A/N: This is an answer to Morning table. It takes place two or three days after that drabble. I only referenced it from memory as I wrote, so please forgive any continuity errors.

To give you a little background (for both stories): I imagine a scenario where something bad is going down and Cedric knows the power of the Amulet can solve the problem. He begs Sofia to trust him with the Amulet. She does trust Cedric - he hasn't give her any reason not to since the Day of the Sorcerers episode - except Cedric is missing an important piece of the puzzle to the threat and, for whatever reason, the Royal Family has to be sacrificed but Cedric is able to save one person, and he picks (and is encouraged to pick) Sofia. She's too young to rule, with her family dead, and Tilly is gone too for reasons and so Cedric, with the power of the Amulet, takes over the kingdom. Something happens to require Sofia to be locked up because REASONS but Cedric knows he's making the right move, because he isn't being cursed by the Amulet. Sofia doesn't know her family is dead until about a week before "Morning Table."

I'm debating expanding this piece into a full fledged story. Any interest?

p.s. can you tell I'm procrastinating on Freed From Lace? eeeeee ^^;

Evening Table
fifteen years old

Cedric was struggling to button his jacket as he ran from his rooms to the Great Hall. The sun had barely set and the evening meal beckoned. And she had asked for him. Panic and excitement, concern and joy all fought for dominance within him. He had no idea what she was going to say. He had imagined the exchange hundreds of times, though it usually ended with her spitting in his face and knocking his crown to the ground. Cedric was hoping for better.

His feet had carried him to the double doors and he paused there, finishing his buttoning and taking a moment to catch his breath but not bothering to calm his heart rate. What was the point? It had been elevated since he broke the news to her two days ago and he doubted it would settle any time soon. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Sofia was sitting on the edge of her chair, taking delicate little sips from the teacup held between her manacled hands. Tea wasn't exactly food but he felt a little thrill at seeing her consuming something. Anything. Her eyes looked glazed over and distant with red rings that spoke to sleepless nights and fallen tears.

Upon seeing her, Cedric immediately waved a hand in the air and the manacles unlocked, falling from her wrists and disappearing before they could land in her lap. Her eyes focused on him instantly. She gave him the smallest of nods, recognizing his sign of trust. And then she stood in a sign of respect that Cedric wouldn't have believed if he hadn't been there to see it, not after the past two years of her resistance and pugnacious attitude toward him.

"I've decided to forgive you," her voice echoed slightly in the nearly empty room, though it was quiet and hoarse. Her words froze Cedric in place. "It's what my mother would have -" she cut herself off, fighting back the tears that had begun to well at the corners of her eyes. "You were doing what you thought was right. And I can't blame you for that." Sofia balanced herself on the table, her hand possessively resting on the journal of her mother's that Cedric had found when he willed himself to enter the King and Queen's chambers for the first time since his...mistake. He had only read the last entry - a letter to Sofia in case things went rather less well than they all hoped.

Cedric could only nod. He could see Sofia had more to say although she had paused to battle through the tears that she couldn't restrict from trickling down her face.

"She...she made you promise…"

"To save you, yes. Because you knew the Amulet and the kingdom would need you most if-"

"-if you didn't make it, either." She finished for him. She bit down on her lower lip as she concentrated, willing herself to stop her tears from falling and not succeeding. "...there was no other way?"

Cedric had thought about this question over and over again. He played out in his head every scenario with every alternative and it all lead back to him with the Amulet and the chance to save only one of the Royal Family. He knew the answer now, just has he had known the answer then.

"No, Sofia. I am so, so sorry." It felt like nothing worth saying. A pittance against her loss but an apology, and a safe and stable kingdom but that was beside the point, was all he had to offer her. He was surprised, however, to find himself close enough to Sofia to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He hadn't realized he had moved closer and closer to her, drawn to her by her heartache. She looked up at him as he touched her shoulder. Her eyes locked with his, unwilling to release him.

"I forgive you," Sofia stated clearly, unwaveringly before curling into his shoulder and weeping as her body shook from sorrow. As Cedric held her in fraternal comfort, his chin resting on her head, he marveled at the best of a worst case scenario.