitating a second, Grady helped Brant settle back into his chair and handed him his tin of custard bursts.
    Edaline stayed next to Sophie, playing bodyguard.
    Brant coughed again, dry and hoarse.
    “Want me to conjure you some tea?” Edaline offered.
    “ Nothing hot! ” He dragged out the last word into a desperate wail. Then the wail turned into a crackling laugh and he rocked back and forth, rubbing his ruined chin.
    Grady launched into a long update on everything that had happened over the last year, but Sophie couldn’t tell if Brant was actually listening. Mostly he stared at her with his damagedface, which made her want to look anywhere but at him, and yet he held her gaze like a tractor beam.
    Edaline finally broke their awkward staring contest when she mentioned Silveny.
    Brant’s tin of custard bursts crashed to the ground again, and Sophie braced for another attack as Edaline jumped in front of her. But he simply stood, his eyes darting between the three of them. “You found another alicorn? A female?”
    Grady moved to Sophie’s side, taking her hand. “Sophie was the one who picked up Silveny’s thoughts in the forest and helped us bring her home. She’ll be the one rehabilitating her too.”
    Brant walked toward the wall, gazing at the smooth stones like someone might gaze out the window. “So the timeline will be reset.” He spun back toward them, his gray eyes sparkling as they met Sophie’s. “It’s a turning point. In our ever-changing world.”
    “Uh . . . sure.”
    The room fell into silence and Sophie started to squirm, wondering how much longer they’d have to sit there in the cold, unsettling room with the cold, unsettling elf.
    Fortunately, Brant made it easy on them.
    “I’m tired now,” he mumbled, dropping to the hard floor and curling up like a baby. “I need to rest.”
    Sophie expected Grady and Edaline to help him to his bed. Instead they got up and crouched beside him, squeezing his shoulder and telling him to sleep well.
    “See you next year,” Brant murmured through a yawn. He patted Jolie’s pin in