Page 63 of Forgotten Promise

“Wait, what?” Oscar demanded. “Acting…?”

“Each key has its own specific lock in the inner waihona door. Whoever’s key opens the top lock becomes the acting Grand Master.”

“Selene might become the temporary Grand Master?” Luca asked faintly.

“Yes.”

“Jesus take the fucking wheel.” Oscar staggered back and sat on the steps.

Luca rubbed his hands over his face.

“What?” Benjamin demanded.

“It’s…fine,” Luca said faintly.

“We’re all going to die,” Oscar said. “This is it. We thought it was back in that warehouse, but this is it, the moment she flips all the way into being a supervillain.”

Kailani relaxed when she realized they were joking. Their words had the rhythm and cadence of an in-joke, though their delivery made it seriously convincing. Selene was a professor; she wasn’t actually dangerous…

“I’m not going to become a supervillain.” Selene came down the stairs, a duffel bag in one hand. “You two can stop having a fit of the vapors any time now.”

Oscar grabbed her around the waist, tumbling her onto his lap as she passed.

“Do you have the key?” Kailani demanded.

“Yes, and I grabbed clothes.”

“You have five minutes to pack for yourselves,” Benjamin said, his gaze focusing first on Luca, then Oscar.

“They can come too?” Selene asked.

“You need a fucking keeper,” Oscar declared.

She patted his cheek. “Awww, you’re cute when you’re grumpy. Which is always.”

“I’ll pack,” Luca said.

“I didn’t think I was even allowed to tell them about it,” Selene said. “Just whichever of our kids would have to take over.”

“I thought the same,” Kailani said. “I think that’s probably how it was meant to be…but someone told me that your trinity comes first. You don’t, shouldn’t, keep secrets from them.”

“Damn right,” Oscar said.

“And,” Kailani continued, “it’s possible that whoever attacked the Grand Master knows about us.”

Selene slid off Oscar’s lap, her expression focused and serious. Oscar stood, resting a hand on her shoulder. Luca headed for the stairs, his hand brushing against his spouses’ arms, as he took them two at a time.

“We might all be in danger,” Kailani said. “Right after I got the call there was a fire at my hotel…arson.”

“Which still feels like a distraction more than an attack,” John said softly, so only she heard it.

Talking about this, explaining it, had only increased Kailani’s anxiety, her need to go. To get back on the plane and get home as fast as possible.

“You said the Grand Master is MIA…” Oscar was frowning. “What happened to her?”

“We don’t know, but whatever it was, the Grand Master and the Boston headquarters are out of commission.”

Selene glanced at the stairs just as Luca raced down, a carry-on suitcase in his hand.

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