“Sorry,” I said quickly.
“Look, if you see me as one of the guys, I’m happy to be one of the guys,” she teased.
I decided I already liked Max. She wasn’t going to treat me like some stuck-up prince she had to bow down to, and I liked it that way. We were a team, and even though I was calling the shots, I wanted my team to work together as efficiently as possible. I figured I could really get along with these people.
“This is for you, Charlie.” Max handed me a slim, rectangular item that fit nicely in my hand. “We have phones for you and all of your friends. They’re completely warded and untraceable, magically or otherwise. Your phone is already set up with assistance technology to help you navigate the apps. I’ll teach you how to use it.”
“Thanks, Max.” I slid the phone in my pocket before turning to the others. There were six of them total, including Eddie, and I needed to utilize their skills the best I could. “It’s my job, and the job of the other demigods, to begin our search for the vampire key. We’re still looking for a solid lead. What I need from all of you is intel on the vampires. Learn as much as you can about the Midnighters. I want to know how their society operates, and who their most notable leaders are. Report back to me on what you find.”
Ivy had a lot of intel on the vampires already, but I need to give these guys something to do in the meantime. With Max’shacking skills, I was hoping we could learn some things Ivy didn’t know.
“Eddie, you’re heading the research team,” I added.
Eddie gasped, but he tried to keep his excitement contained.Barely. “I’m the boss?!” he exclaimed.
“Yep,” I said. “You’re all free to go.”
Eddie started barking orders at them right away, and I internally laughed at his enthusiasm. He seemed so happy to be useful, instead of waiting around for my instructions.
Before I left the room, my grandfather stopped me. “Charlie,” he said lowly. “There’s one thing you must understand as a leader.”
He piqued my curiosity, and I listened closely as everyone else left the room.
“These people are devoted to you, but they are not your friends— not in the sense that you’ve become accustomed to,” Cassiel warned. “Your Associates will lay down their lives for you, and if I know anything about my grandson, I know you would do the same for them. But youmustremain focused on the long-term goal. Do not let yourself become a sacrifice for a single person. You are the Elven prince, and as a prince, you hold your people together. If you sacrifice yourself, you sacrifice us all.”
His words chilled me to the bone. My grandfather’s message was clear. My Associates were people I had to trust with my life, but I couldn’t get too close. One day, I would be put in a position that I didn’t want to be in… and I’d be forced to make a decision that could crush me.
What my grandfather didn’t realize was that I’d been in that position time and time again, and if there was a mark of a true villain, it was that even though I’d already been there, I’d go dark again… and I knew exactly what decisions I had to make.
They weren’t the right ones by any sane person’s standards.
And somehow, I was completely okay with that.
I’d already grown too close to Eddie— he was my friend, but I had allowed that relationship to go too far. When the Warden had sent Eddie to the camps, I’d tried to save him. That action had gotten Ava hurt, as well as put me and the rest of my friends in danger. I couldn’t make the same mistake again. I wouldn’t allow myself to see my team as anything more than people who worked for me…expendablepeople, who I was willing to sacrifice for the cause.
“I understand,” I told my grandfather coldly. Then I turned on my heel and left the throne room.
Eddie was waiting for me out in the hall. He fell into step beside me, though I wasn’t quite sure where we were going.
“What’s next on the agenda?” I asked.
“Well, you had a mentorship session scheduled with your grandfather this afternoon, but as I understand it, you’ve already completed your training for the day,” Eddie said. “If I may ask, what did you cover?”
“Mirror portals,” I told him.
“Oh, fun!” Eddie exclaimed. “It took me years to learn mirror portals. I was thrilled once I figured it out.”
“It really took you that long?” I asked. “I already traveled through my first mirror.”
I guess my grandfather made it sound easier than it was.
“You forget that when you and I met, I still couldn’t siphon magic from other supernaturals,” Eddie reminded me. “My powers have grown considerably in just a year.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” I said. It was easy to forget with his chipper attitude how much Eddie had been through. Trauma like that could really push a person to grow up quickly.
I stopped in the middle of the hall. “Hey, Eddie…”
He halted beside me, and I said, “When I told you to blow me earlier, it was just something I said to piss off my dad. You know I wouldn’t make you do anything like that, right?”
