53. Max
Max
The Haven’s army was marching on our border. Xander meant to take the Covenant’s capital and then take me. Our main force rolled south to meet his.
At the map table, an hour after dawn, a new report came in.
Drakken was alive. In chains. Already thrown to the sand.
My mother had put him in the Pallid Court’s most brutal arena, a slave gladiator for a paying crowd, and spellbound the dragon inside the man.
I couldn’t breathe.
My fists stayed on the table while everything in me screamed to run west. To that arena. To my dragon. To killing every one of them and squeezing the last fucking breath out of my mother.
I didn’t move. I refused to come apart. If I shattered now, Drakken didn’t stand a chance. So I let the fear pass through me, and the rage after it, until my lungs could draw in the air again.
“Fuck the White Witch. We’re all going tonight,” Caspian snarled. “We’ll bring our brother home.”
“Xander’s army is only days from our capital,” Aelindor said. “The White Witch has her hands in every district north of Utah. If all four of us ride west, this fortress falls.”
The generals and commanders said nothing, and their faces said the rest.
“And then we’d bring our brother home to a country that doesn’t exist anymore,” Nikolai said.
They had a point. It didn’t do a thing to the burn under my ribs. I’d go to the Pallid Court alone, and nobody was stopping me. Not a rank of Spartans. Not even Aelindor.
My shoulders came down a notch.
“Send me alone, then.” Caspian’s eyes glowed green, and his palms hit the table.
“I’m the most disposable one here. Drakken runs the army, Nikolai runs intelligence, Aelindor wears the crown, and he can take my shifters over without breaking stride.
I go where the gap is. Put me in that arena and I’ll get my brother out. ”
“You are not disposable.” I said it loud enough to turn heads. A few officers slanted me a look, still getting used to me.
“You coordinate the whole defense, wolf,” Nikolai said quietly. “That’s what you’re good at. I’ll go. Better to run intelligence under the enemy’s nose.”
“We can’t lose you, sir,” Major General Adrian said. “I’ll go. I’m the next ranking intelligence officer on this base.”
The debate went around the table, wearing down every scrap of patience, until Aelindor put a stop to it.
“Princess Max Morningstar, Heir of House Capricorn, will lead the mission,” he said, and every officer held their breath.
I sat down slowly. First time any of them had put my true name in front of a room. My father’s house, claimed out loud, in the Zodiac line. And the other half of me, the White Witch’s house, House Scorpio, left off the end where everyone could hear the gap.
“Nobody’s going to stop her from going after her mate,” Aelindor continued.
“But she won’t ride west alone. I’m going with her.
” The table erupted, and he held up one finger until the protests stopped.
“You’re right to worry. It’s still the best play.
” He looked around before settling on Nikolai and Caspian.
“Brothers. I’m counting on you two to hold this kingdom.
Otherwise there’s nothing behind us to come back to. ”
“You don’t have my nose or Nikolai’s eyes,” Caspian shot back. “And you’re the heart of the Covenant, Aelindor. You die out there and this stops being home. Is that what you want? A house with nothing beating in it?”
“I don’t usually agree with the impulsive wolf,” Nikolai drawled. “He’s a walking advertisement for the stupidity of youth. But this once, he’s right.”
“How old are you, vamp?” Caspian growled. “You act like an elder and you’ve got what, a few years on me?”
“A few years is a long way to swim, wolf,” Nikolai said lazily. “You can’t keep up.”
“No. No.” I pointed a finger at both of them. “Not this shit again. You two gave me a headache the whole way to the Haven, and I still haven’t recovered.”
They blinked at me, but they clamped their mouths shut. Quite a few officers shot grateful glances my way.
“You two know better than that,” Aelindor said, one corner of his mouth lifting. “Congratulations. You’ve found the end of our mate’s tolerance.”
A few chuckles rolled across the table, and Nikolai and Caspian had the nerve to grin at me.
“I’ve run every scenario,” Aelindor continued, cool again.
“I’m the right call. Not Caspian, not Nikolai.
I’m the only one of us who can glamour himself and hold it under their wards.
” He fixed his gaze on me. “I’ll be sold into the arena as a slave gladiator while Princess Max goes in through the Pallid Court. ”
“The Nightingale goes with them,” Nikolai added. “You’ll have the plan down to the minute before anyone boards.”