Sophie closed the door behind her and Fitz and sat down wearily on her bed. Fitz took the carpet, like he didn't dare sit next to her. For some reason, that hurt even more than the month he'd spent away from her.

"Grady doesn't approve of us?" he asked, sounding lost.

"Grady's fine with us," Sophie insisted. "It was the month you ignored me that is really ticking him off. Why'd you do that, anyway? You've never let coursework get in the way of our time before."

"This time it was a lot more," Fitz pointed out.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "We're hunting the Neverseen! And you were skipping all our telepathy sessions. Now there's something." She said when she saw the spark of guilt in his eyes. "You were deliberately avoiding me, right?"

"Yes and no," said Fitz.

Sophie stared flatly at him. "I'm getting tired of your half answers, Fitz." She turned her expression more pleading. "Please. It's like you can't confide in me anymore. Didn't I use to be the only one you trusted? You're still the only person I trust completely. But I can feel this, it's damaging our Cognate connection. You're keeping a lot of secrets."

Fitz shifted uncomfortably. "Not a lot," he argued. "One big secret, which adds up to tinier ones here and there."

"Right," Sophie said, unfazed. "So that. Fine." Then she lowered her eyes. "Fitz, I'm not keeping any secrets from you. I'm happy to let you see all of my memories. But... are you... you don't care about me anymore, is that it?"

"No!" Fitz said immediately. "No," he repeated when she looked skeptical. "It isn't that, I promise! It's... it's..."

His mouth curved into the word, and Sophie finally understood.

"Della," she said.

Fitz's mother had used to be a beautiful, kind woman, but recently, after Fitz's poisoning and even before that, she had turned nasty, not caring in the least for her son, and Biana had turned the same way as her mother, avoiding Fitz and... avoiding Sophie.

"Did Della tell you to stay away from me?" Sophie asked quietly.

She didn't have to see Fitz nod to know he had. He looked remorseful and he wouldn't meet her eyes, which didn't matter because he wouldn't meet hers, either.

"I didn't want to," he whispered. "But Mom kept saying coursework, coursework and I shouldn't be wasting time on you and I said I wasn't wasting time, and then she said that if I didn't stop seeing you, she was going to personally trail me around like Grizel."

"Oh, did this conversation turn to me?"

Della appeared in Sophie's room and Sophie screamed. "Yes, I can be frightening when I want to be," Della said with a smirk. "What are you going to say? Just because I've sworn fealty to the Black Swan doesn't mean I have to be a perfect mother to dear Fitz. I'm getting rather sick of your attitude, Fitz. I told you I didn't want you dating Sophie, and you went ahead with seeing her every day. When I slipped you that poison, I seriously thought you wouldn't see Sophie for months."

"The poison was you?" Fitz choked out. "Is that why you never visited? Was the guilt cracking you?"

Della smirked. "No, actually. The guilt was cracking Biana. Did you know why?"

"Why?" Fitz whispered.

"Because, Fitz, do you remember that slumberberry tea Biana gave you to help you sleep? I spiked that, but Biana's the one who prepared the slumberberries, and she didn't know I poisoned them. Quite comical when she found out you'd been poisoned, and she thought if was her fault, you know? Because she was the one who picked those slumberberries; I suppose if wasn't her fault I chose to spike them. But there's nothing more satisfying for a poison than slumberberry tea," Della said contemptuously. "And seriously, your bodyguards need serious training. I caught Sandor by surprise, and I was afraid Grizel would notice me the entire journey, but she didn't, and here I am."

"Why did you confess you'd poisoned Fitz?" Sophie demanded. "What makes you think you're safe?"

Della smirked again. "Everything, Sophie. Could you seriously harm me, after all I've done for you? I was the mother you didn't have before Edaline came along, and I was so happy for you back then. But if I'd raised you under my wing, Fitz would never have thought of you as anything more than a sister. You realize that, right? When I sent you away - or rather, when you chose Grady and Edaline over me and Alden - you opened the pathway to a romantic relationship with Fitz. Was that your intention?"

"Well, a little," Sophie admitted. "I just... wasn't sure if Fitz would ever be interested in me, but I didn't want to shut that door. And how did this turn to us?" She glared at Della. "We were talking about you!"

Della looked... bored. "Well, it so happens I don't want to talk about myself. So unless you have anything useful to add, I'm going to take you away."

"No you-" Fitz swiped blindly at the air where Della had been, and Sophie could hear cackling from the other side of the room.

But Della had seemed to have forgotten why Sophie was so popular in base quest. Sophie tracked Della with her mind, tracing her every step.

𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘍𝘪𝘵𝘻, Sophie sent. She was still figuring out Della's pattern for moving, if the snide woman even had one, and it was proving difficult. As a Vanisher, Della was a master of unpredictability. But she eventually left an opening when she sidestepped towards Sophie's closet, because the only place she could go from there was left. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 - 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳! Sophie shouted at Fitz.

But he didn't respond. Then he turned to her and asked, "Why aren't you responding to me?!"

Sophie stared. "Why aren't you respond to me?"

They both said at the same time, "You mean you can't hear me?!"

"You two really are comical," Della drawled. "I suppose I'll just-"

Then Sophie focused the full might of her Inflicting on Della Vacker.

Della screamed and came into view, the red beam from Sophie's forehead locked onto Della's, torturing her, and Della's screams brought solace to Sophie's heart. She kept on flooding Della with excruciating pain, which anger, all the darkness built up in her and channelled it all at Della. The mountain of emotions threw Della to the ground, and she flailed and writhed, her neverending screams haunting Sophie's room.

But not Sophie. Fitz was shaking, too much for him, but she didn't care. She'd deal with him later, comfort him it she needed to.

What mattered at that moment was making Della Vacker pay.