I gave the heirs a small nod. “I’ll take Caspian and Nikolai, gentlemen.”
Nikolai smiled and raised his blood-laced whiskey in salute. He kept a glass on hand for the days between feedings.
Drakken’s eyes narrowed to slits, like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d just heard. A first-year cadet had turned down the mighty dragon general.
“You can’t be serious, Cadet Max.”
“I’ve never been more serious, General.”
“You’re holding a grudge against your superior officer,” he said. “Don’t think I can’t tell.”
I almost shoutedfor trying to kill me in the library?but ratting him out meant admitting I’d gotten caught with a smut book in the first place. So I just blinked at him, all innocence, an expression I’d borrowed from my six-and-a-half-year-old sister.
“This is bigger than you and me,” he ground out.
He must have wanted this mission badly. Aelindor had handed me the reins and made all three of them work for it, and Drakken had clearly never had to ask anyone’s permission for anything in his life. Which meant he had no idea how badly his pitch was landing.
“If you want this rescue to succeed,” he pressed, “set your personal feelings aside, cadet.”
“It’s not personal.” I kept my voice low and even. “Like you said, if this is going to work, I pick whoever’s best suited to get my sister out. Ego doesn’t get a seat at this table. Prince Nikolai can vanish into shadow and empty a man’s veins from across the room without laying a finger on him.”
“Bloodsucker,” Caspian muttered.
“And Prince Caspian is the finest tracker on this continent. I’ve seen what he can do with those death cards.” I held Drakken’s stare. “You’re powerful, and you’re terrifying on a battlefield, Prince Drakken. But this isn’t a battlefield. We don’t need a dragon breathing down our necks on a quiet job. Best case, you crowd us with your attitude. Worst case, you announce us to the entire palace before anyone even sees us.” I took a breath, then dropped into my best impression of his battlefield bark. “Bow before me, inferiors! The dragon has arrived! Kiss my bottom—the bottom of my boots!” I straightened, voice low again. “And where does that leave us? A failed mission, General.”
Nikolai laughed so hard he wiped a tear from the corner of his crimson eye. “That’s exactly what he sounds like.”
Drakken’s eyes went from cold gray to molten gold, a thin curl of smoke escaping his nostrils. His dragon wasn’t amused.
I mimed ducking under the table. “I’m shaking. Please don’t eat me, dragon.”
Caspian burst out laughing. “Didn’t know my girl could be this funny.”
His girl.He’d said it right in front of the other heirs, and nobody so much as blinked. What was happening here? But he’d dropped his support for Drakken the second I opened my mouth. No point backing a losing argument.
“Comedian now too, cadet?” Drakken said. “And you think because you’ve got the wolf and the bloodsucker?—”
“Enough, Drakken.” Aelindor’s voice cut clean through it. “Max gets a say in the mission to rescue her own sister. You should know by now that pushing her only makes her dig in harder. I’ve yet to meet anyone more stubborn under pressure.”
I blinked. Stubborn wasn’t really how I saw myself. I got along fine with most people. Just not with bullies, and I never picked fights for sport. Drakken didn’t grind on other cadets the way he ground on me. With me, he just didn’t seem to know how to stop.
“Give it up, man. She’s not interested.” Caspian clapped him on the back, trying to soften the blow. “Doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do, though. Put in some real effort next time. Aim for a four, at least.”
Drakken shoved him off. It didn’t dent the shifter’s mood at all. Caspian put his fists up, ready to keep going, and Drakken growled low in his chest. Watching him like this, easy and almost playful, you’d never guess how lethal the shifter prince was with an actual enemy in front of him.
“Not cool, man,” Caspian said, still grinning.
“That settles it, then.” Aelindor’s mouth curved, like Drakken’s outrage was the best part of his evening. “Caspian andNikolai will co-lead Operation Nightingale with Max.The night Xander arrives, Drakken and I will keep him occupied here at the Summit. That same night, the team moves into Houston and gets Missy out.” His gaze found mine. “Don’t linger. Don’t be a hero. Go in, get her, come home.”
To my surprise, neither Caspian nor Nikolai argued that I was too green to co-lead anything.
“I want to add Cadet Bryn and make it a team of eight,” I said.
Drakken’s frown deepened as he placed her. “The Forged girl. First-year. No field experience. Untested.” He stared at me. “You’re joking.”
“She’s my only friend. I want her with me.”
“We’re all your friends,” Caspian said, mock-wounded.
