by Rachel Aaron
Julius nodded, and Bob slid off his car to pace in front of it, his hands moving dramatically as he spoke. “For reasons I haven’t figured out yet, Estella is using this Bixby fellow to go after your charming pet mage and her Cosmopolitan. ”
“Kosmolabe,” Julius said.
Bob dismissed the correction with a flick of his wrist. “Whatever. I’m not even sure if the Kosmo-thing is her endgame or just another step, but it warms my heart to keep her from getting it. That’s half of why I’m here: interference. If Estella’s taking a personal hand in this, it must be very important, and making sure Estella’s important plans fall through is one of life’s little joys. ”
He pressed a hand to his heart with a satisfied sigh, but Julius was more confused than ever. “Only half? What’s the other part?”
“You, of course. ”
Julius blinked in surprise, and Bob rolled his eyes. “Please. I know your little human told you about our delightful conversation. This is a test, by me, for you. Though I have to admit it’s a much better one now that Estella’s come into the game. I never would have thought to wreck your car. ”
Julius was sure he’d regret asking, but this was already the longest conversation he’d ever had with his eldest brother, and he wasn’t about to waste what might be his only opportunity. “What are you testing me for?”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Bob said, wagging his finger. “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be much of a test, would it? Let’s just say I learned the hard way to always stress test my tools before I use them. Now, go help your human. It seems my lady love has finally woken up, and I need to get her opinion on a few matters before we begin. ”
He tipped his head toward the Crown Victoria, and Julius looked back to see Bob’s pigeon perched on the giant steering wheel, her beady eyes blinking as if she had, indeed, just woken up. Bob walked over to the driver’s door and leaned through the open window to drop a loving kiss on top of the pigeon’s head. It fluttered happily in reply, cooing rapidly. Bob cooed back, face beaming, and Julius quickly turned away, walking over to join Marci before he saw something that ruined the last remaining vestige of hope he maintained for his brother’s sanity.
Chapter 15
“So let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” Marci said. “The three great dragon seers are the Black Reach, Estella the Northern Star, and Bob?” When Julius nodded, she arched an eyebrow. “One of these things is not like the others. ”
“Bob’s just his family name,” Julius explained. They were hunched together in the enormous back seat of Bob’s Crown Victoria as he drove them away from what he’d termed the ‘Scene of Interest. ’ It wasn’t the most private place to have a discussion he really, really shouldn’t be having, but Marci had refused to stay behind, and Julius couldn’t bring himself to let her step into a mess like this without some basic information. “He’s actually Brohomir, Great Seer of the Heartstrikers, but he only answers to that on formal occasions or when he’s booking tables at restaurants. ”
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“I can’t address an ancient, supposedly future-seeing dragon as Bob,” she said, shooting a look at the back of Bob’s head. “It’s undignified!”
“Trust me, it’s better this way. ” He’d seen his brother put aside his goofy, slightly insane Bob persona and become Brohomir only once, and it wasn’t an experience he wanted to repeat, especially in front of a mortal. That thought sent his eyes drifting back down to the makeshift bandage on Marci’s neck. The bleeding had stopped, thank goodness, but the smell of blood still lingered, reminding Julius just how close the miss had been.
“Are you even sure he’s really a seer?” she whispered, leaning closer. “Because every paper I’ve seen on the subject concluded that true clairvoyance is a myth. ”
“A century ago, your kind considered dragons to be myths,” Bob said, making them both jump. “Why are mortals always so eager to declare things impossible, anyway? It’s not like things do or don’t exist just because you say so. ”
She straightened up again. “So you’re saying you actually see the future?”
Marci’s question sent Julius into a panic. You did not just ask elder dragons to spill their secrets. But before he could think of a way to cover for her before his brother took offense, Bob did the unthinkable. He answered.
