Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers Book 5)

by Rachel Aaron

  “Sorry,” Julius said quickly. “I didn’t mean to insult your, um—”

  “Consort,” his brother said primly. “She is my consort, and you are being very rude. She gave up her futures to save you as well, I’ll have you know.”

  “I-I didn’t know that,” Julius said, bowing his head respectfully to the pigeon. “Thank you.”

  The pigeon blinked at him, uncomprehending, but Bob looked placated. “I am exceedingly lucky I found her again,” he said, pressing a kiss to her feathered head. “I had to bribe Amelia to open me a new portal into the space beyond reality so I could start us over since all our timelines in this reality were used up. But that’s the lovely thing about the future: you can always make more of it. All it takes is a bit of effort, and the fact that she was waiting just outside for me didn’t hurt, either.”

  The pigeon cooed happily at that, and Bob sighed, lovestruck. “Anyway, you owe your life to both of us. I expect you to show proper gratitude in a few days after I’ve slept this off. Our pick, your treat, and make sure you behave like a gentleman this time.”

  “Of course,” Julius said, ducking his head to the pigeon again. “I’m sorry if I offended you, ma’am.”

  The pigeon nodded back to him, which seemed to please Bob greatly. “Splendid!” he said as he walked out the door. “See you soon.”

  “You too,” Julius said quietly, staring after his eldest brother in bafflement. He was still trying to puzzle out if Bob had been really offended just now or if this whole exchange had been another of his ploys when Marci woke with a start, her eyes shooting wide as she turned her head to gape at him.

  “Hi,” Julius said, smiling awkwardly. “Um, I’m back?”

  The words weren’t even out of his mouth before she tackled him, sobbing and laughing and hugging him until he couldn’t breathe. He hugged her back with all he had, closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent. Breathed in being alive.

  Needless to say, he didn’t worry about Bob again for a long time.

  ***

  “Yeah, well, I always knew he’d pull through,” Amelia said, taking a swig from her cocktail. “How could he not? He had me on his team, and I’m a god now, remember?”

  “How can we forget?” Svena grumbled. “You remind us every five minutes. And it’s not as though godhood is anything special these days.” Her blue eyes slid pointedly to Raven, who was perched on the railing beside Ghost’s cat and the giant rat that was the DFZ. “We are overrun with vermin.”

  They were sitting on the roof of the hospital Julius had been taken to, which turned out to be an Algonquin Corporation private hospital on the edge of Reclamation Land. Like everything else in the city, the modern steel-and-glass building had taken heavy damage during the fighting, but it was now as good as new thanks to the DFZ.

  “Pro tip: it’s not a good idea to call the god of the city you’re currently in ‘vermin,’” Amelia whispered loudly. “This building was on its side when we found it, but she set the whole place to rights in under ten minutes with a flick of her little pink tail. Imagine what she could do to a delicate snowflake like you.”

  “I’d like to see her try,” Svena said with a sniff, though Julius couldn’t help noticing the White Witch’s retort was much quieter than usual. No one was stupid enough to point that out, though, for which Julius was profoundly grateful. He’d had enough conflict to last him a lifetime, and Svena was surprisingly pleasant to be around when she didn’t have her hackles up. Pleasant and amazingly knowledgeable. The things she would casually mention about magic constantly blew his mind. He just wished Marci were around to hear them.

  Now that all the Mortal Spirits were up, the new Merlin had her hands full. She was in the Sea of Magic right now with Myron for a big peace talk. Ghost, Raven, and the DFZ were with them as well, though somehow also here. Julius wasn’t entirely sure how that worked, but apparently spirits could be in multiple places at once now. He’d tried using that to his advantage, asking Ghost about Marci when she wasn’t here, but the cat’s shoulder was as cold toward him as ever, and he hadn’t gotten far.

