by Rachel Aaron
Or, at least, Julius hoped that was what counted. Bob had yet to actually look at them. He was still whistling and staring at his relic of a phone, tapping the worn keys with his thumbs, seemingly oblivious to the near-strangulation happening in front of him.
Finally, after several long, awkward seconds, Bob finished his message and slid his phone into his bathrobe pocket. “Fashionably late, I admit,” he said, tossing his long, sleep-tangled black hair over his shoulder. “But in my defense, I didn’t expect you to be done quite so soon. Formal mating contracts usually take more than ten minutes to draw up.”
“Not if one of the parties says yes to everything,” Estella replied. “But then, your mother always has been eager to please.”
“Insulting my mother’s virtue?” Bob said, eyes going wide. “I have never heard that one before. Now,” he put out his hand, “if you’re done with my baby brother, I’d like him back. This is his first party, and I don’t want to put him off the exercise forever.”
Estella gave Julius a shove. A hard one. If he hadn’t spent the last month dodging all kinds of dangerous animals, he would have bounced off the wall and gone sprawling on the dark wooden floor. As it was, he caught himself at the last second, scrambling away from Estella into the shelter of Bob’s shadow. When he looked up again, the seer was staring at his brother with a hard, triumphant smile. “Well?”
Bob stared at her blankly. “Well what?”
“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m doing?”
He shrugged. “Why should I? You’re going to tell me whether I want to know or not. That’s the whole reason we’re here, isn’t it? Unless I’m grossly misreading the situation.” He glanced down at Julius. “Should I not have interrupted?”
Julius shook his head rapidly, and Bob turned back to Estella, who seemed to be nearing the end of her patience.
“I forgot how tiresome you can be when you’re covering up your insecurities,” she said, lifting her chin haughtily. “The game is over, Brohomir. I’ve won.”
Bob’s smile turned into a smirk. “Are we talking about the same game? Because ‘winning’ isn’t the word I’d use to describe your situation.”
“Then you’ve just proven how little you really know,” she snapped. “You might be a prodigy of a seer, little Heartstriker, but I was orchestrating the downfall of empires before your mother was even born. I warned you a lifetime ago not to challenge me, but you never could learn to listen.”
“And you never could learn not to brag,” Bob said. “It’s very poor sportsmanship, and highly susceptible to ironic quotation when we reach your inevitable—”
“Enough!” Estella roared, sending a ripple of frost across the floor. “No more jokes, Brohomir. No more games. The future has been bought and paid for, and you have no place in it.”
For the first time since he’d arrived, Bob’s expression grew serious. “The future is never set, Estella,” he said firmly. “Not until it happens.”
“This is,” she promised. “I know. I’ve seen it. I’m so sure, in fact, I’ll even tell you.”
Bob sighed. “Tell me what?”
“Everything,” Estella said, spreading her arms wide. “I’ll answer all the questions I know are burning a hole in that devious mind of yours—why I offered this mating flight, what I’m going to do to your favorite sister, how I’ll destroy your clan piece by piece. I’ll even tell you your own fate, the parts you haven’t already seen. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, and all you have to do is ask me the right way.”
Bob arched an eyebrow. “And what way would that be?”
Estella raised her arm, slipping her hand out of her voluminous sleeve to extend one slender finger down toward the ground. “Kneel,” she commanded. “Kneel at my feet and beg. Beg to know what you are too blind to see, and I will tell you everything.”
Bob took a deep breath, his eyes darting from Estella to the floor in front of her. He stared at the spot for so long, Julius began to worry he might actually do it. But then, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, Bob’s smile returned.
“Sorry,” he said brightly. “But I only beg on alternate Thursdays.”
“Then you can stand there and wait for death,” Estella snarled, snatching her arm back to her side. “Either way, I win. I always win, Brohomir. Remember that.” Her eyes flicked to Julius. “If you attempt to contact Katya again, I’ll kill her.”
That came out of nowhere, but Julius was used to being threatened, and he stopped his flinch in time. Not that it mattered. Estella didn’t even wait to see if her parting shot got through. She was already marching down the hall, leaving nothing but the smell of winter and a trail of frosted footprints behind her.
***
“Well,” Bob said, nudging the fragile fronds of melting frost with his big toe. “That went better than expected.”
“What were you expecting if that was better?” Julius said, rubbing his neck. “She almost took my head off.”
“Ah, but she didn’t. You’re not even bleeding.” Bob winked. “She must like you.”
That wasn’t even worth replying to, so Julius just moved on. “We have to warn someone.”
“We have to do no such thing,” Bob said. “Estella loves bragging as much as the next dragon, but she doesn’t go around dramatically telling others her business for no reason. She’s trying to manage us, feeding us just enough information to make us react in a way that moves her plan forward. It’s not even a proper seer trick. Mother does it all the time. But then, Estella never did have much in the way of imagination.”
“Well, we have to do something,” Julius said. “She just told us to our faces that this whole mating flight is a plot to destroy our clan!”
Bob rolled his eyes. “Newsflash, Julius. Someone is always trying to destroy our clan. We’re always on the brink of some disaster or another, and yet we always pull through. It’s almost as though we have someone in the know. A brilliant, handsome, vigilant dragon with the vision to see what’s coming and the daring to do what must be done.”
