24. Drakken #2
“Don’t you get it?” Aelindor pinched the bridge of his nose and raised his voice—rare enough to make all three of us flinch.
“If you cost us Max, it won’t be me who breaks the alliance.
It’ll be your hands that destroy the Zodiac Covenant.
You’re so blinded by hatred that you can’t see past his bloodline, even if it is tied to the White Witch, as you insist.”
He held my gaze. The silver-blue in his eyes burned brighter.
“I’ve been waiting for you to catch up, Drakken.
You feel the same pull toward Max. The same draw.
Just like the rest of us.” His voice dropped.
“But I have to spell it out before you ruin our only chance at forming the pact with the heir of the last two Zodiac Houses and thus cost us the final war.”
I stared at him. My lungs locked. For three full heartbeats, I couldn’t draw air. The dragon inside me went utterly still, frozen in a way I’d never felt.
“What are you talking about?” I heard myself say.
“Have you considered,” Aelindor offered, each word deliberate and loaded, “that Max might be one of us? The final piece of the Fourfold Vow?”
All three of them stared at me, holding their breath, waiting for my response as if I were a cornered wild beast. As if what I said next would determine whether we stood together or broke apart.
I sucked in a breath. It was no secret that the Fourfold Vow prophecy consumed the Fae heir.
He’d been studying it, chasing it, for decades, holding on to hope the way a drowning man clutches driftwood.
Finding the lost heir from two Zodiac Houses was his obsession.
His reason for living through centuries of war that destroyed his home .
He was desperate. They all were. I was too.
But Max the warlock was the answer? The final fucking piece?
That was seriously fucked-up thinking.
But widening the rift between us wouldn’t serve me or the alliance. So I needed to choose my words diplomatically.
“Prophecy is a double-edged sword, Aelindor. It might be more productive to focus on practical matters, like expanding our forces, securing resources, strengthening the borders. There’s so much to do and so little time.”
I ran a hand over my cropped hair, remembering the way Max’s midnight eyes had stared back at me.
Unflinching. No one could hold my alpha stare except the other heirs.
But that scrawny warlock had stood his ground like he’d been born to it.
I didn’t like thinking about him, but he occupied my head rent-free.
“That boy witch can’t be it,” I decided. “We can’t afford to be confused.”
I scanned their faces—disappointment in every line. They thought I was being my usual arrogant, bullheaded self. I needed to shift tactics. Speak their language instead of digging into an unpopular position and losing their support entirely.
“I’m just saying we need to stay open-minded. Not lock onto a false belief that could endanger ourselves.”
I swept my honest gaze across the three of them. Caspian glared. Nikolai glared. Aelindor looked faintly amused, which was the best I’d get.
“The prophecy can’t point to Max, who claimed to be a miner,” I continued. “So tell me, how does the heir of two prestigious Zodiac Houses come from that background? I say we should look elsewhere.”
I leaned back, believing I was starting to get through to them.
“I’ve studied the Fourfold Vow too. It makes no sense.
” I quoted, “‘He walks in shadow, she in flame.’” I glanced at Caspian.
“For your benefit, since you don’t like to read.
” I ignored his scowl and let my sharp gaze pin the other heirs.
“It’s a he, or a she? Even the prophecy can’t decide if the lost one has a dick. ”
I chuckled. No one joined me.
If I wasn’t mistaken, they looked guilty. As if they were holding something back from me.
“‘And four crowns must kneel’?” I snorted. “I’ll never kneel to anyone. Furthermore, the Coldiron verse is even more obscure. What Coldiron?”
“It’s cold iron. Very cold, I guess.” Caspian’s eyes sparkled.
Nikolai rolled his eyes. “You can’t be that literal, wolf. This is prophecy.”
“Like you know what Coldiron is, vamp.”
“An ancient record calls the metal the heart of a burning star,” Aelindor said, and the bickering died. “Declaring it fell with Lucifer Morningstar. It matches a text from a rare scroll written in the forbidden demonic language.”
“Lucifer. The most powerful fallen archangel and king of Hell.” Nikolai drew a sharp breath.
“If he comes to the mortal realm—” He shook his head, cutting himself off, as if speaking the devil’s name might draw his attention.
An old superstition, but I approved the caution in wartime.
Nikolai was as ruthless as Caspian, but the vampire calculated where the wolf charged in blind.
“As I pieced it together,” Aelindor continued, “when the Q-bomb tore the dimensions open, parts of Hell’s region merged with the mortal world.
Coldiron surfaced with it. But no one recognizes the star metal except archangels or archdemons.
” He paused. “Whatever it is, the prophecy says it cloaks the lost heir.”
“Does that mean there’s a connection between Lucifer and the lost heir?” Nikolai asked, already cutting to the implication before the rest of us could.
Aelindor’s face darkened for a breath before he shook his head.
“Lucifer owns a Zodiac House, but that could be a myth. We shouldn’t pursue it.
We don’t have the resources.” His gaze settled on us.
“I believe Coldiron is the reason we couldn’t locate the lost heir despite centuries of searching.
Until now. Until Max came out of that mine. ”
“Last time you ‘found the One,’ Caspian,” I said, folding my arms across my chest, “she turned out to be the White Witch’s agent. You were too busy romancing her to notice.”
“I was sixteen, asshole!” Caspian scowled. “I’ve slept with enough women since to know the difference.”
“And you blamed that one bad experience for turning you into a man-whore?” Nikolai snickered.
“I haven’t taken anyone to bed since I brought Max back—” Caspian stopped, realizing what he’d walked into .
I raised a hand before the wolf and vampire could degrade this meeting further.
“Did you get my memo yesterday?” I asked.
“On what?” Caspian said.
“The Sorting happens next Monday.”
“Isn’t it extreme to spring that kind of trial with no precedent?” Nikolai countered.
“Since when do you second-guess my every decision?”
“We’ve never had this kind of barbaric practice before.” His voice dropped to a low growl. “Every cadet walks through your dragon fire laced with detection spells? Are we the same as the White Witch and her Pallid Court now?”
When had the vampire become as protective of Max as Aelindor?
He’d always been cold and aloof. He wasn’t even attached to any of his regular donors.
Some had been with him for a decade, practically his live-in girlfriends.
What were the names of the two women I saw with him often?
Sandra? Lizzy? Melissa? I rolled my eyes. Whoever.
“We’ve had sleepers, spies, and agents of the White Witch embedded in our ranks for years,” I said, a muscle twitching in my jaw. “We’ve seen the damage they cause. It’s time to clean house.”
“This is an excuse to target Max!” Caspian shouted. “Admit it. You just can’t let it go.”
“The Sorting goes forward,” I said. “The academy is my responsibility. If Max isn’t an agent of the White Witch, you don’t have a fucking thing to worry about.” I held each of their gazes in turn, iron will in mine. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
Sometimes it felt exactly like that. Like I was being shut out. But I shoved the thought down before it cracked something between us that couldn’t be repaired.
“If Max is truly the One,” I let a thin smile cross my face, “the lost heir of two powerful Zodiac Houses, loyal to our cause—he’ll pass through the Sorting unharmed. Right?”
They’d walked right into it. All three of them. Even Aelindor.
“So be it,” Aelindor said.
Caspian and Nikolai exchanged a glance that was loaded with shared conflict and unresolved tension before remembering they were still rivals. But they both gave a curt nod.
I’d take the warlock out before he could drive a deeper wedge between my brothers and me. Before he muddled my head any further.
I was doing this to protect us. To defend the Zodiac Covenant from any enemy, from any harm.
That’s what I told myself.
I had no regrets.