  That was probably for the best. Marci didn’t need him distracting her while she was trying to convince the new Mortal Spirits to cooperate with the Merlin Council she and Myron were trying to found here in the DFZ. As she’d explained it to Julius, the idea was to locate, test, and train a whole bevy of suitable mages so that new Mortal Spirits could have their pick of certified not-crazy humans for their potential Merlins. Something certainly needed to be done. In the fourteen days Marci had spent by his side helping keep him alive, the new gods had been running amok all over the world. She’d left to help Myron calm things down the moment she was certain Julius wasn’t going to expire on her. That was two days ago, nearly all of which she’d spent inside the Sea of Magic, but Julius was confident she could handle it. Meanwhile, he was relearning how to handle himself.

  Not being a mage or fond of burning things, Julius had never paid much attention to his fire. Since he’d woken up, though, the emptiness in his chest had been a constant ache. His family and friends still dropped by regularly to make donations, so at least he wasn’t flat on his back anymore, but he was still confined to a wheelchair. Amelia had assured him his flames would come back in time, but time was a fuzzy thing to a dragon who’d lived for thousands of years. Julius hadn’t gotten her to specify yet whether they were on a schedule of months, years, or decades. There was nothing he could do about it, though, so he tried not to worry too much. His magic would recover eventually. What really mattered was that everyone was safe.

  After the Leviathan vanished, UN troops had swarmed in to take control of the city. The people had started coming back a few days later, though most had been forced to turn right back around again since their homes were in ruins. Normally, damage on this scale would have taken years to repair, if it could be rebuilt at all. For them as for Julius, though, having a god on your side changed things. The DFZ wasn’t just powerful—she was the city. She knew how every inch of it should be, and she could put things back to rights in minutes, raising the broken buildings with a flick of her hand. She’d already made a ton of progress, but the DFZ was a big city, and all of it needed work. She was also very busy with Myron, keeping the other Mortal Spirits from destroying things. Unlike Ghost, though, the DFZ always took time to pass Julius’s messages along to Marci. Provided he paid her, of course.

  “Julius?”

  He looked up to see Amelia staring at him. “Are you okay?” she asked, cocking her head. “You’re awful quiet.”

  “What else can he be?” Svena snapped. “You take up all the available air.”

  “I’m fine,” Julius assured her.

  “You sure?” his sister asked, her eyes sharp. “Because I can get you more fire if you need it.”

  “I’m fine,” he said again. “Really.”

  She nodded and turned back to Svena, but her eyes kept darting back to him. The watchfulness ruined the rooftop’s happy mood, and a few minutes later, Julius grabbed his wheels and turned his chair away. “I’m a little tired,” he said. “I think I’ll go downstairs and rest.”

  Amelia stood up at once. “I’ll push you back down.”

  “That’s okay. I’ve got it.”

  Now she looked really suspicious. “You sure?”

  “I’m sure,” Julius said, wheeling toward the elevator as fast as he could go.

  He knew she meant well, but Amelia’s hovering made him feel like an invalid. Even Svena’s presence was only for show. She far preferred to spend her time with Ian, whom she’d immediately moved back in with the moment the DFZ had repaired their superscraper apartment building. But he’d noticed Amelia always seemed to have another dragon around whenever he was awake, and it was starting to get to him. Having so many people watching made him feel like a drain, especially since he knew Marci could have used Amelia’s help. She hadn’t figured out the trick to being in multiple places at once yet, but she was a spirit to
o. She should have been in that meeting in the Sea of Magic, but she’d insisted on staying here. Ostensibly because of Svena, but Julius didn’t believe that for a second. As flighty as she could be, his sister took her position as the Spirit of Dragons very seriously. The only reason she’d skip out on something this big was because she didn’t think Julius could be left alone, and that made him feel like a failure.

  With a frustrated sigh, Julius took the elevator back down to his floor. With so few people in the city, they had the hospital mostly to themselves, which meant no one was around to see him get out of his chair and hobble the last few feet down the hall to his room. It was really too soon, but he was so tired of feeling useless. He was trying to open his door without falling over when a hand shot past his to grab the knob.

  “Let me get that.”

