MAX
You’re popular, Max,the demon chimed in before I even opened my eyes.The redhead burst in like his tail was on fire. He wouldn’t let the vampire touch you again. This is better than theater.
The creature thought it was hilarious. As usual, I refused to acknowledge it.
My gaze locked onto the shifter frozen in the doorway, his chest heaving. He must have sprinted straight from the battle without even cleaning up. Not only did he still wear his blood-stained fatigues, but the battle thrill still burned bright in his green eyes, his pupils dilated with leftover adrenaline.
Why was he here at all? The demon had amusedly informed me earlier that this one had complained about my smell. I wasn’t immune to shame. But these privileged princelings had no idea that when you survive on contaminated water and starvation rations your entire life, hygiene isn’t something you can ever afford.
“How are you feeling, child?” asked a beautifulwoman, pulling my attention away from the shifter and the vampire.
The healer wasn’t human. That much was obvious from her otherworldly features: the pointed ears, the way magic seemed to hum around her.
She’s Fae,the demon informed me, its tone that of a teacher correcting a slow student.Like the Fae prince, Aelindor.
I hadn’t asked. But I was surprised it knew so immediately. I’d never met anyone other than humans in the mines. Yet the demon recognized other species, catalogued them. It must possess old knowledge, memories that weren’t mine.
Just as I pondered this—analyzing my inner demon and the supernaturals before me—their magical signatures lit up in my mind’s eye like constellations I’d never seen before. Each was unique. Fingerprints made of pure energy that I could somehow read and interpret.
Coldiron and all the metals no longer obscure us,the demon said with deep satisfaction.The world will see us. Hear us. Worship us. No more suppression. No more dampening.
But I didn’t want to be seen.
My hands moved before my lips could form words. I patted myself down frantically, checking, verifying. Relief washed through me when I confirmed no one had stripped me. I still wore my miner’s rag-clothes, the fabric stiff with sweat and dried blood. My chest-bind was still in place.
“You’re safe here. I’ve been guarding you,” the red-eyed monster—no, vampire—assured me in that deep,cultured voice probably designed to make sophisticated ladies swoon. “I won’t allow anyone to touch you inappropriately.”
But hadn’t he already touched me inappropriately while I was half-dead in the wasteland? His hand had kneaded my taut nipple when I’d woken. He hovered on the other side of the healer now, perfectly positioned to intervene or assist.
Still, his words carried a second meaning I almost missed. He’d been guarding me. Not just from threats, but from discovery. He knew my secret, and he’d made sure no one undressed me while I was out. The healer hadn’t needed to. I could feel the residue of her magic humming beneath my skin. Fae healing worked through flesh and bone without a blade or a bandage. She’d mended my broken rib and sealed my blistered feet with her hands hovering above my clothes, never beneath them.
“You’re welcome,” he said. His lips pulled into an easy smile, the kind meant to hide his predatory nature and disarm anyone who should know better than to trust a vampire’s charm.
The demon was absolutely right about one thing: these men were eye candy. Beautiful, dangerous, and utter bad news for any woman. And I knew better than to trust pretty faces and honeyed words.
“Wa…” My lips trembled, barely forming the sound. My tongue felt thick and clumsy.
I’d expected pain everywhere when I woke—the rib stabbing with each breath, the raw soles burning. But none came. Just a dull ache. The healer had done impressivework while I was unconscious, work that would have taken weeks to heal naturally.
“Give him water, Ann!” the vampire barked. “The boy’s trying to say water! His lips are cracked!”
Had Ann discovered I was actually a woman while healing me? I held my breath, waiting for some sign.
“I knew what he was trying to say, Prince Nikolai.” Ann rolled her silver eyes with the long-suffering exasperation of someone who dealt with demanding royalty daily. My heartbeat evened out. “And I’m already giving him water.”
She pressed the brim of a cup against my lips gently. I took a sip, the water’s sweetness soothing my parched throat immediately. It was the cleanest water I’d ever tasted—no mineral aftertaste, no grit between my teeth, no chemical burn. Just pure, clean water. I grabbed at the cup with both hands, wanting to drink it all at once, to drown myself in it, to never stop.
“Slowly,” Ann said, not letting me wrestle control away from her. “Or you’ll make yourself sick and vomit it all back up.”
But I was already sick, wasn’t I? If you counted severe dehydration, advanced starvation, and physical exhaustion as sick.
“I won’t get sick,” I said in a low, croaked voice that barely sounded human. “Just let me drink. Please.”
“Easy, tiger,” the vampire crooned. Suddenly his arm was around my shoulders, easing me into a sitting position with surprising tenderness for a predator. With his other hand, he smoothly snatched the cup from the healer before she could protest.
He was being rude to the healer. No wonder the shifter glared at him with open hostility. But I was willing to cut the vampire some slack when he actually let me have a full mouthful of water instead of just a careful sip. The cool liquid slid down my throat like salvation.
But then the cup was pulled away from my lips too soon, leaving me gasping. The shifter now held it—he’d intercepted it mid-motion with speed I hadn’t even tracked.
