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I took a couple of minutes to consider the question. "I don't know," I said finally. "If my power was passed from my biological father, then it's possible Andy had it too. He could have just found it too hard to be different." Hades knew I struggled with it my whole life.
I mused for a moment longer. "If he was killed for it, I would be too. It's never been a secret that I'm different."
"They really had no idea what they had, did they?" Dex asked.
"And you do?" I replied tartly.
He fixed me with a cool, steely gaze. "Yes, I do."
Once, his look might have given me chills. Now, I was just happy to be appreciated and not used as a punching bag, verbal or physical, or shunned. I didn't know which was worse.
"Finish your meal," Dex said. "You'll need some rest before the Alpha gets here."
"Is he that bad?" I scooped up the rest of my rice on my fork.
"Bad?" Dex asked. "No, he's not bad. He's just—" He searched for the right word. "Intense. Wary."
"Like he has enemies everywhere?" I suggested.
"Something like that," Dex agreed. "He tends to keep himself out of the public eye for his own safety, especially since he has no heir."
"So you get to bear the brunt of everything." I didn't try to hide my disapproval. The Covener was an asshole, but he didn't hide behind anyone else.
Dex shrugged. "That's the Keeper's job. To keep the Vault from falling into chaos. To be the Alpha's mouthpiece. Don't be fooled though, I don't make any major decisions he doesn't know about."
"You send him the occasional email?" I suggested facetiously. "Or messenger seagull?"
"It might be by shark," Dex joked.
At least Ithoughthe was joking.
"We have ways of sharing information," he added.
I waited. "Are you going to tell me how?" It could be by snail shifter for all I knew. Were there such things? I had no idea.
"Some day," he said.
His evasive response made me obscurely annoyed.
"Why? Do you think I might go crazy with it and start sending messages to all my hemitheos friends?" I asked.
"You have some?" Dex tilted his head questioningly.
"No. Every other one I've ever met is dead. Or as good as." They might be working right now to free Luther, but I doubted they'd have much luck. I suspected Comus would know and would put a stop to it. Unless someone was willing to take his place, then Luther would be stuck there for a very, very long time. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but better him than me.
"And if they weren't?" Dex asked.
"Then I would be," I said. "There doesn't seem to be much loyalty between demigods."
Dex rubbed his chin. "I suppose you're right. I would still like to find more."
"To build an army?" I asked, half joking.
Dex's eyebrows rose and fell. "Possibly," he said. "If nothing else, you'd know you're not alone." He locked his eyes on mine. "I don't want you to feel that way, even if you're only surrounded by shifters for the rest of your days."
"Shifters are better company than witches," I said, my tone drier than the desert.
"That's true," Dex said with no hint of modesty. "The witches I know are usually— Unfriendly."