“Only very occasionally,” he said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “Mostly, I see what will probably happen based on decisions people make: whether you eat lunch now or later, whether you decide to fake being sick or go to work, whether you kill a man or spare his life, that sort of thing. Every decision made creates a fork in the future, and a seer’s power is the ability to read ahead down those forks to find the path that leads to the outcome we want. Once we find it, we simply nudge the players as needed to make sure all the critical decisions come out in our favor. ” He paused, frowning. “This isn’t to say I don’t also have true visions of things that cannot be changed, but they’re not my bread and butter. ”
By the time he finished, Julius’s jaw was on the floor. He’d never heard Bob talk about his seer powers like this to anyone. Of course, he’d never heard Bob talk much at all since he’d always made it a point to avoid the upper alphabet members of his family. Marci, however, didn’t seem to appreciate the gravity of what she was learning. She just asked another question.
“What’s the difference between things you nudge and things you can’t change?” she said, leaning as far forward as her seatbelt would allow. “From your explanation, it sounds like the future is made from our decisions, which suggests it’s all free will. But if there are also things that can’t be changed no matter what, that sounds like destiny. So which is it?”
“Is light a wave or a particle?” Bob replied with an elegant shrug. “Really, Miss Mage, you need to keep a more open mind to the inherent dualities of nature if you ever want to understand the higher workings of magic. ”
That was clearly not an answer that held water with Marci. Before she could object, though, Bob turned around to look at Julius. “Where to?”
Julius blinked. “You’re asking me?”
“It’s your future,” Bob reminded him. “And in case you missed the point of that impromptu lecture, your decisions are kind of a vital element in all this. Now, where do we go?”
Julius bit his lip. He hated making snap decisions. He especially hated making them when Bob was looking at him instead of the road while operating a manually driven car. He especially especially hated making decisions under the implication that whatever choice he made would influence his entire future. “Can I think about it?”
Bob rolled his eyes. “See, this is exactly why I don’t normally tell people how the game works. You start overthinking and double-guessing and everything gets tangled in knots. Just pretend I’m not here and do whatever you think is best. ”
That was kind of hard to pull off with Bob staring straight at him, so Julius turned to the window and set about working things through logically. “The last time Bixby attacked, he went big. I doubt he’ll do any less this time, especially if he thinks Marci might bring help even after he told her not to, which I’m sure he does. ” He glanced back at Marci. “Do you think he could put together another army like the one at the house?”
She pursed her lips, thinking. “Not of his own men, but he’s rich and apparently dead set on making this happen. And he knows he’s dealing with dragons now, so yeah, he’s probably going to roll something pretty big. ”
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“Which means we’re going to need help,” Julius finished, because there was no way he could play magic battery again today. When he looked hopefully at Bob, though, the seer shook his head.
“I’m here on a strictly observational basis. Pick again. ”
Julius blew out a long breath. He hadn’t been too keen on the idea of relying on Bob, but without him, their options were limited. Singular, really, but as much as he hated the idea, he couldn’t think of a
nyone else, and he dropped his head with a sigh. “I’m going to have to ask Justin. ”
“Excellent choice,” Bob said, turning back to the road at last. “And where is Justin at the moment?”
Julius snapped his head up again. “You mean you don’t know?”
“I’m a seer, not a directory,” Bob replied testily. “Though if I had to guess, I’d say the family safe house. ”
“We have a safe house in the DFZ?”
“Of course we have a safe house here,” Bob said, smiling in the rear view mirror. “Mother keeps safe houses in all the major cities as protection for those she feels deserve protecting. ”
Which would explain why Julius had never heard of it. “That’s probably where he is, then. Unless he got a hotel?”
