Sophia's POV
I clinked my glass against his and drank it down in one.
Below, Lily had failed to get near the band. A security guard had caught her instead, and I watched someone tall appear at the edge of the room and take hold of her arm. The two of them disappeared through the door, Lily not bothering to look back.
My phone buzzed a minute later.
[Lily: SOBBING they took me home!! Guardian appeared out of NOWHERE send me the autograph in spirit!!]
I smiled at my screen. Genuinely.
I had always been slightly envious of Lily, in the way you envy people who have something you stopped believing you could have. Her guardian had no blood connection to her and loved her anyway, completely, without conditions.
My mother was the only person who had ever loved me like that. And she had been