He struck a dramatic pose as he finished, and Julius sighed. “If that’s the case, why are you only getting here now? You’re too late to do anything.”
“I wasn’t late,” Bob said, insulted. “I made a dramatic entrance. I also happened to be asleep. I do still have to do that on occasion.”
Fair enough, but, “Why did you go to sleep if you knew this was coming?”
Bob’s eyes narrowed. “You know, I think I preferred it when you were deathly afraid of me. Far less back talk.”
The apology was already on Julius’s lips before he realized what his brother was doing. “You’re changing the subject!” he cried. “You didn’t see this coming, did you?”
Bob’s answer was an angry look. Not comically or dramatically angry, either. Really angry. The sight sent a chill up Julius’s spine, but just as he was wondering if he’d finally said too much, Bob flopped down on the ottoman where Katya had been waiting, patting the cushion for Julius to sit next to him.
“It’s not as simple as she makes it sound,” he said as Julius joined him. “It’s the nature of seers to get in each other’s way. I’ve never been able to see Estella’s movements any more than she can see mine, but lately the larger future has been…” He frowned, searching for the right word. “Difficult,” he said at last. “It’s not blindness. I can still look down the stream of possible futures and see what decisions will lead to the desired results, but lately, threads have been disappearing.”
That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean ‘disappearing’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Bob said. “Every decision we make creates possible futures, even if we never actually get to act on it. Usually, these branching lines of possibility end only when the individual making the decisions that create them dies, but this time…they just aren’t there anymore.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know how else to describe it, and frankly I’m only telli
ng you in the hope that saying it aloud will help it make a little more sense. Svena’s future was the first to go. I couldn’t even see for sure if Estella would be here tonight until I spotted one of your possible futures ending as a stain on Mother’s antique rug. Given all the bonding we’ve done recently, I felt I should do something about that.” He glanced over. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Julius said belatedly. “But it’s interesting you mention Svena. Katya and Ian both said she was acting strange.”
“She shouldn’t be acting at all,” Bob growled. “I just told you, the future is built from decisions, and from what I can see, Svena’s not making any of those at all. Or, at least, she’s not making them for herself. That’s a very dangerous development for the most powerful dragon mage on the planet, which is why I called in Amelia. She’s the only dragon alive who can toe-to-toe it with the White Witch, and given Estella’s hatred of all things us, I thought that was important.”
Julius swallowed. “Do you really think it’ll come to that?”
“Who knows?” the seer said with a shrug. “I’m still not sure all that drama earlier wasn’t a decoy, something big and shiny to keep us looking at one hand while she stabs us with the other.”
He mimed stabbing motions in the air, and Julius shook his head. “Surely it won’t come to that. Whatever Estella is trying to pull off, they’re still just three dragons, and Katya doesn’t even want to fight. There are over a hundred Heartstrikers all together, and we’ve got you. Whatever she’s done to Svena, it can’t be enough to beat those odds.”
“Your vote of confidence touches my heart,” Bob said. “But if there’s a single truth I’ve learned about this business, it’s never trust a seer. They’re liars to the core who never show you a move unless they want you to counter it.”
“I see,” Julius said. “And does that assessment include yourself?”
Bob gave him an enigmatic smile. “What do you think?”
Julius took a moment to consider that. “I think you’re too invested in our clan to let it fall,” he said at last. “And I think you hate losing too much to let Estella win anything.”
His brother flashed him a wide smile. “That’s an impressive bit of social insight for a dragon who claims not to be manipulative,” he said, standing up. “But as much as I’d love to stay and live down to your expectations, I have to move on. Schemes to foil, plots to thwart, naps to resume, you know how it is. You, however, should get back to the party. Mother’s going to want to see you in—” he looked at his bare wrist “—two minutes, and you don’t want her to come looking for you.”
That went without saying. “What does she want from me?”
“You’ll find out in one minute, fifty-eight seconds,” Bob replied, jogging down the hall away from the party toward the interior of the mountain. His pigeon joined him halfway, fluttering off its perch on one of the hanging tapestries to land on his shoulder. That was all Julius saw before the seer vanished around the corner. Even so, he stood there a moment longer, staring at the place where his brother had been and debating the wisdom of just bailing back down to his old room. In the end, though, disobeying a seer’s advice on top of everything else that had happened tonight felt too much like inviting disaster, and so, with a heavy sigh, Julius turned and began trudging back to see what his mother wanted.
***
By the time he got back to the throne room, the party was in full swing. Estella must have left immediately after her encounter with Bob, because Heartstriker was once again the only scent in the room, and everyone seemed to be celebrating. Bethesda was perched on her throne at the top of the raised dais, holding court while Chelsie and Conrad flanked her feet like a pair of guard dogs. Neither C looked happy about this arrangement, but their mother was almost cackling in delight. Even the sight of Julius didn’t seem to bring her down. Quite the opposite. She waved him over the moment she spotted him, motioning for her other, more highly ranked children to step aside.
