by Rachel Aaron
Bethesda shrugged. “Not my problem.”
“Yes, your problem,” Julius snapped. “The entire point of this Council is to let Heartstrikers choose who we want to lead us. That can’t happen if you’re just appointing people.”
“Oh, Julius,” Bethesda drawled. “You say that like I should care. But this is your dream, not mine. The only reason I’m playing along at all is because I’d rather have a little power than none. If you wanted all these lofty ideals, you should have been here fighting for them, not gallivanting around with your little mortal girlfriend. But no. You were off playing while I was running my clan.”
“I wasn’t here because we had a meeting this morning,” he growled, trying his best to stay calm. “And you shouldn’t have been doing anything with our clan to begin with. Not without informing me first.”
“Like you know anything about what it means to be the Heartstriker,” his mother scoffed. “I bet you don’t even know how many dragons we have.”
He couldn’t answer that, and Bethesda smiled cruelly. “Thought so.”
Julius clenched his fists. Ten minutes into their first meeting, and things were already spinning out of his control. But it was always this way. Even now that they were technically equals, talking to his mother still made him feel like a hunted animal. But while Julius wanted nothing more than to turn around and walk out, he didn’t have the luxury of running this time. This Council was the culmination of everything he’d fought for. It was the chance at a better future he’d made everyone suffer to create, especially Marci, and Julius would keep his mother from riding roughshod over it if it was the very last thing he did. He was about to tell her as much when David cleared his throat.
“Though she’s wrong in her motives, Mother does have a point,” he said in a politic voice. “I would love nothing more than to give all of Heartstriker a chance to properly consider their options, but we simply don’t have the time. By her contract of surrender, Bethesda’s power as the Heartstriker is now divided evenly among the three Council members. Unfortunately, this means that, until that final seat is filled and the Heartstriker Council is complete, we can’t make any clan decisions. That’s a dangerous liability on a good day, but with Algonquin’s declaration of war last night, it could be a catastrophic one.”
David leaned forward in his chair, looking at Julius with an earnestness that was almost sincere. “As the dragons of the Americas, the Heartstriker clan is Algonquin’s closest target. We are also, thanks to you, in complete disarray. That’s a deadly combination, Julius. Now more than ever, we can not afford to appear weak or indecisive. We must fill the final seat as soon as possible, before Algonquin realizes just how wounded we are.”
He finished with a winning smile, and for a treacherous second, Julius was almost swayed. The only thing that saved him was the fact that he’d been hiding from dragons like David his whole life, which meant he’d seen this game enough to know when it was being played on him. “I see,” he said. “So it’s just convenient that, since you’re the only one who knows there will be elections, you just happen to be the only one prepared to win them.”
“Any good statesman protects to his advantage,” David said with a shrug. “But just because it benefits me doesn’t mean a quick election isn’t also what’s best for the clan. With my connections in the American government, our newly formed Council will be a strong wall against Algonquin’s inevitable encroachment. Honestly, I really don’t see how we could do better, unless you have another Heartstriker in mind?”
“I don’t,” Julius admitted. “Honestly, you probably would be very good for the job, but that’s not the point. This is supposed to be a fair election, and that implies having more than one candidate. I understand that Algonquin is a serious threat, but I didn’t do this so dragons like you could crowbar your way into power.”
“Then perhaps you don’t understand just how serious a threat Algonquin is,” David said, his voice growing cold. “Mother?”
Bethesda snapped her fingers, and Chelsie stepped out of the shadows, making Julius jump.
In hindsight, he supposed he should have expected it. Chelsie was never far when Bethesda was involved, and she never entered a room normally. But while the clan enforcer’s presence should have been a given, the bloody bandages covering her left arm and torso were not.
“What happened?” he cried, looking her up and down. “You weren’t hurt last night!”
“Of course not,” Bethesda said. “She was fighting you, and all you do is run. These are from the job I sent her on this morning.”
“And why was she on a job?” Julius demanded. Last he’d heard, Chelsie had been sleeping off the effects of Estella’s chains.
