Lucas grumbled. “Don’t draw me into this.”
“No, he’s not,” Blaze said with a laugh.
Claudia looked at Lucas and then to Blaze. “How old are you?”
“Very.” Blaze smiled, looking pretty pleased with himself.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re as vague as Lucas.”
“I’ve found that age isn’t important. Knowledge is. Experience. Innate power—which you’re born with—”
“It can be gained,” Lucas cut in.
“No. You’re born with what y
ou’ve got. How it’s honed is important so that it can grow, but the potential is born in a person. Unless it’s gained nefariously, then you’ve got all the power you’ve got from the start. Accessing it is another story.”
Lucas nodded. “That I can agree with.”
“Your power needs to be honed,” he said to me. “Both of yours.” He said to Dastien. “True mates are one thing. Powerful ones are another beast entirely. And neither of you has the training—”
“I’ve trained Dastien since he was a child.” Mr. Dawson’s defensive tone cut off Blaze.
“But he’s going to need more training. A lot more.”
Mr. Dawson grumbled something unintelligible and went back to typing on his phone.
Lucas put down his fork. “This isn’t a contest. We’re all strong.”
“Not like they could be.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter how much training we need later. If we don’t figure out a way to quickly undo the mess you guys left for us to clean up, we’re all going to die.”
Blaze nodded. “You’re right. This situation could’ve been avoided, and for that, I’m sorry.”
“I am, too,” Mr. Dawson said as he set down his phone. “I have a bit of foresight. Not like yours, but some. I knew you were coming before your father answered the ad. Even before Dastien was born. It seemed silly to join when I knew that changes were coming.” When he looked at me, I could almost feel his regret and pain. “I didn’t know the ripple effect killing Ferdinand would cause. I didn’t see what Luciana was going to do or Astaroth showing up. If I knew I would’ve—”
“It’s okay,” I said. We’d rehashed this over and over. He needed to let it go. Honestly, we all did. We had a bigger fight coming, and I didn’t want to spend it angry with anyone in this room.
“It’s really not.”
The tension in the room was thick enough for me to smell. Everyone was uncomfortable, and the soured milk scent of sadness and guilt was pouring off of Mr. Dawson in waves.
Dastien said something in French that I didn’t understand, but because I was in his head, I knew that he was telling him that it was okay. That he wasn’t mad.
“What he said.”
Dastien turned to me and I could feel his surprise. “Since when do you speak French?”
“I didn’t understand the words but I got the sentiment.” I tapped my forehead. “Benefit of being your other half.”
Dastien bumped his shoulder into mine. “Eat, chérie.”
I took a bite of pancake and nearly moaned. Mom had put cinnamon into the mix. She was the best.
Lucas and Blaze started chatting about some fight they had a million years ago—possibly literally—and I focused back in on Shane as I ate.
He’d been hurt by a demon in Santa Fe. After the battle, we’d left New Mexico, but Adrian stayed behind while Shane was in the hospital. I thought they’d end up together, but Shane left. I never knew why and Adrian didn’t volunteer any reason. He was too hurt.