Flashback ( PDFDrive )

She shook her head, trying to find something to say that wouldn’t
be embarrassingly mushy. “It’s . . . beautiful.”
Fitz beamed. “Here, I’ll help you put it on.”
He stepped behind her and swept her hair aside, and she was pretty
sure she didn’t breathe the entire time he tied the silk cord around her
neck.
They didn’t have a mirror, but she could tell the pendant hung just
below her collarbone, where everyone would see it—and probably
know exactly what it meant.
But . . . that was good, wasn’t it?
That was—
Someone cleared his throat, and Sophie whipped around to find Mr.
Forkle giving them a raised-eyebrow look that had Fitz’s cheeks
flushing adorably red.
“Sorry I’m late,” Mr. Forkle told them. “It ended up being much
more difficult to switch identities today than I expected.”
Sophie frowned. “Wait—if Fintan sees you like that, he’ll know
you’re still alive.”
“Which is why I won’t let him see me unless I decide I want to.
This”—he gestured to his swollen face—“is a backup plan, in case we
need to regain the upper hand in the conversation. A way to shock
some of the bravado out of him.”
“And you’re sure we shouldn’t be joining you?” Tarina asked as she
stepped out of the shadows with Bo and Flori.
Sandor and Grizel were the only guards that the Council had
approved for the visit—and even they weren’t allowed inside the actual
prison.