Page 70 of FoolSilver
Caspian’s nostrils flared. Every head at the table turned toward me, eyes gone bright and fixed, the air itself thickening with something that hadn’t been there a second ago. Heat climbed up my neck and didn’t stop. Aelindor’s gaze dropped to my mouth and stayed. Nikolai went very still, the stillness of a predator that had just caught a scent. Even Drakken’s jaw tightened, gold bleeding faintly into gray.
Oh shit. I was in so much trouble.
“There shall be chocolates for Max at every dinner,” Caspian announced.
“Our plan is working,”Aelindor said. “Both New Columbia and the Haven have accepted our invitations. Xander will be here in a few days.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Hope and dread rose together, twined too tight to pull apart. Xander, who collected people like rare things, who had my little sister locked away somewhere in his palace. Soon that monster would be inside these walls, close enough that I’d be tempted to snap his neck.
“Xander won’t bring your sister,” Drakken said. “He’ll leave her in his stronghold, under heavy guard. Keep her as leverage. Make you go to him. Collect you.” He must have seen something in my eyes, because even as he loaded his plate, his attention stayed on me. “Don’t be a hopeful fool.”
“Watch it, Drakken,” Caspian growled.
“I don’t give a fuck.” Drakken’s sneer didn’t waver. “I don’t sugarcoat things, and I have no intention of starting now. Your precious cadet needs to learn to be realistic.”
My jaw tightened. I already knew Xander wasn’t a piece of cake. But as Caspian said, Drakken didn’t need to be brutal about it. Then again, what did I expect? He was always like this with me, and he’d never change for my sake. For a second I let myself imagine a sweet, gentle Drakken, and I nearly laughed out loud at the image. Then my stomach soured. Was he tender toward Delia in bed? He was still fucking her, wasn’t he? She certainly kept gloating about it. I turned my attention away from him. I’d gotten better at that lately, pretending he didn’t exist, which irked him more than anything else I could do. I doubted anyone, especially a woman, had managed that before.
“I’m not a dreamer,” I said, my tone clipped. “Never was. But hope is the one thing I’ll always hold on to. Without it, what’s the point of getting up in the morning?”
Drakken opened his mouth, ready to push it further, but Aelindor cut in before the family dinner could turn into a debacle.
“We’re counting on Xander not bringing Missy,” Aelindor said. “The plan stays the same. We move on his territory while he’s here, and we keep him occupied as long as we can.”
I hadn’t known the exact plan the heirs had already mapped out.
“Whatever the plan is, sir,” I said, digging in, “I’m going.”
“You are.” Aelindor smiled, something dancing in his winter-blue eyes, as if my bulldog-look amused him. “Along with a team of seven. You’ll review the list, and you can veto anyone on it.”
The respect in that landed somewhere deep, and I understood then, with sudden clarity, that it was part of why the Fae heir had my heart. He wasn’t locking me in a tower for my own protection. He let me stand on the front line, treated me like a warrior. Like one of them. Even though I wasn’t their equal. Not yet.
“Thank you,” I said, and hope rose on top of the dread at the thought of seeing my sister again, of bringing her home.
“Marco and Frost volunteered,” Aelindor said, and I nodded.
I’d made two extra Coldiron armguards, one for each of them. Marco had cradled his like a precious newborn when Coldiron chirpedHello, handsome vampireinside his head. That was the bond, struck and accepted.
Frost had bowed his head and said, “Thank you for the honor, Cadet Max.”
Aelindor sipped his wine. Caspian drank beer, mostly. Nikolai favored whiskey. I hadn’t figured out Drakken—he never settled on one poison long enough to claim it.
“Marco and Frost make sense,” Nikolai said. Marco commanded under House Sagittarius, Nikolai’s house. “Excellent fighters, and they’ve both been training her.”
“We’ve added two more Spartans. Corporal Enna and Corporal Jace,” Aelindor continued. “I believe you’ve met them.”
Enna was the olive-skinned Spartan, who’d tried to get me to drink more booze at the campfire. There weren’t many women on the Spartan team, and she’d earned her place twice over. Jace was the one who’d ribbed me about being some ice giant’s offspring, until I asked if he hailed from my shorter cousin clan. He’d called me cousin ever since.
“Seven is small enough to move unseen and strong enough to finish the job,” Aelindor drawled. “I’d go with you if I could. But it’s logical for me to be here when Xander arrives. Anything else would raise suspicion.” He said the Collector’s name like it tasted of venom. “Still. Two heirs will accompany you.”
My eyes darted between Caspian, Drakken, and Nikolai. Which two? Did I even get a say?
“You choose, Max,” he said. “We’re calling the mission Operation Nightingale. Caspian, Drakken, and Nikolai will each make their case, and then you pick two to lead the team with you.”
“I’ll go, and I’ll lead. That’s not even a question.” Drakken said it like a man certain the room would simply fall in line behind him. “I’m the best strategist here. Best in the field too. Full stop.”
And just like that, the three of them were off, each building his case to me.
“Nikolai might look like a good choice at first glance,” Drakken went on, going straight for his rival’s throat. “But he’s not the man for this. He’s a diplomat down to the bone. Smooth. Charming. Honey-tongued.”
