“Can you read?” Aelindor asked.
I straightened. “Yes. But I want to be a soldier and nothing else.”
13
MAX
“As a trainee, you’ll bunk with all the other first-year male cadets at Greycrown Academy,” Caspian had warned. “There won’t be any special treatment.”
How exciting.
I can never tell if you’re serious or being sarcastic,the demon observed.
I wasn’t worried about the barracks. I’d lived as a boy my whole life. And I’d choose soldiering over being secretary to any of the heirs a million times over.
Harrow, a staff cadet, briefed me on military rules, structures, and all the shit a first-year needed to know as he led me toward the training wing. It sat at the rear of the fortress, separated from the main compound by a long courtyard of cracked flagstone.
I learned the four heirs ruled the Zodiac Covenant together. Each commanded their own army: the shifters under Caspian, the vampires under Nikolai, the Fae andmages under Aelindor, and the rest—hybrids and other species—under Drakken.
The dragon heir also oversaw training at the two-year academy. Not great news, considering the hatred Drakken harbored for me. I hoped he’d forget me once I became just another face in the crowd, that I’d be long gone before the year ended. As soon as I was strong enough and had learned solid survival skills, I’d go back for my sister.
“You’ll sleep in the common barracks with all the first-year cadets on the second floor.” Harrow gestured toward a three-story building.
It was an old military construction—thick concrete walls reinforced with steel beams, weathered gray and patched in places where old damage had been repaired. Narrow windows ran in tight rows along each floor.
Harrow escorted me inside. “The ground floor is for second-years. Third floor’s for female cadets. Harassment won’t be tolerated in this camp.”
I studied the vast barracks. Rows of bunk beds stretched out, each one identical: metal frames bolted to the floor, thin mattresses, a single pillow, a folded blanket at the foot. The air smelled of boot polish and the faint, lingering sweat of bodies that had trained hard and slept harder.
“There are three barracks like this on this floor, all for first-year male cadets.” Harrow’s tired brown eyes swept the room. He’d done this a hundred times, steering new recruits through the same flat delivery. “Common showers and bathrooms are at the end of thehall. Open layout. Tidiness and hygiene are mandatory, unless you’re in the field.”
Shit. Showers would be an issue. I’d have to be cautious—shower only when everyone was asleep. Even then, discovery was a risk. I bit the inside of my cheek.
“You’ll make your bed properly before training every dawn.” Harrow continued his litany. “Punishment for the undisciplined is…unpleasant.”
He gave me a look that might have been pity—he’d seen how Drakken treated me. I kept my face blank.
“We don’t have a bunk for you yet.” He pointed toward the far end of the room. “You’ll sleep on the cot for now. Your three sets of uniform, boots, and toiletries are in the trunk by your bed.”
I nodded my thanks.
“Try to survive, Cadet.” He left, done with me.
My cot wasagainst the wall, ten yards from the emergency exit door. It was the only cot amid hundreds of twin-over-twin bunk beds—a single, conspicuous exception in a room built on uniformity. I’d bet my last meal that this was Drakken’s design. His way of singling me out, marking me as the outsider, the one who didn’t belong.
If he wanted to make me weep with misery, he’d failed.
I’d slept on the ground my whole life, on a worn cot you could barely call a cot. The thin blanket from the mine had gone to Missy. I’d fold it twice to keep herwarm. Didn’t need one myself. Truth was, Missy didn’t get cold at night either. Not when she curled against me.
“You’re warm, Max,” she’d murmur, her small body fitting against mine, her breathing evening out the way kids’ does. Like she trusted the world not to hurt her because I was there.
My chest tightened. The miners would take care of her. They’d promised. But she’d be cold without me.
Soon, little viper.I swallowed against the ache.I’ll come back for you.
I’d train. Learn to fight until I proved my worth. Then I’d bring my sister here, buy her a safe spot in the fortress where she’d never be hungry again.
I shrugged off Aelindor’s coat—tried not to breathe in his scent too deeply—and laid it against the wall on my cot.
