Flashback ( PDFDrive )

“Look at me, Keefe.”
She had to repeat the command two more times before he turned to
face her—and when their eyes met, she caught a glimpse of the
terrified, broken boy he always tried to hide behind bravado and
pranks.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Of course I do—that’s not the problem.”
“Yes, it is. If you trusted me, you’d know I’d never hold something
like this against you.”
“You should.” He pointed to her cocoon of bandages.
“Um, are you living a double life as a creepy Shade? Because that’s
who messed me up.”
Keefe stood, turning his back to her so he could kick the cot again.
“Umber wouldn’t have been able to find you if I hadn’t given you that
pendant. Just like the day the Neverseen broke Silveny’s wing because
of the Sencen crest I was wearing.”
“And you know what both of those things have in common?”
Sophie asked. “You had no idea that the Neverseen were manipulating
you.”
“Yeah, well I should’ve figured it out. Or I should’ve—”
“Don’t go down that road, Keefe. It doesn’t lead anywhere good.
Trust me, I know. If I let myself take that journey, I’d be sitting here
thinking about the fact that if I hadn’t hit my panic switch, Dex’s arm
wouldn’t be in a sling. And if you’d been the one to go talk to Fitz after
the Tribunal instead of me, he wouldn’t have a broken leg and cracked
ribs. And if I hadn’t let you guys come with me to Nightfall, Biana
wouldn’t—”