Maxon (15 page)

She kisses me on the cheek. “She's lovely, Maxon. I'll hold a Ball of Welcome in her honor.”

“No, you won't.”

“Yes, I will. And you're not stopping me. Lianna deserves a beautiful ball gown and a handsome prince.”

I shake my head. “That's not me, G.”

“Poppycock.” G cups my face in her hands and looks deeply into my eyes. “Are your irises changing, my boy?”

“Nah. Still mismatched.”

“They won't stay that way for long, I'll wager.”

I know exactly where she's going with this.
If I fall for Lianna, I'll get Angelbound. My eyes will turn bright blue and I'll have power over igni. My family's been itching for this for ages, Mom and G especially. They're worried my ticker's busted and I can't fall in love. Not something I gave much thought to before, but now?

I shiver. Falling in love with Lianna would be a disaster. It's got heartbreak written all over it.

“Not going near that one,” I say. “See you later, G.”

Mom steps up next. “Did Octavia say something about your eyes?”

Not again.

“Cut me some slack, Mom. I'm in no rush to be the full Scala Heir.” I shoot her a sly look. “Besides, I control my lightning. It's the bomb. Your igni do whatever the hell they want. Annoying little bastards.”

“Language,” she says.

“What can I say? I learned from the best.” My mother can swear like a sailor on a week-long rum bender.

“Bye, baby.” She walks off.

Next Dad steps in to give me a big man-hug. “Love you, son.”

“You too, Dad.”

“If you need anything for this, let your mother and me know.”

“Will do.”

He looks at Lianna, then back at me, and nods. I know where this is going. I'm not ready for another discussion about getting Angelbound. Too bad that Dad is as crafty as G when it comes to getting information.

I whisper so only Dad can hear. “Look, don't get your hopes up. I'm not a relationship guy. I'll help her out and set her on her way. That's all this is.”

“I didn't say relationship, Maxon.” He offers me a knowing look. “You did.”

It takes me a few seconds to realize I stepped right into that one.
Man, I hate it when he does that.

“Get out of here before you trick me into admitting something else.”

“Of course, son.” Dad walks off smiling. He's G's kid, all right.

Walker's the last in line. For a long time, all he does is glare at me. Finally, I can't take it any more.

“What?” I snap at him.

“Hurt her and I'll kill you.”

I bob my head a little, considering. “Fair enough. Now make tracks.”

Finally, they're all gone. I turn to Lianna. “What's next, beautiful?”

“We need to hit one of your secret Pulpitum and get to the Earth's surface. I must summon the Water Palace. To do that, I need to be near—”

“Let me guess.” Stepping closer, I wind a lock of her soft blue hair around my finger. “You need to be near water.”

“Right.” She blushes blue again, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite sights. “I need some place where there's lots of water and no one around. A lake or beach, that kind of thing.” Her blush deepens. “I guess that means another platform ride.”

I play it cool, like I haven't been thinking about her sweet body pressing against me during the last trip.

“Huh, I guess it does.” I take her hand in mine and nod toward the door. “Let's hit it.”

Lianna

Maxon and I walk along a warm Australian beach, searching for the right spot to summon the Water Palace. Foamy surf laps at my toes. Overhead, the night sky is bright with more stars than I ever thought possible. A warm and secure sensation seeps through my torso. For once, I'm not checking for wind and worrying if Zephyr'll show up. It seems impossible for anything bad to happen while Maxon's holding my hand.

“Something on your mind?” he asks.

“This is a sweet beach. How'd you find it?”

“Me and the guys came here to play as kids. You know, kick the can. Truth or dare. Capture the house flag. That kind of stuff. We were twelve and thought we were so badass for sneaking out of Antrum.” He leans in conspiratorially. “My parents were tracking us the whole time, of course.”

“They
let
you sneak off?”

“With a secret armed guard trailing after us, yeah.”

“That's just…” I press my lips together, searching for the words. “Well, it's seems pretty loose for the thrax.”

“My parents had it strict growing up. They wanted to give me more room.” He lets out one of his rumbling chuckles. “Although now, they may regret it. I'm always off doing my own thing.”

