“Serious-fuck-ing-ly?” Meryn asked, her eyes wide.
Zoe tried to ignore the incredulous looks she was getting from around the table. “Lunch is always at two o’clock. On the weekdays, it was soup, and on the weekends, it was roast.”
“No pizza? No sushi? NoHot Pockets??” Meryn asked.
“I know what pizza and sushi are from books I’ve read, but I’ve never had them.” She frowned. “What is aHot Pocket?”
Meryn spun in her chair toward her squire. “Ryuu!”
Ryuu placed a hand on his charge’s head. “I will work with Cord, Meryn, don’t stress yourself. We’ll make sure Lady Zoe gets to experience all your favorite foods.”
Meryn exhaled in relief and turned back to her. “You are my brothers’ bestest friend, so that makes you my bestest friend. And in our bat cave, we eat pizza andCheetos, with coffee and sugar-freeRed Bull. I would be a bad bestest friend if I did not introduce you to the finer things in life. Consider yourself mine now.”
“Here we go again,” Aiden said, chuckling. “I don’t mind this time. She’s technically my godsdaughter, so she was already family.”
Meryn flicked a pea at him. “How come you never mentioned that?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t heard from Mikel in nearly a decade, so I wasn’t sure if he still considered the Alpha Unit herathairs.”
“How come she didn’t know?” Meryn asked.
Zoe looked to Aiden. “Yes, why do you think Mikel never told me?”
“Probably to keep you safe,” Kendrick replied. “If you had known you had four unit warriors asathairs, would you have complied as much as you did once your parents and siblings left?”
Zoe shook her head. “I would have gone to Lycaonia the day I came of age.” She smiled. “I probably would have written to them all the time about how bored I was too.”
“He knew you well. I’m willing to bet he planned on being with you up until your one-hundredth birthday, and then he would have brought you to Lycaonia for safekeeping. Something must have changed his plans.” Kendrick looked over at Aiden. “Do you have a way of getting ahold of him?”
Aiden’s face became thoughtful. “Maybe, if he still uses his unit-issued cell. Nearly all unit warriors past and present carry one.” He frowned. “It’s not a sure-fire method of reaching warriors. We never heard back from the missing Vanguard.”
Zoe’s mouth dropped. “Caroline and I have been looking for him for years and it’s because we didn’t have his number?”
Aiden winced. “It’s only used amongst unit warriors. Did he leave you no way of contacting him?”
She shook her head. “When he left, he said he wouldn’t be gone long.” She felt her eyes fill. “What if something’s happened to him?”
“What about your parents?” Anne asked gently.
She felt her curls sway as she shook her head again. “The council assigned them out ten years ago. Caroline said it must be important because she has access to most of the council’s records and couldn’t find anything on them.”
“When did you come of age?” the queen asked.
“About a month ago,” she answered. “That was when the council moved me out of our family home and into the Fire Temple to act as the Fire Temple Head.”
“Why you, if you’re so young?” Meryn asked.
“An Appleblossom has always led the Fire Temple. With my parents on assignment and both my brother and sister having served and gone, it fell to me once I came of age,” she explained.
Pip stood and walked over to sit beside her, then pulled her in for a hug. “Meryn said I am in charge of cuddles, and since you were raised kinda like me, I know you need cuddles.”
Zoe returned his hug and relaxed against him. “Were you kept secluded too?”
He nodded. “Yes, my father did not care for me much, so those in our household followed his example in their treatment of me.”
She looked at him. “What’s there not to care for? You’re amazing.”
He smiled brightly. “I can believe you now because Meryn tells me that all the time. I think you’re amazing too since you stayed true to yourself.”