Copper Veins(79)

I snuggled against him. “I already knew that.”

“Did you?” he asked. “Good.”



I woke just before dawn, my arms and legs still tangled with Micah’s on the couch. “Hey,” I whispered, poking his chest for good measure, “let’s go to bed before anyone wakes up.”

His response was to blink, bleary-eyed, but that was it. I poked him again, and said, “Bed. Now.”

“Mmm. Bed.” Then Micah leapt to his feet and hoisted me in his arms. “Bed with my wife,” he murmured, his warm breath tickling my neck. I laughed as he climbed the first few steps, forgetting that we were supposed to be quiet, and of course Sadie opened her door just as we crested the stairs.

She stared at us for a moment, brows raised, before her gaze dipped lower and her eyes widened and nearly fell out of her head. Seeing more of Micah than she’d ever intended to, she turned around and slammed her door shut.

“I think he’s kinda cute,” I yelled through the door.

“Get a room!” was the shouted reply.

“We intend to,” Micah called. Then we were in our rooms and he kicked the door shut behind him, and that was the last anyone heard from us for a good, long while.





33


Later that afternoon, I left Micah sleeping in our bed and headed down to the kitchen, intent on locating snacks. I’d planned to pick out a few pieces of fruit or maybe a plate of cookies, ask the silverkin to deliver a tea service to the bedroom, and be back under the blankets with Micah before he realized I was gone. As I approached the kitchen door, I heard Juliana’s voice coming from within.

“Max, you have to believe me,” she implored. “I know I promised to never tell Sara, and I didn’t. All I did was put the plans on her computer, I swear it.”

I pushed the door open, and saw that Juliana was alone save for a few silverkin sweeping out the hearth. “Practicing an apology?” I asked.

Juliana jumped when she heard my voice, then she nodded. “Yeah. The first of many.”

“Sit,” I said, indicating the table. “Let’s talk. Shep, could you bring us some coffee?” I watched the little guy scurry off, then I asked, “You really put all of that information about Max on my computer?”

“I did,” she murmured. “The schematics, the arrest records, everything.”

“I wish you’d just told me where he was,” I said. “He could have been out of there months sooner.”

Shep arrived with our coffees. Juliana took a sip before she continued. “Max made me swear to never tell you where he was. He knew you’d come after him, and he didn’t want you captured. All I could do was try to protect him in the facility.”

“He didn’t look very safe when I found him,” I said.

Juliana frowned. “I did everything I could to make Max’s life at the Institute easier. I mean, they had figured out pretty early on that he wasn’t the Inheritor, and that it had to be you. They just wanted him contained so he wouldn’t join the resistance.”

“You thought I was the Inheritor?” I asked, surprised.

“Everyone did. My uncle, the head of the Peacekeepers, everyone.”

“Did you?”

She looked at me. “Yeah. I did.”

Huh. That was a discussion for another day. “Why do you let Max call you Jules?”

“Ask your brother,” she mumbled.

“I’m asking you.” She glanced up at that, holding my gaze for a moment before she looked out the window.

“So, what, you’re tough now? Big, scary Sara, living in her silver house?” I didn’t let her bait me into a fight. Instead, I watched her fidgeting with her hands, her closed posture—she was holding something. No, she was cradling something in her palm, as if it were precious.

“What are you holding?” I asked. Juliana sighed before she opened her hand, revealing an iron lily.

Okay, first of all, we suck as jailers. Apparently no one had even searched Juliana, or if they had, they’d left a hunk of metal—a potential weapon—on her. That, coupled with the well-appointed room she’d been given and full access to the manor, made her imprisonment more like a stay at a five-star resort.

Second of all, Max had told me the story of the girl he’d made the lily for.

“They punished me when they found it. When they found us,” Juliana whispered. “Me and Max. They…” Her hand closed over the lily, and she turned her face toward the wall. “After that, I couldn’t protect him any longer.”

I stared at Juliana—for years, she’d been my best friend. I’d been wondering for months how she’d managed to keep her role as a Peacekeeper hidden, but to conceal the fact that she’d had something with Max made me wonder if she had a split personality. “What happened after they found you?”