  Julius jumped, coming dangerously close to losing his balance as he spun around to see Chelsie standing behind him. This in itself was nothing unusual—it was the Heartstriker family motto that Chelsie was always behind you—but the rest of her was a shock.

  His sister looked different. Physically, she was the same—same lean body, same short black hair, same deadly aura—but she wasn’t dressed in black combat armor and boots anymore. She was wearing normal clothes. Colorful clothes, including a purple sundress and a washed-out jean jacket that stopped just above her waist. Her feet were tied into pretty lace-up sandals with little straw flowers on the tips, and her toenails were painted the same green as her eyes. It was such a stark difference from how she usually looked, Julius didn’t know what to say, which unfortunately meant he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

  “Are you going undercover?”

  “What? No! I just…” Her cheeks flushed as she looked down at her clothes. “I haven’t gone shopping in a long time, okay? Modern women’s clothing is… tricky.” Her brows furrowed. “Is it weird?”

  “No, no,” he said at once. “You look great! It’s just… really different.”

  “You’re telling me,” she said, opening the door to his room so they could go in. “But I always hated wearing armor. Now that I no longer have to, I thought I’d try something new.”

  “It looks lovely,” he assured her, trying not to show how relieved he was to get back to his bed. “So why are you here?”

  Chelsie shrugged. “Can’t I just visit you?”

  “Yes, but no one does that except Marci.” Julius sighed. “Amelia called you, didn’t she?”

  “The moment you left the roof,” his sister confirmed. “But that’s actually very responsible of her. Your fire is still too low to be left unattended. Really, though, you should be flattered. The only other dragon she’s ever been this on the ball for is Bob.”

  Julius was flattered, which was part of what made this so annoying. It was hard to be mad at your sister when she was only trying to help. “I’m just tired of being treated like I’m made of glass,” Julius grumbled. “I feel fine.”

  Chelsie snorted. “You just collapsed in your bed after walking half a hallway.”

  “Says the dragon who didn’t stop working after she got stabbed.”

  “That was different,” Chelsie said sharply. “I had to do those things, but you’re not like me. You’re free, and we’re only doing this because we care about you. I don’t see how you have cause to complain.”

  “I know,” Julius said, slumping into his pillows. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But it’s only been two days, and I’m already sick of it. I just feel so useless. Everyone else is up to their necks in important work, and I’m stuck here being a burden.”

  “You’re not a burden,” Chelsie said. “You carried us over a lot of hard ground, Julius. Let us carry you for a change. And not all of us are working.” Her lips curled in a smile. “I didn’t just happen to be in the area when Amelia put out the call for someone to check on you. I came to say goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?” Julius sat up with a start. “Why goodbye? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Chelsie said. “I’m just going on vacation.”

  He gaped at her. “You are going on vacation?”

  Chelsie’s smile grew wider. “Crazy, huh? I didn’t want to leave so soon, but Fredrick insisted. He and Frieda practically packed my bags for me. Bethesda’s still enjoying the novelty of getting to be in the DFZ without hiding, so F-clutch has taken over Heartstriker Mountain. They’re all there, including the baby. They said they needed Felicity to themselves for a whole week, some nonsense about teaching her F-clutch solidarity, so they kicked me out.” She shrugged helplessly. “I’d be suspicious, but it’s so transparent, there’s no point. Especially since Fredrick already went through the trouble of getting Xian kicked out too.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Julius said, putting up his hands. “Fredrick got the Golden Emperor kicked out of China?”

  “Actually, I’m pretty sure that part was Xian’s idea. I find it highly convenient that my children kicked me out at the exact same time as my ex’s subjects suddenly decided he needed a week off.”

  Julius did too. “But you’re still going, right?”

  “Of course I’m going,” she said. “I haven’t been to the Bahamas in a century, and Xian’s never been. It’ll be nice.”

  He grinned. “Nice, huh?”

  “Shut up,” his sister snapped. “This doesn’t mean anything. We’re not back together, we’re just… trying it out. A lot has changed, and we need to get to know each other again before anything can… you know…” She cut off with a growl. “Why am I even telling you this? Anyway, I just wanted you to know where I was in case you needed me. I still owe you a huge debt, so if you need help with anything, promise you’ll call.”

