by Rachel Aaron
Bethesda blinked. “What?”
It hardly seemed possible, but Svena’s grin got even wider. “Some of us have higher goals than merely ruling over our dead parents’ shadows, Princess of the Quetzalcoatl. For thousands of years, my mothers were the greatest dragons left alive in this world. As of last night, though, they’re dead. All that drama and buildup, and they went down in a single shot in front of the entire world. But that just goes to show that the legacy of past power is as false and rotten as those who cling to it, and that real power, the true right to rule, is something you must seize with your own fangs. Not ones you steal from your poor betrayed father.”
She finished with a pointed look at the sword on Julius’s hip, but Bethesda was staring at Svena in insulted disbelief. “How stupid do you think I am?” she snapped. “You’ve coveted your mothers’ magic since you were born! Did you actually think I’d believe you when you claim you’ve given up on it now?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you really here, White Witch? Too scared of Algonquin to go into the DFZ and take back the magic from your mothers’ corpses?”
That was a low blow, and several of the white dragons bared their teeth in reply, but Svena just waved the insult away. “My mothers had just woken up from a thousand-year sleep. Whatever magic they had left was trivial, and probably already stolen by Algonquin. But even if their life’s fires were in front of me for the taking, I wouldn’t bother. I am not content to be merely the daughter of great dragons, ruling over the memory of power. Let the dead be dead. I am alive, and for the first time ever, my future is wholly my own.” She lifted her chin proudly. “I am my own queen now, Bethesda, so I’ve done what any true dragon would do in my position. I’ve started my own clan.”
“And dragged my son into it,” Bethesda growled, glaring at Ian, who was still standing at Svena’s side, cockier than ever. “Why you conniving, dragon-stealing—”
“You can’t steal what isn’t owned, Bethesda,” Ian said, cutting her off. “Svena isn’t the only one with ambition. She didn’t take me. I went to her.”
Their mother’s face turned scarlet. “Why?” she growled. “Of all my children, why would you betray me?”
Ian shrugged. “Why does a dragon do anything? Power. You have given me several opportunities, but Heartstriker’s the biggest clan in the world. Even with your favor, I knew it would take centuries to claw my way up the ranks. So I started looking for other options, and once I showed Svena how useful I could be, she was happy to give me a spot at the top of her new clan.”
“New clan?” Bethesda scoffed. “Don’t be absurd. Two dragons does not make a clan. You don’t even have territory.”
“I’ve claimed my mothers’ lands,” Svena said coldly. “And their daughters. Katya and the others have all abandoned the dead flame of our mothers. They follow me now.”
Bethesda opened her mouth again, but Svena didn’t give her the chance.
“You forget yourself, Heartstriker,” she growled. “My sisters and I are older than you or your children. With the exception of your obnoxious Planeswalker, we have more magic between us than all the dragons in this mountain combined. That makes us a very powerful clan.” She looped her arm through Ian’s. “Face it. Your son traded up. Especially since my clan will be getting bigger very soon.”
She placed a hand pointedly on her stomach as she finished, and Bethesda’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Ian, you didn’t.”
“I most certainly did,” Ian replied, placing his arm possessively around Svena’s waist. “Our mating flight might have started as a ploy, but a real dragon always figures out how to turn failures to his advantage. Svena and I had actually talked about doing this days before Estella returned. When Svena was taken, I knew the Northern Star couldn’t keep up whatever she was using to control her forever, so I played along and waited for my chance. When Svena was herself again, I explained what had happened. Once she understood the situation, she was more than happy to accelerate our plans.”
“I bet she was,” Bethesda grumbled, though she didn’t look as angry over this as Julius had expected. She actually looked grudgingly proud, but then, Ian had always been her favorite precisely because he did things like this. That said, Julius was sure his mother had never dreamed he’d do it against her.
