about joining them, but the spread of food beckoned me. Father and son needed their time together anyway, and I’d see Dorian before bed. So I sat on one of the old couches, its leather soft and supple from age, and began loading a plate with sausage, cheese, grapes, apple slices, and bread that was crusty on the outside and soft and warm in its center. Except for the couple bites of croissant and strawberry at breakfast, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten, and I devoured two plates full, along with two glasses of red wine. Then I lay on the couch, closed my eyes, and perused the mental pages of my book.
I found no mention of my daughter or of a girl. Not that I’d expected to—I’d studied the book for hours last night. I would have remembered anything about a daughter, but the book only mentioned the lack of one. If it had been written by the Angels, messengers of God, the story surely would have mentioned my daughter if she truly existed. Right? Why wouldn’t they include her in the book or on the vine?
Which meant I either misheard at today’s meeting or I didn’t get the full story. Perhaps Mom and Rina were right. And even if they weren’t, even if I really did hear Tristan and I already had a daughter, we had no information to use to search for her. If I wanted answers—
“I’ve been looking for you.” Tristan’s lovely voice broke into my thoughts. I opened my eyes as he lifted my legs to sit on the couch with me and then dropped them to drape over his lap.
I sat halfway up. “Is Dorian with you?”
“He’s in bed.”
“So early?”
“It’s not that early. It’s nearly ten.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been lying on the couch, lost in my own mind, for so long. My heart sank as I sagged back against the cushions. “I miss him so much, and I’ve barely spent any time with him since we’ve been here.”
“I think I wiped him out. He crashed pretty quickly.”
“I’m glad you at least got to spend time with him. He’s great, isn’t he?”
“The best.” Tristan smiled proudly. “He loves me.”
“Of course he does. What’d you expect?”
“We’re practically strangers. I suppose I thought he’d be more leery or shy.”
“Hmph. Dorian is afraid of nothing. Besides, I’ve been telling him stories about you since he was born. He’s missed you, too.”
“Thank you,” Tristan murmured. He bent over and brushed his lips across mine. “So what were you thinking so hard about?”
I didn’t answer him at first, still sorting out my thoughts, and when I did, it wasn’t exactly what I’d been thinking. “You flashed with me again. At the council meeting. You’re getting pretty good at that.”
Leading in a flash and following someone’s flash trail were fairly common, but flashing with someone else was supposed to be impossible. Tristan had done it with me four times in the last week.
He shrugged. “You obviously needed help. Why didn’t you flash yourself?”
I sighed and dropped my face into my hands.
“I . . . forgot . . . that I could,” I mumbled, feeling like an idiot. I waited for his chuckle, but it never came. I looked up at him expectantly.
“I think you had your mind on something else,” he said, and I nodded. “But you do need a lot of training. You can’t forget things like that. Flashing is paramount to your survival.”
“I know, but . . .” I didn’t finish, not able to excuse my own failure.
“That’s what you were thinking about when I came in?”
I sighed again. “Sort of. I was thinking about how much I don’t know. How much I have to learn. Including how to use this damn power I’ve been given.”
“So you’ll work with Rina after all?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’m still pretty mad at her.”
“Mmm.” His hand brushed tingles along my shin and calf, and his jaw muscle twitched as he seemed to be lost in thought for a minute. “You don’t really have much choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re not leaving this island until you’re trained, and Rina’s the only one who can help you with this particular power.”
I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.
“And we need you to listen to the council again if we want the information we need to find this girl.”
I shut my mouth. He knew how to get to me.
He took me to bed, and I lay in his arms, unable to sleep