  Julius crossed his heart. “I solemnly swear that I will not call you for any reason while you are vacationing in paradise with the Golden Emperor. Have fun. You deserve it.”

  “Whatever,” Chelsie grumbled, her face red. “Just try not to let Justin throw anyone out of your window. I’ll be back in time for the all-clan meeting next week.”

  “The what?”

  “The all-clan meeting,” she repeated, giving him a funny look. “Didn’t they tell you?”

  “No!” Julius cried. “No one tells me anything in here! What’s the all-clan meeting?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like,” Chelsie said, leaning against his door. “The defense against the Leviathan was the first time all the dragon clans had been together in one place in ten thousand years. Miraculously, we got through the whole thing without killing each other, so Bethesda, Ian, Xian, Svena, and Marlin Drake banded together to organize a more formal meeting next week. They’re even holding it in the DFZ since this is still the only neutral territory in the world, though that’s sure to change now that Algonquin’s no longer around to keep everyone away. Between you and me, I think a big reason Bethesda pushed for the meeting is because she intends to claim the DFZ for Heartstriker. Seeing how we control the rest of North America, I don’t see how anyone could object to that, but they will.”

  “Of course they will,” Julius said. “Even in ruins, the DFZ is one of the wealthiest, most magical cities in the world. No one’s going to let Bethesda just walk in and take it. She could start a war.”

  “So make sure she doesn’t,” Chelsie replied, giving him a wry smile. “You’re on the Council, and you wanted something useful to do.”

  Dealing with his mother was not on Julius’s preferred list of jobs. He’d much rather have helped Marci, or Amelia, or General Jackson, or literally anyone else. But his sister was right. He was one of the heads of Heartstriker, and the fact that Ian and Bethesda had planned this meeting without him even knowing proved it was time to get back to work.

  “I like the idea of using the DFZ as neutral territory,” he said, thinking it through. “Has a human government claimed it yet? Because I know Algonquin’s out.” Even after her apology, the DFZ had made it very clear that the lake spirit was never to enter her city agai
n.

  “Not yet,” Chelsie said. “Plenty have tried. Canada’s pushing hard, and David’s bending over backward to make the case for Detroit rejoining the US. So far, though, the DFZ isn’t interested. It’s hard to tell a sentient city that she has to listen to a bunch of humans. Myron had to step in to convince her to let the UN troops stay so they could continue their disaster relief. It’s been a mess.”

  Julius scowled. He hadn’t heard any of that, either. How much were the others keeping from him? But Chelsie’s report had set an idea spinning in his head. An idea that was rapidly forming into a plan. “Thanks for bringing me into the loop, Chelsie. I really appreciate it.”

  “I knew you would. Just don’t tell Amelia. She’s got everyone on strict orders not to tell you anything upsetting, but I’m painfully familiar with your nosiness, so I figured I’d save us all the trouble and get everything out now.”

  “Thank you,” he said again, reaching for his phone to do some research. “Tell Xian hello for me, and have fun on your vacation.”

  His sister smiled. “I think I will,” she said, shutting the door behind her.

  ***

  Chelsie didn’t come back from the Bahamas in time for the all-clan meeting.

  “Where is she?” Julius asked nervously as Fredrick sewed him into the stupidly expensive jacket his mother was making him wear. “She was supposed to be back this morning!”

  “If she hasn’t arrived yet, I don’t think she’s going to,” Fredrick said, holding Julius’s sleeve at the precise right length with one hand while he quickly stitched it in place with the other. “It seems the island has been besieged by freak magical storms. The airport and all forms of teleportation are shut down, and she and the Golden Emperor have been forced to take shelter in their hotel. Very unusual.”

  “There’s nothing unusual about it,” Marci said with a snort. “Sounds to me like Mr. Magical Good Fortune didn’t want to leave his love nest to go to a meeting.” She grinned. “Would a ‘getting lucky’ joke be out of place?”