36. Max
MAX
“ C ost? What cost?” Caspian asked. Fierce protectiveness burned in his green eyes, as if he wanted to step between me and whatever price I was about to pay—and pay it himself.
“Price of pain.” I swallowed. “I have to offer Coldiron my hurt.”
“Does it demand you harm yourself?” Aelindor asked. His voice was dangerously soft. Power and rage brimmed behind his blue eyes, barely leashed.
“It won’t hurt me. Not in a physical sense.” I shook my head. “But it needs to soak in my emotional pain to operate at full strength. It feeds on my memories of suffering. The worse the memory, the more potent the metal becomes and the more willing.”
The heirs went quiet.
“Pain isn’t the only strong emotion,” Aelindor said.
“Let’s make memories of joy from now on.
Coldiron is sentient. That means it can learn and accept joy as fuel as well.
The metal is bonded to you, and it’ll grow with you.
You won’t always be in pain. There’ll be joy, Max. I’ll make sure of that.”
That was the nicest thing anyone had said to me. The Fae heir was obviously wiser than I was.
“Okay,” I said, trusting him.
“‘He walks in shadow, she in flame,’” Caspian whispered, his voice laced with incredulous awe. “‘By Coldiron’s shroud, no blood may sing.’ ” He stared at me, still twisted halfway around in his seat. “It all makes sense now.”
I frowned. “Makes what sense?”
“Now you sing, Max,” the shifter prince said softly.
“I don’t sing, mostly.” I shook my head. “Even when the miners did their once-a-year mourning for the dead, I never joined in. I’m terribly off-key.”
You’ll sing more beautifully than an angel when you come to your full power, the creature in me chimed in. But its flattery wouldn’t lower my guard for it.
“However,” I drew a sharp breath, “I have a darker truth to share.”
“You never need to fear us, Max.” Aelindor’s voice was steady. “Drakken…barks a lot, but he’s sworn not to harm you. No matter what.”
When had that happened? The dragon prince didn’t object to Aelindor’s claim. It seemed there was some deal between them that I wasn’t privy to.
“How far are we from the outpost, sirs?” I asked.
“One point six miles,” Drakken answered.
“Then the Spartans won’t hate me for trekking the rest of the way.
” I turned the Coldiron arrow in my hand.
“All engines are powered by Stormglass after the Rupture, but no one knows Coldiron has come into play. The military bus and the jeep Captain Carroway drives now are both tainted with an atom of Coldiron. The tiniest amount. But that’s enough for me to shut them down. ”
I reached out with my mind. In the mine, I’d tested my range: over one point two miles, reliably. The iota of Coldiron embedded in the bus’s Stormglass answered immediately.
She’s here! She calls!
Stop the bus, I commanded.
Behind us, tires screamed against dirt. The bus lurched, shuddered, and died—its engine cutting out mid-stride, momentum carrying it a few more feet before it ground to a halt.
The driver cranked the ignition, but the Stormglass-powered engine refused to turn over.
Captain Carroway pulled up beside the stalled bus. “What’s the problem?”
The driver and two Spartans jumped out. One of them—a mage with kinetic talent—pressed his palms to the engine housing and pushed his magic into the Stormglass cells, trying to jumpstart the arcane fuel.
The Stormglass accepted the charge. The Coldiron inside it swallowed it.
The mage tried again, harder, sweat breaking across his forehead.
The metal ate that, too. He stepped back, shaking his head in frustration.
“It’s never had an issue before,” the driver cursed. “What the hell?”
All the heirs stared at me. Drakken slowed the vehicle .
“You made your point, cadet,” Drakken said. “Restart the bus.”
“Sorry.” I bit my lip. “I’m spent after the battle on the train. I’ll need more energy to turn it back on. I can persuade the drop of Coldiron to reactivate the Stormglass after a couple of hours’ rest.”
“You need to train to have better stamina, cadet!” Drakken barked.
“The Spartans can walk to the outpost,” Caspian said. “They aren’t pussies.”
Aelindor gave him a look. “Language in front of Max, please, Caspian.”
“Spartans!” Drakken barked out the window. “On foot to the outpost. Leave the bus.”
The Spartans filed out without complaint and started walking.
Drakken hit the gas. Our jeep sped ahead.
The dragon prince stared at the road. Aelindor and Caspian looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue telling them about Coldiron.
I’d kill for a sip of water before dragging on and revealing more of my secrets.
My throat was parched, but only a fool would demand water from the heirs when their aides were either in another jeep or already gone with the train.
“I’d wager you acquired that batch of Stormglass from the black market, sirs.
” I licked my dry lips. “For the last decade, roughly half of Crimson Ridge’s Stormglass production has been tainted with Coldiron.
The witches and overseers never detected it.
They don’t even know this sentient metal exists.
The Coldiron shipped out remains dormant, so engines, devices, and any facilities powered by tainted Stormglass in every kingdom are running.
Business as usual. But,” I lifted a finger, “they’re disasters waiting to happen. Like your military bus.”
The heirs stared at me, jaws slack, still processing the significance of the truth bomb I’d just dropped.
“Coldiron stays invisible. Inert. Waiting.” I glanced at the heirs in turn.
“Until I call it in. Once I activate it, every engine running on that compromised Stormglass collapses. Lights die. Batteries drain. The infrastructure of any kingdom that bought from Crimson Ridge will be crippled from the inside. Voilà.”
Shit. I sounded like a villain.
The silence in the jeep was total. They hadn’t expected this scale of dark truth.
“What else have you been holding back, Cadet Private?” Drakken suddenly remembered to growl.