“Congratulations on your perfectly orchestrated betrayal,” she said bitterly. “But before you get too comfortable, remember that half of those eggs are still mine. The contract Estella and I signed—”
“Was applicable to the Daughters of the Three Sisters,” Svena said. “Alas, the mating flight took place after I decided to strike out on my own and take Ian with me.” She smirked. “You should have seen how fast he threw you over. You really should treat your children better, Heartstriker.” She rubbed her flat stomach again. “I’m just glad our whelps will never have to know you as a grandmother.”
By this point, Bethesda looked like she was about to burst a vein. If she hadn’t still been sealed in her human form, Julius was certain she would have been breathing puffs of smoke, and he decided he’d better step in before she did something they’d all regret.
“Mother,” he said quietly. “It’s not—”
“Shut up!” Bethesda roared. “Do you know how long I schemed for that mating flight?” She stabbed her finger at Svena. “I don’t care what technicalities you trot out. Those are my eggs, and I will have them! Your only say in the matter, White Witch, is whether or not you’ll be alive when I’m done.”
“Bold words, Broodmare,” Svena said, the words coming out in puffs of frost as the temperature in the room began to drop. “But you’re in no position to threaten me. Your clan is in turmoil, your dragon is sealed, and your territory surrounds the DFZ on all sides. That makes you the obvious first target for Algonquin’s little war, and huge as your child army is, even you can’t fight on two fronts at once. You would do far better to mind the children you already have. It would be a very stupid move indeed to risk the dragons you’ve got chasing after eggs you’ll never touch.”
That sounded like good advice to Julius, but if Bethesda knew how to put sense before pride, their family history would have been very different. She’d already opened her mouth to shout down Svena and most likely plunge their clans into war in the process when Julius decided enough was enough.
“Stop.”
The quiet word landed like a hammer, and his mother froze. Her eyes, the only part she could still move, flicked to Julius’s hand, which was wrapped in a fist around the hilt of his Fang. But while Julius knew better than to let it show on his face, he was jumping for joy on the inside that the sword had actually worked like he’d wanted. All he’d had to do was think about stopping his mother, and the sword’s magic had leaped up to meet him, freezing Bethesda’s blood-lust and locking her in place. It was still there, too, the echo of his dead grandfather’s will hanging sharp and alien in his mind, but Julius didn’t have time to worry about that. Already, Svena and Ian were both looking at him in surprise, and Julius knew that if there was ever a time to show the world that Heartstriker had changed, it was now.
“Our grudge against the Daughters of the Three Sisters died with Estella,” he said, fighting to keep his voice from shaking as he stood tall beside his frozen mother. “Also, since Svena was not in control of her actions when she signed, the mating flight contract was invalid from the beginning, which means those eggs belong to their parents.” He shifted his eyes to Ian, who was trying and failing to hide his shock. “On behalf of our clan, I formally renounce any claim to your children, and I sincerely congratulate the both of you on a successful mating flight and the formation of your new clan.”
He meant that, too. Svena and Ian were both terrifying dragons, but under all the posturing, they really did seem to work well together as allies. That was a love story for the ages by dragon standards, and Katya certainly looked happy to not be clan head anymore. But while Julius stood behind every word he’d just said, he could feel his mo
ther pushing on his Fang’s hold with all her might. He was about to add another hand to his sword to keep her in check until the others left when Ian suddenly stepped forward.
“Well, well, Julius,” he said in a pleased voice. “It seems the rumors are true and Mother is no longer the absolute ruler of Heartstriker. But while I’m proud to see you’ve grown some fangs at last, I don’t believe you have full authority to make these decisions any more than she does.” He paused, letting that sink in, and then, “What about a compromise?”
Bethesda and Julius stopped struggling. “What?” they said in unison.
“A compromise,” Ian repeated with a smirk. “I’m given to understand it’s your favorite thing.”