Bob shook his head. “Justin’s not allowed in hotels anymore. Too many incidents. ”
Marci snorted. “I can totally see that. ”
Both dragons looked at her, but she just looked back totally unrepentant, and Julius sighed. “Fine,” he said, dragging his hands through his hair, which was already standing on end after a full day of such abuse. “Safe house it is. ”
“Heartstriker Safe House, coming up,” Bob said cheerfully. “Hold on. ”
Before Julius could ask why, or to what, his brother floored the gas, sending the car shooting forward. Marci grabbed Julius with a yelp as the momentum launched Ghost, who’d spent the impromptu car trip hiding in Marci’s bag, straight through her chest and into the trunk. But if Bob noticed the chaos in his back seat, he paid it no mind. He just leaned over the wheel, dodging the late afternoon traffic like he was playing a racing game while his pigeon clung to his shoulder, flapping her wings for balance whenever he took a particularly sharp turn.
***
Svena stood in front of the mirrored vanity in the white dressing room of the penthouse suite she’d secured for her stay in the DFZ, ignoring her sister as she put on the diamond earrings Ian had sent over this morning. As bribes went, jewelry was unsubtle and a clear sign of his youth, which might have been why Svena found it thrilling. Estella, on the other hand, thought it was tacky, and she said so. Repeatedly.
“He treats you like a human,” Estella spat, not even looking up from her phone, which she’d been typing on frantically all afternoon. “Like some mortal paramour. It’s insulting and vulgar, but what more could you expect from the children of Bethesda the Broodmare? She is trash, and trash breeds true. ”
“So you keep saying,” Svena replied, turning her head side to side to set the strings of diamonds glittering in the brightly lit mirror. “But if you would look beyond your superiority for a moment, you might notice that the world has changed. The Heartstrikers are no longer a minor power we can ignore. And besides”—she smiled at her reflection—“I am the elder dragon. That means Ian is my paramour, and if he wishes to shower me with gifts, who am I to stop him?”
“Your paramour,” Estella scoffed, glaring at her phone as she slid deeper into the cushions of the dressing room’s silk sofa. “The whelp son of an upstart whore whose only talents are luring more powerful dragons into her bed and breeding like a barnyard animal. ”
“And yet with those two talents, Bethesda the Heartstriker has made herself the undisputed matriarch of the largest dragon clan on Earth,” Svena said, calmly adjusting the bust of her strapless dress before turning to face her sister at last. “You are a fool if you ignore that simply because you don’t approve of her lifestyle. ”
“It is you who is being a fool!” Estella shouted, dropping her phone at last as she shot up from the couch. “Defending our enemies and primping in the mirror like an idiot girl for a dragon so far beneath you, I cannot even acknowledge his presence without debasing myself!”
“Who else could I choose?” Svena said, staring her sister down. “To hear you tell it, everyone is beneath the daughters of the Three Sisters. Has it never occurred to you that I might be tired of being all-powerful, dreadful, and alone?”
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“Better alone than to roll about in the mud with pigs!” Estella snarled, drawing herself up to her full height. “At least I remember the fear and respect our bloodline demands. Our mothers were worshiped as gods!”
Svena turned away with a growl, snatching her hairbrush off the marble counter. This was an old argument, and it was no more likely to be settled tonight than the hundreds of other times they’d clashed over the years. “You’re overreacting,” she said, dragging the brush through her already perfect hair. “Ian is nothing but an amusement. Something to pass the time while I wait for his idiot brother to find Katya, which, I might remind you, was your idea to begin with. ”
“Yes,” Estella said. “To set up the Heartstrikers! If I’d foreseen you behaving like such a tasteless harlot, I would have scrapped the entire venture and returned Katya to the mountain myself. ”
“Then I guess you don’t see as much as you claim,” Svena said, slamming the brush down again. “Enough. I’ve got better things to do than stand here and listen to this. I’m going out. Don’t wait up. ”
“Svena. ”
Svena had already decided to ignore her, but there was an edge on Estella’s voice that made her look back. When she did, her sister was standing in front of the dressing room door, imperious as a queen. “You will not go. ”
The command was sharp as cracking ice, and it called forth a rage Svena hadn’t felt in many years. “You may be acting head of our clan,” she said slowly, drawing herself up to her full height as well. “But this is not clan business, and you are dangerously close to overstepping your authority. ”
“All business is my business,” Estella replied haughtily. “Especially yours. Other than myself, you are the greatest of us. Your actions echo through the entire family, and I cannot stand by while you permit yourself to be used in such a fashion. ”
“It is I who am using,” Svena growled. “Ian is my amusement, and I will keep him for however long I like. ”
Estella laughed then, a sound as beautiful and cold as the arctic sea they ruled. “Ian? Ian is a tool, a puppet too young and blind to even realize he’s dancing to someone else’s tune. I was referring to the one who pulls his strings. The dragon who plays all the Heartstrikers like a symphony while allowing that shallow peacock Bethesda to take the credit. ”
Svena rolled her eyes. If this was about the Seer of the Heartstrikers again, she did not want to hear it. She opened her mouth to tell Estella as much, but before she could say a word, she noticed her sister had that odd gleam in her eye that warned she was no longer in the present, but lost in the hazy maze of possible futures that only seers could see.