At those words, my mind pictures what Maxon's been doing. Or more accurately, who. Even I couldn't miss the media frenzy about him, especially when I was hiding out urban-style in Purgatory or the Dark Lands. Like everyone else, I caught the occasional episode of Royal Insider. Maxon sure ran through a lot of women. They were all in the after-realms until someone almost went public with a sex tape. After that, Maxon only hooked up with anonymous women on Earth. The paparazzi still catch the occasional picture of Maxon with a human on his arm. All gorgeous, of course.

So on the one hand there's Maxon, womanizer extraordinaire. And on the other hand, there's me. The extent of my romantic entanglements amounts to Fisk, Fisk, and Fisk.

I'm so out of my league.

Maxon rubs his thumb along my wrist. Each movement makes my stomach do a little backflip.

I shake my head in surprise. Somewhere along the line, Maxon and I went from trying to kill each other to excessive hand-holding and staring. One side of me loves the attention. However, my sadder-but-wiser side says that I'm acting like a total tool. Right now, I'm something new and different to Maxon—a bright shiny object in monarkki form—and so, he's interested. I can't forget that Maxon's the biggest playboy in the after-realms. Once my shine wears off, he'll move on.

Don't let it go too far, Lianna. You'll only get hurt.

“This is the spot,” says Maxon. “What do you think?”

Moonlight glistens on the waves in this secluded inlet.
This could work
. “You sure no one will come by?”

“Oh, yeah. No human can get within a mile of here. Ty cast a bunch of repulsion spells over the years.” He gestures across the landscape. “So, will this do the trick?”

“Sure, I can summon the palace from here.” In the movie of my life, that statement comes out as bold and badass. In reality, my voice squeaks with worry.

Really slick, Lianna.

Namare told me all about the Water Palace, but I've never been there. As a thrax, they wouldn't let me through the doors. I've never met most of the Water Valta, either. Now, I need to summon the palace and announce myself to the Valta. With their energy, I can claim my crown. This is what I've been training for years to do, so why do I want to run for cover?

Maxon gives my hand a squeeze. “Want to come back later?” His voice steadies me.

“No, I'll do this now.” I give him a shaky smile. “Just don't let go of my hand.”

“You got it, beautiful.”

My mouth starts moving on its own. “It's not what you think.”

He raises his brows.

“Well, it is but…” I blush something fierce. “I mean, you'll drown if you let go. Unless you can walk on water, I mean.”

“Not one of my powers, no.” He gives me one of his dimple smiles.

“Okay, then.” I inhale a steadying breath. “We're off.”

Closing my eyes, I change into my monarkki form and raise my free arm, just like Namare taught me. Instantly, a light rain pours onto the nearby surf. Within seconds, the droplets stream into the shape of two Palace Wardens. Their clear bodies are visible as shimmering streaks of water, like rain on a windowpane. From what I can tell, these guards wear heavy armor and spiked helmets. They're not easy to see, but that's all part of the elemental plan. We excel at hiding.

“Who summons us?” asks the first guard.

“Lianna, Namare's chosen apprentice.” I summon blue light to shimmer across my skin, just to make the point clear. “I wish to visit the Water Palace.”

The second guard glares at Maxon. “What is this human doing here?”

“He's my guest.”

“I'm also far from human.” Maxon snaps his fingers and a half dozen lightning bolts strike the ground around us in rapid fire. The guards outright gasp, which is mighty encouraging. I straighten my shoulders with newfound confidence. Maxon gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. I can't help but smile.

Together, we head toward the open ocean, our feet suspended on the water's surface with every step. This is another trick I learned from Namare.

Once we're well away from shore, I raise my free arm high.

“Open the gates,” I command.

Before us, the water bubbles and churns. The first thing to rise from the ocean is a spire of blue stone. After that, the rest of the castle follows. It's a cone-shaped structure with ridged lines of rock that end in a single peak. It reminds me of a huge conch shell pointed toward the sky. A large arched doorway opens before us.

“Nice place you got here,” says Maxon.