Tell him about me, Max. The creature chuckled. I’m your darkest secret, aren’t I?
“The limelight you blasted in my face during the interrogation?” I said, ignoring my inner demon.
“It’s also powered by Stormglass laced with a drop of Coldiron.
I recognized my work. You bought that batch on the black market because your mines don’t produce enough.
In fact, roughly a third of your fortress runs on the same compromised stock. ”
I paused, a smirk at my lips. “My metal sits within your walls. I was this close to doing it, Highness. Plunging your entire fortress into the dark ages. Right there in that interrogation room.” I met his cold, sharp gaze in the mirror without flinching.
“If Prince Aelindor hadn’t returned and stopped your little marathon, I would have. ”
“You would have committed an act of war against the Zodiac Covenant?” Drakken’s voice was ice and smoke.
“No, sir. Against you ,” I offered coolly. “My loyalty lies with the Zodiac Covenant, with Prince Aelindor, Prince Caspian, and Prince Nikolai. They’ve never wronged or mistreated me. They’ve given me shelter.”
“Now I know why we get along so well, Max,” Caspian said with a wide grin.
“I’m the fourth corner of the alliance,” Drakken snapped. “And you, cadet, are a vicious, petty woman who likes to hold a grudge forever. If you’d proceeded in sabotaging the fortress, I’d have put you in the ground myself.”
“Drakken!” Aelindor warned, rubbing his temples. “We talked about this.”
“Fine. It’s a miracle it didn’t come to that.” Drakken’s words were probably his version of an apology. The dragon prince was a hard-ass through and through, and I didn’t fucking care about his sparkling personality.
“Shit.” Caspian whistled. “This changes everything.”
“It does.” Aelindor’s blue eyes glinted with a faint smile and dangerous hope.
“With Coldiron safeguarding my secret tunnel and serving as a natural ward,” I continued, “I was able to dig an escape route behind the barbed-wire fences and the White Witch’s military base.
My parents’ only dream was for me to break the chains and see sunlight instead of being wasted in the bowels of the deep mines.
First, I dug the tunnel to honor them. Then Missy, my adopted six-and-a-half-year-old sister, came along.
And everything I’ve done since has been for her. ”
My voice broke. I couldn’t help it.
“I escaped the mine to find a haven for her. For us. And now my sister is alone down there.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
The tears wouldn’t stop. “So here’s my proposal: help me get my little sister out of Crimson Ridge, and I’ll topple the Pallid Court for you.
But it has to happen in a month. I can’t leave her behind longer than that.
No one needs to crawl through the tunnel with me.
I’ll go alone. All I need is a Spartan team waiting at the border of the mine to protect and escort my sister through the Scorched Wastes to the fortress. ”
I’d sell my soul to anyone who could get her to safety.
Drakken had stopped the jeep. The engine idled.
“You never need to bargain with me, Max.” Aelindor’s thumb brushed away my tears. “Not for this. Not for anything. We’ll move on Crimson Ridge after we return to base. We’ll get your sister out.”
The air left my lungs. “You’d do that?” My voice cracked on the last word. He was offering me the one thing I’d clawed across a wasteland for, and he was offering it like it was simple.
The Fae prince smiled. “Breathe, Max.”
“Let me lead the team, Aelindor,” Caspian said from the passenger seat.
“Not a chance.” Drakken moved his hand to the shift. “You had your fun last time. We’ve raided Crimson Ridge seven times and never breached it. This time, I’ll make sure we succeed. ”
Hope swelled in my aching chest. My eyes burned. My hands trembled in my lap. I’d carried the weight of Missy’s survival alone for so long that the idea of someone else lifting it—three of the most powerful beings on the continent—felt surreal. Like something that would vanish if I blinked.
“When do you think we can go, sirs?” I asked, not blinking. “Do you have an ETA?”
“In a week after we return to base,” Aelindor said, looking at me and shaking his head. “In fact, we can be ready within two days.”
The wall I’d been holding up for a decade gave way. Gratitude, hope, and burning need flooded through me, drowning the pain, the desperation, everything.
I seized Aelindor’s face between my hands and kissed him hard.
His lips were cool at first, then warm—warm and firm and eager. It was electric. I could have kissed him forever. His hand came up to the back of my neck as he kissed me back, his need mirroring mine.
I pulled away. If I didn’t, I might not survive.
I stared at him, my fingers still hovering near his jaw, my pulse slamming. I’d just grabbed the highest-ranking heir of the Zodiac Covenant by the face and kissed him without permission. In a jeep. In front of two other princes. On a combat deployment.
“I’m sorry. So sorry, Your Highness.” The words tumbled out. “I didn’t—I don’t know what got into me. The news about Missy, I just—I got ahead of myself.” I swallowed. “If you want to punish me?—”
His laugh rolled through the space between us, low and rich. The sound sank into my chest like a slow burn. Aelindor didn’t laugh. Not ever. Not that anyone had witnessed. And here he was, doing it for me.
“I’m not sorry.” He traced my cheekbone with his knuckle, a feather-light touch that burned hotter than the dragon fire I’d walked through. His impossible blue eyes held mine, blazing hunger dancing in them. He let his guard down and let me see it.
My body burned for him. My heart burned worse.
“When you’re with us in private, Max, you can use our first names.”
“Am I going to get a kiss as well?” Caspian demanded from the front seat. Every word was laced with heat and pure male need.
Shit.
The jeep jerked forward with such G-force that my face nearly crashed into the back of the passenger seat. Drakken had chosen this moment to try to ruin it for us.