“He taunts me,” Estella whispered, her voice shaking with frustrated fury. “He blocks me at every turn and takes what I hold dear purely out of spite. Even you. ” She looked up, her blue eyes suddenly focusing as they locked with Svena’s. “Katya was always weak. Her loss is nothing, but you are our prize. I sent you here because I thought you would be untouchable, a mountain too great to even notice his foolish nudging, but no sooner did you arrive in this horrible city than your future began to vanish. ” She closed her eyes with a little sob that cut right to Svena’s icy heart. “He is taking you away from me. ”
“Oh, sister,” Svena said, her anger forgotten as she hurried to Estella’s side. “You are upset over nothing. I’ve never even met the Heartstriker’s seer. ”
“You think that matters?” Estella said, her voice thick with a hatred so old and deep, Svena couldn’t begin to imagine how long it must have been growing. “He cannot defeat me, and so the coward strikes at you, tempting you through his brother’s whispers of power. They are all his pawns, and now he seeks to add you to his game as well. But he shall never have you. ” She reached up to grab her sister’s shoulders, digging her nails into Svena’s flesh. “You are my pawn!”
Svena’s sympathy for her sister died in a freezing rush of rage. “I am no one’s pawn!” she roared, ripp
ing out of her sister’s hold with a thrust of power that shattered the mirrors and sent frost spreading across the carpet.
Estella’s eyes widened at the blatant display, and for a moment, it almost looked like she would back down. Instead, she breathed out an icy breath of her own, and as the air left her body, the thin veneer of her humanity vanished along with it.
Svena gasped as the full weight of her sister’s power landed on the room with the force of an avalanche. Estella hadn’t changed completely—the dressing room was much too small for that—but the image of her dragon hovered over her like a specter, a pure white shadow of glistening scales and wings as thin and beautiful as frosted glass. Looking up at the ice-blue eyes she knew so well, Svena realized with a pang that she was no longer speaking to the older sister who’d taught her how to fly over the glacial seas. This was not the Estella she’d burned villages with so many centuries ago, laughing together as the little humans fled before them. This was the Northern Star, Seer of the Three Sisters and acting head of their clan, and the words that fell from her lips were law.
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“You will not leave this room. ”
The command landed like a blow. It had been years since Svena been ordered so directly, or so forcibly, and the shock was enough to make her consider fighting back. She was larger, her magic stronger. If it had been any other dragon, that would have been enough. But a seer always had the weight of the future on her side, and Svena knew better than to start battles she wasn’t certain she could win. She was proud, yes, but not stupidly so, and in the end, she dropped her eyes. “I will not leave. ”
Estella smiled, and the power roaring through the room vanished as quickly as it had come. “Good girl,” she murmured, reaching up to brush Svena’s hair away from her face just as she had when they were young. “You will see, lovely, this is no loss. These Heartstrikers are nothing but grasping fools. They seek to divide us, to topple our clan and make room at the top. But we are ancient magic, as far above them as stars above the sea. We shall remain long after Bethesda’s lust for power has doomed them all, and you will thank me for my wisdom today. ”