“The diplomat returns unscathed,” she cooed. “I can’t tell you how many reports I’ve gotten about you sneaking off with Katya. Gold star for initiative! So let’s hear it. What did the Failure of the Three Sisters have to say?”
The last thing Julius wanted to do was repeat what Katya had told him in confidence to his mother. Fortunately for him, there was little Bethesda would care about to report. “She knows nothing,” he said honestly. “Estella came back this morning and scooped her up, but otherwise hasn’t told her anything.”
“Is that so?” His mother pursed her lips and turned to Ian, who was standing beside her with a look of polite interest so attentive it had to be faked. “What do you think?”
“It makes sense,” he said. “Svena dotes on Katya, but anyone with eyes can see she’s the weak link of the clan, and highly prone to running. Of course they wouldn’t tell her anything important.”
“Pity,” Bethesda said. “But I suppose it makes no difference. Whatever plot Estella is hatching, the mating contract between our clans is signed in blood. Even seers can’t wiggle out of that. I don’t care if the world is burning, Ian will fly a mating flight with the White Witch Sunday evening if I have to throw her into the air myself.”
She said that last part like she was looking forward to it. Julius, however, had gotten hung up on the bit before it. “Sunday?” he said, horrified. “As in the day after tomorrow Sunday?”
“What other Sunday would I be talking about?” his mother said, tossing her hair. “I’m not giving them time to figure out how to betray me.”
The dragons around her made agreeing sounds, but Julius couldn’t believe his ears. “What about us?” he asked. “That’s no time at all! I mean, when something is so obviously a trap, surely we need time to—”
“Oh, Julius, don’t be dense,” Bethesda scoffed. “Everything between dragons is a trap. But what you and Estella both fail to grasp is that it doesn’t matter. Today, tomorrow, or a week from now makes no difference at all. So long as the flight takes place over Heartstriker territory, I’ve already won. The Northern Star can twist her plots however she likes, but nothing changes the fact that she will be in my mountain, which is protected by my seer and my dragons and my military grade security systems.” Her smile turned bloodthirsty. “Given all that, you could say Estella’s walking into my trap. But do you want to know the best part, Julius?”
He wasn’t sure he had the stomach for it, but she was going to tell him anyway, so he nodded.
“The best part comes after,” Bethesda whispered, leaning down to grin at him. “Once Estella’s dead, caught in the very trap she laid for me, Svena will become head of the Three Sisters in truth, and everyone will know that I was the one who put her there. I’ll destroy my ancient enemy, earn their new clan head’s life debt, and get my mating flight all in one fell swoop. If that’s not a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is.”
Julius hadn’t actually considered the situation from that angle. But even with his mother’s obvious confidence, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe that walking into a trap, even when you were sure yours was better, was a good idea. He didn’t see how any of this was good, period, but from the conversations going on around him, it was clear the rest of the clan thought Bethesda had just clinched the deal of the century, and that made him angrier than anything. Logically, he knew it was foolish to pit his own opinion against dragons with centuries more experience in this sort of thing, but this kind of premature victory celebration felt arrogant even by dragon standards. No matter how tight that contract was, Estella was still a seer. Like Bob said, she never showed a move unless she wanted you to counter it. How could Bethesda and the others possibly be this confident?
But infuriating as it was, there was nothing he could do, and it wasn’t like this behavior was a new development. Bethesda’s behavior tonight was just more of the same arrogant, aggressive, winner-take-all thinking that had made her the Heartstriker in the first place. S
he’d built her empire by taking seemingly hopeless opportunities and making them work by whatever means necessary. For all he knew, Sunday night would be no different. Tonight, though, Julius was done. He’d done his duty as a good son and voiced his warning. If his mother wanted to ignore it, that was her decision. Right now, he had more important matters on his plate.
“Where’s Justin?”
His voice cut through the buzz of conversation, and Bethesda cast him a cutting look. “What?”
“Where is Justin?” Julius said again, forcing himself to meet her eyes. “I already heard you took his Fang. I just want to know where he is so I can talk to him.”
“Talk to him?” Bethesda laughed aloud. “What good will that do?”
Julius began to sweat. He was more than used to being mocked by this point, but the way she said that made him feel like he was missing something. “I just thought he might be upset and—”
“Please,” his mother scoffed. “Who do you think he is, you? Justin’s a dragon, darling. A proper one. He doesn’t get upset. He gets even.”
Now Julius really felt like he was missing something. “What does that mean?”
“It means that when Chelsie confiscates his sword for breaking the rules, he doesn’t waste time moping around,” she said proudly. “He immediately starts scheming on a plan to convince me that he deserves it back.”
With those words, everything came together with chilling clarity. “So he’s just out there alone?” Julius asked, voice shaking. “Plotting to impress you?”
“Yes,” his mother replied. “Personally, I can’t wait. Justin can be a thick-headed idiot, but when it comes to audacity, he never disappoints.” She pressed a hand against her chest. “My genes at work, clearly.”
The other dragons chuckled at that, but Julius had no time to waste. The idea of his brother alone with the loss of his sword was bad enough, but the thought of him trying to pull off a stunt big enough to impress Bethesda on his own was absolutely terrifying. “Where is he?”
