Flashback ( PDFDrive )

“Like what?”
He stared at his hands, twisting the Cognate rings round and round
before he transmitted, Like all the stuff you tell Keefe and don’t tell me.
She reached for Ella, deciding it was easier to continue this
conversation with her face mostly hidden behind blue floppy ears. I
don’t—
Yes, you do.
The words didn’t sound angry, but he still took a long, slow breath,
like he was fighting to keep his emotions under control when he
added, You both tell each other stuff you don’t tell anybody else. It’s, like . . .
a thing.
A thing, Sophie repeated—hearing Magnate Leto’s voice in her
head.
Complicated, he’d said.
But it wasn’t complicated.
I tell Keefe that stuff because it’s been the only way to get him to open up
to me, she explained. He’s super secretive.
He’s not the only one.
The accusation was impossible to miss. But . . . he wasn’t wrong.
I’ve had to keep secrets my whole life, she reminded him. It’s a hard
habit to break.
I get that. But if you can tell Keefe, why can’t you tell me?
I never said I can’t, she argued.
Maybe not. But you don’t.
Sophie sighed. I really don’t tell him as much as you’re thinking I do.
Uh, I can think of a bunch of stuff that he knows.
Like what? she found herself asking again—and regretted it long
before he said, He knows about the bracelets Dex gave you.