22. Cove

Chapter 22

Cove

“He’s going to be incredible,” Frost whispered as we watched Florian talk to his family. “He’s a natural leader.”

Funny how we could all see the strengths of others so clearly but overlooked our own abilities over and over.

I nodded. “If anyone can save Dawnchaser from the path they’ve set themselves on, it’s Florian.”

Frost leaned against me—something he’d always done as a child and seemed to do even more now that he was grown. Probably because I was the only member of the family he didn’t tower over, so he could still lean on me without knocking me over. “I always thought...with Rain, that is...he worked hard to get as good as he is at being a leader. So sometimes I thought it was my fault I wasn’t. I just wasn’t trying hard enough. Wasn’t working at it the right way. But Florian wasn’t even allowed to try until now. He never had a chance. But there he is, falling into perfect step with it, like he was born to do this.”

It was like a rock dropped into my gut, the thought of Frost feeling like he wasn’t enough. I reached up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “You have never, not once in your entire life, not tried hard enough. There’s nothing wrong with being good at some things and not others.” I turned to look at him. “Do you want to be head of the family?”

He almost took a step back, shaking his head wildly. “Are you kidding? It’s awful. You and Rain are constantly stressed. Why would anyone want to be head of a family?”

I shrugged and then indicated the crowd with my head. “A fair number of them would say everyone wants it. That you’d have to be mad not to want it. They want the power. They want to be able to do what Florian just did.”

Frost’s brows drew together and he turned to look at Florian, who was speaking to the severer. “Florian didn’t want to do it, though. It was awful.”

“Over the years, I’ve found that the people who want to have power over others are never the people who should have it. In fact, it’s usually quite the opposite.” I motioned to Florian’s cousin Courtney, who was still sitting up front, glaring at him, whispering furiously to the young Dawnchaser at his side. He saw me motion toward him and turned the glare on me, but I ignored him in favor of my nephew. “He wants the job. Rather badly, if his behavior is any indication. Would you want him making decisions like severing?”

Frost shuddered at the thought, shaking his head and looking away. “It still seems...unjust, though, doesn’t it? I might not want people like that to have power, but Florian doesn’t want to have people severed. Why does he have to do it?”

“It does seem unjust. I’m sure Rain has been envious that you’re not slated to lead the family—or at least that no one else is. Frankly, he was the only possible choice, and he knows it. And I know how heavily that weighs.” I gave a tiny shrug. “But if Rain and Florian and I don’t take up the responsibility, people like Courtney are always waiting to grab at it, and where does that land us?”

Frost sighed, and for a moment we just stood there in silence as the Dawnchaser cousins finally started to leave the small amphitheater. Some of them watched Florian as they went, and I suspected we would hear more from them, one way or another.

“Is it selfish of me to be grateful I’ll never have to lead the family?” Frost asked, finally breaking the silence.

I smiled down at him, squeezing his shoulder. “Not even a little. Rain would never hold that against you either. We should all be grateful for the good things we have and not being forced into a job you aren’t suited for is most certainly a good thing.”

“It disappoints Mother.” The look on his face was heartbreaking, and it finally made me completely understand the misery Delta—and my own inaction—had wrought in the children.

I made a sound that was almost a growl, slicing my hand through the air violently, as though I could shove Delta’s demands away. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been rather disappointed in your mother of late. Pitting you kids against each other as though family leadership is something to compete for? Treating Rain as though his falling in love is an inconvenience aimed at her? Maybe it’s time for your mother to grow up and realize that we’re all adults who get to decide what’s best for ourselves.”

Frost stared at me, eyes round in shock, like it had never before occurred to him that his mother could do wrong. Or maybe, more likely, that he hadn’t realized I would see it as well. I’d always supported her entirely, and suddenly, I could see how much that had forced the kids not to acknowledge the faults in her, either.

“You’re a clever man, Frost. You know no one is perfect. Not even her. And frankly, I think it’s time we all start to live for ourselves and not for Delta’s opinions of us.”

He practically went boneless against me, his head falling onto my shoulder, and oddly enough, something peaceful filled me at the sensation. We would be okay, all of us, with or without my sister’s approval.

“She failed, though, you know,” he finally whispered after a moment. “This whole”—he motioned around us, toward the risers and people leaving—“setting us all against each other, making us compete to be the next leader of the Moonstriker family. We all always knew it would be Rain.”

“Considering this place is an example of what happens when people do compete for the chance to rule a family, I’m going to count us lucky for not falling into that trap.”

Finally, Frost laughed at that, even if it sounded a little wet. “I’d rather be the last Moonstriker alive and never have power over so much as a bagel than live in fear and hate like these people have done. Florian’s a stronger person than me, to survive this.”

“No, he’s just different. And he needs support, just like anyone would in this situation. Fortunately, he’s got Fawn to stand with him. And Ivy.”

“And you,” Frost added, his voice soft and tone knowing. When I whipped my head around to look down at him, there was a tiny smile on his face. “I might not know people as a group, Uncle Cove, but I know you. You’ve never had anyone in your room at night before, but Florian was there last night. That means something to you.”

And he was entirely right. I’d been fooling myself, thinking that something could bloom between Florian and me, while it had already been growing at an exponential rate. Something was there already. Something that was cracking the flimsy foundation I’d built my life on, just like those weeds Delta would have wanted to be rid of.

Even more unexpected, I found that I didn’t mind at all.