“I’ve buried four grandparents, two parents, a brother, three cousins, and about a hundred men who worked for me,” he says grimly. “I know what you’re feeling right now. I get it. But don’t let it master you.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
I roll my eyes. “Aleks told me the same thing. Do they give you a handbook or something?”
He smiles. “Yeah. On the first day of orientation, right before recess.”
I almost smile, but I bite it back. Mom wouldn’t mind if I did; she’d understand the need to find some kind of levity.
But I know Rob, Mia, and Hargrove are watching me.
“You don’t need them, you know,” Demyan offers suddenly.
“Of course I do,” I scoff. “They’re my siblings.”
“They’re just what you’re used to. The people whose shadows you’ve hidden in your whole life.”
“You have famil
