Chapter 598: The Quiet Between Answers

Sophia was being pulled in different directions, laughing and dancing with her friends.

Even settling arguments.

At some point, someone had tried to balance a cup on Joren’s head.

At another, Cat had attempted to teach Nia something that looked suspiciously like a performance rather than a dance.

Dren had nearly knocked over a table.

Micah had stopped him barely. Elizabeth had let it slide, saying today was a day to celebrate after all.

Sophia laughed through it all. The smile on her face became a permanent fixture.

But eventually, even joy needed a pause.

She stepped back from the circle, her breath uneven from laughing too much, her cheeks flushed from the cold and the movement. Her fingers brushed briefly against her side as she tried to steady herself.

"I’ll be back," she said, though no one was really listening anymore.

They were too caught up in their own chaos.

She smiled anyway.

Then turned and headed directly for Orion, who had been watching her.

She beamed at him, the joy radiating from her in waves.

Orion looked at her for a moment.

Then one brow lifted slightly.

"Did you finally decide I’m worth paying attention to?" he asked her.

She nodded.

Orion gave her a disgusted look. "And you are so proud of it. I’m not particularly happy that you neglected me to have fun with your friends, shorty."

Sophia chuckled. "But I have fun with you almost every day."

"If you calling me an oaf or an ogre is fun..."

"Sex isn’t?" she asked him innocently.

"What?" he asked her.

"You were speaking like I only call you an oaf or ogre every day when I also have sex with you. Sex is fun, isn’t it?" she asked him.

Orion stared at her in disbelief, then shook his head. "I just want it to be known that I was not the one who brought up sex in this conversation."

Sophia laughed at that. "Anyways," she said, "I’m here now. Let’s do something fun."

"You neglected me for hours while I stayed here pining for you, and now you want to have fun?" he asked her.

"The day is still young, you oaf. We can do many things," she said to him.

Orion stared at her for a while, his eyes narrowed at her, then he sighed and looked up at the sky before looking back at her.

"I suppose it is," he told her. "And you better make it up to me."

"I’ll try my best," she said, saluting him.

Orion rolled his eyes at her but then smiled—it was soft.

"I’m glad you’re happy," he told her.

Sophia’s smile fell a little.

"Shorty, smile back, please. I did not say that for you to stop smiling," he told her.

Sophia ignored him, choosing not to reply.

Orion chuckled, then leaned in to brush a snowflake from her hair.

"You looked a bit down yesterday," he said. "After finding out the tonic you drank might have something to do with the corpse plant."

"...Yeah," she said quietly.

There was a pause.

Something unspoken settled between them.

Sophia glanced away for a brief moment, then back at him.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," she said.

Before Orion could respond, someone bumped into her from the side.

"I’m sorry!" the person said quickly, not even fully stopping before disappearing back into the crowd.

Sophia blinked.

Then huffed a small laugh.

Orion glanced toward the crowd, then back at her.

"...Perhaps we should change locations first before someone bumps into you again and I have to restrain myself from teaching them a lesson."

"Not everything should be solved with violence, Orion," she said sternly.

"True," he said with a nod as they started walking out of the square, "but if they hurt you, they should be taught a lesson, preferably with violence."

Sophia just shook her head at his logic. Sometimes she didn’t understand what went through his brain.

The noise faded slowly as they walked.

Step by step, the drums grew distant, the laughter softer, until it became nothing more than a background echo carried faintly by the wind.

They moved toward one of the quieter paths leading away from the square.

Snow crunched beneath their feet.

Sophia walked a little ahead at first, her hands tucked into her sleeves before one foot nudged lightly at the snow, kicking it forward absentmindedly.

"That snow did nothing to offend you," Orion said.

"Shut up," she told him.

Orion only chuckled in reply.

She was quiet for a while, and then she knelt down, using her hands to play with the snow. Orion just watched her without saying anything; he was almost certain she was gathering her thoughts.

"...It’s strange," she said after a while, her voice quieter now and even more thoughtful.

Orion watched as she tried to create a snowman. It was ugly and very badly made, but he said nothing.

"It feels like everyone in the pack has just... accepted me," Sophia said. "They were the same ones who murmured, saying I didn’t suit you, and now everyone is just okay with me and you being together."

There was something almost disbelieving in her tone.

Orion watched her.

Then nodded once.

"They have," he said. "And it’s honestly not that surprising—you are likeable, shorty."

Sophia let out a small breath.

A faint smile returned—but softer this time.

"...I am, right?" she asked him with a smile.

Orion chuckled. "That’s not very humble of you."

She stuck her tongue out and focused on making her fallen snowman. Orion crouched down and decided to help her with it.

"I sense a ’but’ in what you said, shorty," he told her.

Sophia huffed a quiet laugh.

"That’s because there is a but," she told him. "I’m scared."

"I’ve been acting like everything’s fine," she admitted. "Like... my memories, finding out who I am—it doesn’t bother me as much as it probably should. But it does, and I’m scared of what my memories hold, Orion."

"I need to recover them," she continued. "I know that much. And I feel like it should probably happen now rather than later. And even after what Ronan suggested..."

She hesitated. "...I still feel like I know Victoria, Orion."

The name lingered in the air.

"I don’t know how to explain it," Sophia said, frowning slightly. "But it doesn’t feel like a guess. It doesn’t feel like I’m reaching for something that isn’t there."

Her gaze lifted slightly.

"...It feels familiar. And I don’t think it’s a different Victoria, Orion. I think it’s the same..."

"...Why?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Why do you feel it’s the same Victoria?" he asked her.

"She’s the fake Luna, Orion. I’m the Luna. That’s enough to feel like I know her, isn’t it?" she asked him.

Orion was quiet. That made sense, even as much as he hated to admit it.

"But let’s not jump to conclusions first," he told her. "We found more information about the corpse plant."

Sophia’s attention sharpened immediately.

"And?"

"It doesn’t only grow in the west," he told her. "I met with Kairen, the hostage we got when we went into the heart of Nirvana, and he informed me there’s another garden that grows the plant. It’s close to the black market. I’ll send people to go with Kairen to see if the garden is still standing and we can get more information about the plant and what was mixed into what you were given."

Sophia just stared at him. "Is there something else you are not telling me, Orion? What exactly is the plant used for?" she asked him with a frown.

Orion opened his mouth to reply when he felt a sharp pain in his head. He groaned, holding his head. Sophia’s eyes widened as she rushed to him.

"Orion," she called out, and her voice only made the pain increase.

Orion groaned again in pain.

"Orion?" she called out.

He knew it was Sophia speaking; he could hear her, even though it sounded distant in his ears, like she wasn’t right there with him.

Instead, he heard the voice of a child asking him if he was okay, and the voice sounded so familiar, he was certain he had heard it before.

But the pain didn’t let him see clearly.

The girl held onto him, asking him if he was okay. Orion gathered the courage to look at her, and she had Sophia’s eyes—the same blue orbs, the same look she had on her face when she was worried.

She wasn’t blurry anymore. This was the same girl he had seen laughing earlier. Her hair wasn’t the vivid black he knew; it looked like it had been dyed, and the white of her hair was fighting with whatever dye had been used.

Orion was taken back to years ago, when he had sneaked into the fake Luna’s pack to steal herbs.

The pain increased, and his last thought was that he had been a fool. There was a reason Sophia’s eyes had always looked familiar to him from the first day he had seen her.

It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had amnesia after all.

And then he collapsed.