“Julius’s favorite thing,” Bethesda hissed, finally breaking free of Julius’s Fang’s control as her burning desire to murder them all faded to a far more manageable shocked indignation. “Don’t tell me he’s rubbed off on you, Ian.”
“Don’t be insulting,” Ian said. “I’m not interested in lofty ideals or the preservation of empires. The only thing I care about is securing the best outcome for myself, my mate, and the children who will become the foundation of our future power.”
Julius arched an eyebrow. “And compromise fits into that how?”
Ian smiled and motioned toward the door to Bethesda’s apartments. “Step in there, and I’ll tell you.”
Their mother looked instantly suspicious, and for once, Julius agreed. “Why?”
“Because this is a delicate negotiation between clans,” Ian said with a pointed look at David, who was still watching from a safe distance. “It’s not for common ears.”
David’s posture turned instantly hostile. Bethesda, however, looked amused. “All right, traitor,” she said. “You want to bargain? I’ll hear you out. If only for the amusement factor.”
“We’ll hear you out,” Julius said pointedly, releasing the death grip on his sword.
Bethesda rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else as the three of them walked away from the two clans locked in a standoff and into Bethesda’s rooms.
***
The moment the door closed, Bethesda dropped all pretense. “What do you want?” she snapped, glaring at Ian like the smaller dragon was five seconds away from being her breakfast.
“What I’ve always wanted,” Ian replied coolly. “Power. I know Heartstriker is now ruled by a Council. I also know there’s an empty seat. I want you to give it to me.”
“What?” Bethesda roared. “You turn traitor, join the enemy when I needed you most, and now you want me to take you back?”
For once, Julius didn’t actually think his mother’s reaction was unjustified. “It does seem disingenuous. You just joined a new clan a few hours ago. There’s no way Svena would be okay with you jumping ship right back.”
“Nonsense,” Ian said with a grin. “Who do you think helped me come up with the idea? Svena’s perfectly content with this, because I’m not planning to leave her clan. My aim is to be at the top of both.”
Julius had no words. Even Bethesda was temporarily speechless. He knew Ian was arrogant and ambitious, but this was just crazy.
“Impossible!” their mother cried at last. “Welcome a double agent into the top of my clan? I might as well let Svena in, too, since you’re just going to report all our dealings right back to your little snow queen.”
Ian looked disappointed. “Really, Bethesda, is that the limit of your imagination?” He pointed at Julius. “I’ve been running human businesses since I was younger than him. I’m president of three companies and on the board for seven more. That’s how humans do business: the best people rise to the top of any ladder they touch. It doesn’t matter if you’re running one company or fifty so long as the work gets done well. Why should clan structure be any different?”
“Because we’re not humans,” Bethesda growled. “And we don’t share. You know what they say about dogs with two masters.”
“I do,” Ian replied coldly. “But I am no dog, and if you would stop being stubborn for five seconds, you’d see that this arrangement benefits us all.”
Bethesda scoffed at that, but Julius was curious. “How?” he asked. “I mean, it’s obvious how you would benefit from rejoining Heartstriker, but what’s in it for us?”
“What a remarkably un-Julius-like question,” Ian said approvingly. “And the answer is plenty. Algonquin has declared war against our species. Svena and I agree that her strike against her mothers was most likely a target of opportunity, but as the closest clan to the DFZ and the one suffering from the most internal turmoil, Heartstriker is the obvious next choice for attack.” His brown eyes locked on Bethesda. “You know this, which is why you’ve called in the entire clan, but all your dragons put together can’t stop a magical weapon powerful enough to take down the Three Sisters.”
Bethesda scoffed. “And you’re saying Svena can?”
“Yes,” Ian said without missing a beat. “Because Svena is the greatest living dragon mage, and a surprise attack only works once.”
“Please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Svena’s decent, but Amelia—”
“Has zero stake in your continued survival,” Ian said pointedly. “I already heard she refused any part in the new clan structure. I wouldn’t be surprised if she scuttled back to the planes any day now. Is that really the power you want protecting you?”
