Flashback ( PDFDrive )

breaking her promise to Sandor. But she’d been planning to wait until
the attack wasn’t so fresh.
Grady and Edaline had come a long way since the day when they’d
canceled her adoption because they were too overwhelmed by all of
her near-death experiences. But this was still the kind of news that
needed to be handled delicately.
“I know it sounds—”
“Hang on,” Edaline interrupted, holding out her hands like stop
signs. “Before you try to explain, I want you to know one thing, okay?”
She waited for Sophie to nod.
Then Edaline smiled and told her, “I think battle training’s a good
idea. And so does Grady.”
Elwin cracked up. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”
“Not really,” Sophie admitted, studying Edaline’s face, looking for
any sign that this was a trick. “You’re not going to tell me it’s too
violent?”
“I’m not,” Edaline agreed, tracing a finger down Sophie’s cocoon of
bandages. “I wish our world was the safe, peaceful place I used to
believe it was. But . . . there’s ugliness here. And it’s coming for you
and your friends—coming for all of us, really—whether we want it to
or not. So you need to protect yourselves any way you possibly can,
even if that means crossing a few careful lines. Why do you think I’ve
learned to handle certain weapons myself?”
Sophie considered that. “I guess I figured you wanted to be
prepared in case one of the animals got out of control in the pastures.”
“That’s part of it,” Edaline agreed, standing up and smoothing her
silky tunic. “But I’d never use something like this”—she snapped her