“Wait until we get past the door. I've only seen pictures. It's supposed to be mighty fancy.”

“You've never been inside before?”

“No, elementals keep to themselves. Like I said before, it's one of the first things I plan to change once I'm officially crowned.”

As we step through the main doorway, Maxon keeps up the steady rhythm of his thumb over my knuckles. It still gets my stomach flipping.

“So you know,” I say. “You don't have to hold my hand once we're inside the palace.”

“Not letting go, beautiful.” He gives me the barest of winks. “Safety reasons, you know.”

I smile from ear to ear. “Right.”

We stroll into a large reception arcade made of blue crystal. The space is massive and cone-shaped, with a huge base that ends in a tiny, far-off peak. A wide walkway corkscrews along the walls. Water elementals of all kinds roam up and down this winding path. Some look like humanoid fish, while others are little more than swirls of sentient liquid with faces. They're all beautiful.

A ripple of awareness moves through the crowd. One by one, the elementals stop whatever they're doing. All turn to stare at me with amazement. Some whisper ‘Your Eminence' in reverent tones. Their blue skin glows with joy. My heart warms as their happiness becomes my own.

They've been waiting for me.

A small figure races across the floor. It's a boy with pale skin, cropped green hair, and ocean-blue eyes. He wears a miniature set of the scaled armor worn by all Valta. I smile.

It's Esau.

He stops before me. “Hey.”

I kneel down before him. “Hey.”

“You're the lady in the waterfall.”

“I am.”

Up close, I can see dark marks on his skin. My voice lowers with concern. “What happened to your arm?”

Esau quickly hides his arm behind his back. “It's fine. Namare will come around to heal me.”

“Let me see,” I say, gently coaxing him to move his arm forward again. He does. What I see brings the sour taste of dismay to my mouth. The marks are small, striated, and gray.

“Were you playing in the Dark Lands?” The waters of the ghoul kingdom carry all sorts of disease for our kind, even when Namare was cleansing them regularly.

Esau cringes with fear. “I won't do it again, I swear.”

“What is it?” asks Maxon.

I take care to keep my voice low. I don't want to frighten Esau any more than he is already. “River Pox.”

“Is it…” Maxon pauses. He doesn't need to say the word ‘deadly.'

I nod, my eyes stinging with grief. In the first stages of River Pox, Esau will feel fine, apart from his rash. It's only in the later phases that the rash turns into angry, painful welts. And then?

I shudder, forcing the image of the last stages of River Pox from my mind.

That won't happen to Esau. I won't allow it.

Esau lowers his voice to a whisper. “Everyone says that Namare is gone. They don't know anything. She's coming to help me. She promised.”

A voice booms across the quiet arcade. “Esau! Come here!”

Rising to stand, I survey the crowd. On instinct, my hand finds Maxon's again. Water Valta now surround Maxon and me. Their fish-like faces all look grim.

They're ready for a fight.

“Sorry, Dad!” calls Esau. He runs toward the line of soldiers, hiding behind one of the Water Valta, a spindly guy with a tentacle moustache. That must be Esau's father.

“He's sick,” I say. “I can heal him.”

Fisk steps out from the group, his handsome face lined with rage. His gaze moves between Maxon and me. For a long time, he glares hot daggers at our entwined fingers.

I shift my weight nervously from foot to foot before turning to Maxon. “Maybe you should go,” I whisper.

“You want me to leave?”

“No.”

“Then, I'm staying.” He fixes me with a look of stony resolve. “Just tell me how you want to play it here. This is about getting your crown, Lianna.”

Under Maxon's gaze, my shoulders straighten. He's right. Why send him away just because it makes Fisk uncomfortable? I'm the monarkki. Setting my fists on my hips, I scan the arcade in a way that I hope looks regal.

Fisk still stands across from us, immobile as if he were carved from stone. He wears his Valta armor with its blue metal scales. Signets of office mark his shoulders, holding a long, sapphire-colored cape down his back. He marches forward and pauses before us. His handsome face is twisted into an angry snarl. “You were holding his hand.”