That shut their mother up good. Even Julius had to admit his oldest sister was not the most responsible of dragons, and she had seemed remarkably uninterested in the clan’s future outside of escaping her own position as Bethesda’s heir. She certainly wasn’t going to put anything on the line to keep her mother safe, a fact Bethesda seemed to understand all too well. “So you’re saying if I let you back in, Svena will protect me, my mountain, and my children from Algonquin?”
“If I’m on the Council,” Ian said, crossing his arms. “We’re talking about magic on a global scale. She’s not going to waste that kind of power on a clan where I’m just another dragon.”
“Then we have a problem,” Julius said with a sigh. “I’m not sure what Katya’s told you, but Mother and I can’t just put someone on the Council. The seat is decided by a clan vote. If you want the position, you’re going to have to win it.”
“Fine,” Ian said instantly. “Winning is what I do.”
Julius would have rolled his eyes at that if it’d come from anyone else, but Ian wasn’t bragging. He was stating a fact, and the longer Julius thought about that, the more he liked it. “You think you could beat David?”
“In a clan vote?” Ian nodded. “Absolutely.”
Bethesda scoffed. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said, glaring at her. “David has always enjoyed strong support among the upper alphabet, but like most older Heartstrikers, he’s ignored the younger clutches completely. That makes sense when you consider the difference a few hundred years can make for an individual dragon’s power, but a vote is different. The older dragons might be exponentially larger and stronger, but thanks to centuries of attrition, there’s a lot more Heartstrikers at the bottom of the pyramid than the top.”
“True,” Bethesda said. “But you’re an I. Your own siblings and the Js might be desperate enough to follow you, but no H or higher would ever rally behind a dragon who was lower ranked than themselves.”
That struck Julius as depressingly accurate, but Ian looked more stubborn than ever. “Then I will convince them otherwise,” he said, lifting his chin confidently. “But I didn’t come back here to rejoin the crowd. If I have to win a vote, then I’ll win a vote, but I will be on that Council, and when I am, I will show you how to properly rule a clan.”
Bethesda was growling by the time he finished, and honestly, Julius was on the verge himself, though not for the same reasons. He didn’t like Ian’s conqueror’s attitude any more now than he had when he’d first met him in the DFZ all those weeks ago. But while he didn’t actually see how Ian was going to pull
it off, letting him run would give David a real opponent, which was what he’d been fighting his mother for all morning.
“I have no problem letting you try for the seat,” he said slowly. “But if you’re actually going to do this, it has to be a fair race, and that can’t happen if Svena’s offer of protection is contingent on your winning. We can’t have you threatening dragons with death by Algonquin if they don’t vote for you. Letting you back into the clan without punishment is already a huge boon, so here’s my proposal. You get Svena to protect us before the election and for a year afterward, even if you don’t win. Do that, and we’ll let you run. Otherwise, no deal.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed. “Svena is pregnant,” he said stiffly. “That puts great demands on her magic already. It will be hard to convince her to expend what’s left protecting a clan she doesn’t have a stake in.”
“So convince her,” Julius said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be good at? And you did say you were here to compromise. That implies not getting everything you want.”
For a moment, Ian looked taken aback, and then he shook his head. “Power suits you surprisingly well, Julius Heartstriker,” he said with a sigh. “Fine. You have your compromise. Let me run in this election as a Heartstriker without giving up my place in Svena’s clan, and I’ll convince her to help protect your mountain—which I suppose I should call our mountain—for one year starting today, regardless of the vote’s outcome. Is that fair?”
Julius started to say it was more than fair, but before he could get the words out, his mother stepped right in front of him.
“I might not run this clan anymore,” she growled. “But neither does he. Julius might be willing to roll over for the White Witch’s protection, but I absolutely refuse to consider another half-grown whelp for this farce of a Council. Especially one who doesn’t even look like a Heartstriker!”