From Ashes of Scandals to His Embrace novel Chapter 414

Jasper nodded with confidence. “Yeah, I get it.”

“If you understand, take your time reading. If you hit something you don’t get, just ask. There’s nothing embarrassing about not knowing. What’s dangerous is pretending you do. You’re still young and haven’t seen much of the world. I’m not expecting you to handle everything by yourself yet. I just want to know you can look after yourself. Do you get what I mean?”

Laurinda never dreamed of relying on anyone else. All she wanted was for the people she cared about to be safe and sound.

She’d thought about it a lot last night. Adolphus was right. For his age, Jasper was already incredible. He was growing and learning every day, and she needed to give him the space to do that.

“Alright, you can look at the book later. Let’s go to the stables. I haven’t seen Kent in forever.”

Jasper’s whole face lit up at that. He’d been wanting to see the horse his sister gave him. He missed out on it last time and couldn’t wait.

As soon as the stables came up, everyone wanted in. Even Renata and York joined the group.

Laurinda raised her eyebrow at Renata, who had basically disappeared the past few days. “Well, look who finally decided to show up.”

Renata laughed and rubbed her nose, a little embarrassed. She remembered exactly why she’d been MIA. “I wasn’t dodging you, I promise. I’ve just been swamped. I’ll fill you in later.”

Laurinda didn’t know what Renata had been up to, but she trusted her. “Well, if you were busy before, today’s your day to chill. The stables aren’t the only thing there. There’s a whole resort on the property. If you like it, you can stay a couple nights.”

Renata’s eyes sparkled, but she looked a little bummed. “Too bad Bonnie’s not here. It would be so much more fun if we could all hang out.”

“There’ll be other chances. Come on, let’s go.”

Irvin reached over to ruffle Jasper’s hair, still not understanding how Laurinda and Adolphus could send someone as young as Jasper to a place like Flame Training Camp. That place was brutal.

Jasper felt a little let down. He’d been hoping for some of Irvin’s weird powders, but no luck. Irvin was always stingy with the really interesting stuff.

Irvin caught Jasper’s disappointed look and pinched his cheek, grinning. “They don’t even let you bring those kinds of powders into the advanced camp, so don’t bother asking. I’m not giving you any.”

“Alright, but still, thanks. I’ll keep it safe.”

Jasper tucked the ointment into his pocket. Suddenly a thought struck him, and he turned to Teddy. “Hey, Teddy, you could probably go to the advanced camp too, right?”

Teddy, who’d been zoning out, snapped to attention and shook his head hard. “Are you kidding? I barely made it through regular training camp. If you send me to the advanced one, I won’t make it out alive.”