Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Ro muttered something that sounded a little like “about time,” but
they all ignored her.
Thank you, Sophie transmitted to Fitz.
He nodded, stepping closer and pulling her into a hug—a hug that
lasted longer than Sophie expected. Long enough that she finally had
to pull away, hoping her face wasn’t super red.
“Hail me when you’re back from Marella’s, okay?” Fitz asked,
reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear.
“I will,” Sophie promised.
His fingers lingered on her cheek a few seconds longer. Then he
raised his home crystal up to the light and leaped away.
Keefe whistled, tearing his hands through his hair. “Wow, so that’s
how it’s going to be now, huh? I mean, I appreciate you skipping the
whole goodbye-smoochy-smoochy thing, but—”
“Ugh, we don’t do that yet,” Sophie corrected—and then instantly
regretted it.
Keefe raised one eyebrow. “Does that mean—”
“I have some news about your mom,” she jumped in, going for an
immediate subject change.
And it worked a little too well. All the blood seemed to drain from
Keefe’s face, and he squared his shoulders like he was bracing for
impact.
“Well . . . I guess ‘news’ is the wrong word,” Sophie hedged. “Maybe
‘update’ is better? Or . . . ‘clarification’?”
Ugh, why was this so hard?
She blew out a breath and plunged ahead. “Fintan let Fitz and me
each ask one question when he was trying to prove that we could trust
him. So I asked him about the shattered memory you recovered—”