“Because I sent her on one,” Bethesda said, flashing him a smile so sweet, it made his stomach curdle. “Really, Julius, I’d think you’d be happy. Thanks to my quick thinking, Chelsie was able to get a look around inside the DFZ before Algonquin’s defenses went up.”
“You sent her to the DFZ?” he said, unable to believe his ears. “But she just got out from under the chains.” He squinted at the bandages again. “Are those bullet wounds?”
“Anti-dragon rounds,” Chelsie said, nodding. “Algonquin was prepared.”
By this point, Julius was so angry he didn’t know what to do with it all. His mother, on the other hand, looked smugger than ever. “Just because you coerced me into this Council nonsense doesn’t mean you get everything,” she said, reaching up to pet Chelsie’s short-cropped black hair. “The clan might be yours, but Chelsie is mine. My shade, my spy, mine to do with as I please, always and forever.”
Chelsie dropped her eyes as she said this, staring at the floor. Julius did as well, but for a completely different reason. How could he have been so stupid? He’d assumed they’d taken everything from Bethesda when they’d removed her as clan head, but he’d completely forgotten about Chelsie. Given how no one seemed to want to talk about why Bethesda’s control over Chelsie was special, the oversight might have been excusable until you remembered that Chelsie herself had said she couldn’t take the Fang’s seat on the Council because she’d just be giving their mother another vote. He should have realized the truth then and made Bob rewrite the contract to remove Bethesda’s control from Chelsie as well, but he hadn’t even thought about it. Stupid.
Before he could think of how to even start making this right, though, his sister shook her head. “Your face always was transparent,” she said grimly, meeting his eyes at last. “I know what you’re thinking, Julius, but it doesn’t matter. My duty to Bethesda is a private matter. It’s not something you can sign away with a contract.”
He shook his head. “But—”
“Let it go,” she growled. “Now do you want to hear what’s going on inside the DFZ or not?”
Julius didn’t know what else to say, so he shut his mouth and nodded. Once Bethesda had nodded as well, Chelsie began her report.
“Algonquin’s got her city locked up tight. Her mages were out all night putting up wards on the borders while her anti-dragon task force did sweeps inside the city itself.”
The way she said that made Julius’s blood run cold. “How bad was it?”
“Bad,” Chelsie said. “Let’s just say it’s a really good thing that you and Ian were already gone when it hit. She knew right where we were—safe houses, strongholds, emergency bunkers, everything—and with so many units, she was able to hit multiple clans simultaneously. By the time the warning got out, her teams were everywhere. No one escaped.”
Julius began to sweat. “But what about the dragons who weren’t causing problems? You know, the ones who were just living their lives in—”
“No one,” Chelsie repeated coldly. “There were four Heartstrikers in the DFZ last night: Iris, Gia, Henry, and Jessica. All four were dead before I reached them.”
That last name sent Julius slumping against the door behind him. He’d never particularly liked Jessica, and he didn’t know the other
s at all, but the thought that four of his siblings were just…dead. It didn’t seem possible. It was barely a month since Jessica had let him stay at her apartment the first night Bethesda had kicked him out to the DFZ. How could she just be gone?
“All things considered, four isn’t bad,” Bethesda said pragmatically, dismissing her daughter with a wave of her hand. “It could have been much worse.”
“But it’s not just dragons she’s hitting,” David pointed out as Chelsie vanished as silently as she’d appeared. “Algonquin’s teams also seized our human assets, our employees, spies, and so forth. The official word is that she’s merely detaining them for questioning, but the day is still young.”
“How can she get away with that?” Julius asked. “DFZ might be Algonquin’s playground, but there’s more to the world than Detroit.”
“There you are correct,” David said. “Arresting humans who’ve broken her laws is one thing, but all the Heartstrikers she killed last night were American citizens in addition to being dragons. Algonquin knew that, but she put their heads on spikes in front of her tower anyway. Critical mistake. America has gone to war over less. I’ve already talked with the president about it, and we’re going to lodge a formal complaint along with the resumption of strict sanctions starting this afternoon. It won’t stop her, but the loss of trade should slow her down until we can get our clan back on its feet. Provided, of course, that Julius allows us to do so.”
“He shouldn’t be allowing us to do anything,” Bethesda said, glaring down at Julius with a look designed to make him feel one inch tall. “The only reason he’s on this Council at all is because none of the other Fangs could be bothered. If this Council of his survives one year, I’ll be amazed.”
The malice in her voice was enough to make Julius flinch, but for once, that was as far as it went. His mother was still terrifying, still cruel and conniving, but he was no longer the same dragon he’d been. He might never be able to face his mother without flinching, but that didn’t change the weight of the sword on his hip or the bulk of the paper contract he still clutched in his hand. The one she’d signed on her knees when he’d spared her life, giving him the power to say what he was going to say next.
“There will be a vote,” he said, amazed that his voice didn’t shake. “Algonquin will always be a threat. We have a much better chance of standing up to her if we do it together, but we can’t do that if Bethesda keeps trying to wiggle out of her agreements.”
His mother’s eyes flashed with anger, and Julius put a proactive hand on his sword. “David is right. We need to get our clan up and running again as soon as possible. That said, a surprise election where the only candidate is your chosen successor is not acceptable. So, since this is supposed to be a Council, I suggest we compromise and have the vote tonight. It’s still too fast, but at least this way everyone will have a chance to actually get to the mountain and learn what’s going on before we spring this on them. That way, if one of them wants to run, they’ll have a few hours to prepare, giving us a chance at a fair election.”
“Or an epic mess,” Bethesda snarled. “You have no idea the can of snakes you’re opening here, but I suppose a good compromise should leave no one happy.” She sighed. “Fine. I don’t see how a few hours will make a difference, but if it will shut you up, we’ll have the vote tonight at six.”
He’d been thinking eight, but Julius was ready to take what he could get. They’d only been at this for fifteen minutes, and he was already exhausted.
To be fair, part of that was natural. Between everything that had happened last night and visiting Marci this morning, he hadn’t actually gotten a chance to sleep last night. Or the night before. Now that he thought about it, actually, he hadn’t slept since Marci had left with Amelia after they’d failed to break the Sword of Damocles. Given how much of that he’d spent fighting, fleeing, and being otherwise terrified for his life, Julius was amazed he was still conscious. But while he definitely felt run down, he wasn’t nearly as bad as he should have been. Apparently, being unsealed had done a lot more for him than he’d first realized. Now he just had to escape this room before his mother sapped what little energy he had left.
“Six it is, then,” he said tiredly, opening the door. “See you then.”
No one spoke as he left. The moment the door closed behind him, though, the plotting began fast and furious. A proper dragon would have stayed to listen, but Julius wasn’t a proper dragon, and he didn’t particularly want to hang around in a hallway, eavesdropping while his mother and his brother discussed how to undermine everything he’d worked for. He just wanted to go to bed, so he turned away, striding out of his mother’s lair as fast as he could without actually running. But his plan to get downstairs as fast as dragonly possible hit a bump when he opened the door to the throne room just in time to see Katya entering from the other side.
Unlike everything else today, this was a pleasant surprise. The last he’d heard, the new head of the Daughters of the Three Sisters had taken her clan out to hunt for Svena, who had yet to return from her mating flight. Not that anyone expected her to. Given what Estella had done—brainwashing her and sending her on a mating flight with Ian as part of an elaborate scheme to kill Bethesda and destroy the Heartstriker clan—Julius wouldn’t have been surprised if Svena never set foot on this mountain again. But clearly he wasn’t giving the White Witch enough credit, because moments after Katya entered, Svena swept in behind her looking no worse for wear. Even more surprising, Ian was right beside her, walking arm in arm with the dragoness with the smuggest smile Julius had ever seen.
Okay, the smug part wasn’t surprising at all, but the fact that Ian was still alive was. He would have put money on Svena eating the younger dragon for breakfast the moment Estella’s chain broke. But Ian and Svena had always had an odd sort of relationship, and whatever miracle had returned his brother to the mountain alive, Julius was glad of it, especially since both of them looked so uncharacteristically happy.
The other remaining Daughters of the Three Sisters were coming in as well now, but as Julius lifted his hand to greet them, something froze him in his tracks. It was so sudden, Julius couldn’t even say what was wrong until Ian looked straight at him. Even then, it took him several seconds to pin down what his danger instinct was freaking out about. When he saw it, though, he didn’t know how he’d noticed anything else.
Ian’s eyes were no longer green.
Chapter 2
And that was how, five minutes later, Julius found himself standing beside his mother in the ruined throne room for his second-ever meeting as part of the Heartstriker Council.
At least Bethesda looked the part this time. Julius wasn’t sure how, but somewhere between his leaving and Ian’s arrival, she’d changed into a flowing emerald silk gown with an elaborate golden headpiece and a full face of flawlessly contoured makeup. The transformation was miraculous considering she’d been in the Bethesda equivalent of pajamas when he’d last seen her. But perfect as she now looked, even the Heartstriker herself couldn’t compete with Svena.
Julius had always thought the White Witch of the Three Sisters was beautiful in a cold, terrifying way. All dragons were lovely to look at, of course, but Svena had always had that something extra that set her apart. Even under Estella’s chains, she’d had the self-possession of a true monster: confident in her power and utterly unafraid. This morning, though, everything about her seemed to have been multiplied by a power of ten.
Unlike Bethesda, she was not dressed for an audience. Quite the opposite. With her bare feet, windswept hair, and simple white shift dress of conjured, unmelting snow, Svena looked as if she’d flown straight here from the desert. Not that that seemed to matter. Julius couldn’t put his finger on what had changed, but this morning, he was convinced Svena could have been wearing a potato sack and still looked like a conquering queen.
It was victory, he decided at last. Standing in front of her sisters with Ian at her side, Svena didn�
�t look like a dragon who’d barely survived her seer’s treachery. She looked like a soldier who’d fought and won, and she wore that triumph like a crown, smiling viciously at Bethesda, who—in her green silk—was starting to look like a sour grape by comparison.
Both dragonesses were staring at each other as though bloodshed was more of a when than an if, leaving the rest of their respective parties—Julius, David, and Conrad (who’d appeared from nowhere the moment there was a chance of violence) on one side of the room, Katya, Ian, and the other Daughters of the Three Sisters on the other—standing like spectators at the world’s most elegant cage match. Julius was already reaching for his Fang to head off the inevitable attack when Bethesda broke the silence with a cold, sharp command.
“Ian. Get over here.”
Ian brushed his hair away from his new dark-brown eyes with a slow smile.
“No.”
Bethesda went perfectly still, and Julius’s stomach began to clench. The other Heartstrikers were already stepping back to a safe distance when Svena burst into laughter.
“Poor little Broodmare,” she cackled. “My sisters told me the whole story. It seems you’re only a third the dragon you used to be.” She pursed her lips in false concern. “What will the other clans say, I wonder?”
“Save your wondering for yourself,” Bethesda snarled back. “I see you wasted no time taking your clan back, or what’s left of it. Did Katya the Backstabber roll over for you, or did you have to fight her for the scraps your dead mothers left behind?”
Katya hissed, and Julius shot his mother a dirty look, which she ignored. For her part, Svena didn’t even give Bethesda the satisfaction of looking insulted. She actually seemed pleased by the outburst as she turned to wrap her arm around Ian’s shoulders.
“Low blows do you no favors, Heartstriker,” she said, shaking her head. “But I expected nothing less from you. Your ambitions have always been as shallow and gaudy as your taste. But I enjoy watching you try to keep up, so I don’t mind telling you that my littlest sister did, in fact, offer me the rule of our clan this morning. And I turned her down.”