by Rachel Aaron
“What’s wrong?” Julius asked, instantly awake.
“You’ll see in a second,” Bob said, pushing past him into the house. His pigeon fluttered in after him, landing on the back of the living room couch. “Lock the door, and get some towels.”
“Towels?” Julius asked, clicking the deadbolt back in place. “What do you need—”
Before he could finish his question, a slice appeared in the air in front of him, literally cutting him off. For a heartbeat, a line hung in the air like a silver seam, and then it burst open, dropping Marci, Chelsie, Amelia, and several buckets worth of what smelled like beach sand drenched in burning jet fuel into the middle of his living room.
“What was that?” he cried, rushing to help his sisters as the hole closed behind them. “How did you…where did…what just happened?”
“It’s her sword,” Bob said, pushing past him to grab Amelia, whom Julius had only just now realized was naked, bleeding, and apparently unconscious. “Chelsie’s Fang has the ability to cut to any Heartstriker, no matter where they are.”
“DON’T TELL HIM THAT!” Chelsie roared.
“It’s a bit late to try and hide it now,” the seer said, ignoring her as he turned to gently lay Amelia down on the couch. “Julius? Towels?”
The question snapped Julius out of his shock, sending him racing up the stairs. So that was how she did it, he thought as he grabbed their entire stack of clean towels. That was how Chelsie was always behind you. Her sword let her teleport.
He’d never actually heard of the Fangs having powers like that. Then again, given whose Fang it was, he wouldn’t have. If the truth of Chelsie’s blade got out, her reputation as the all-knowing, ever-present Heartstriker boogeyman would be ruined. She certainly looked pissed when he made it back to the living room. Fortunately, her attention, like everyone else’s, was on Amelia.
His oldest sister looked like she’d been hit by a fleet of trucks. The amount of blood that had already seeped into their couch made Julius’s stack of towels feel inadequate as he handed them to Bob. “What happened?”
The question was meant for no one in particularly, but Marci jumped to answer. “We were talking through her portal on her island in the Philippines when Estella and Svena attacked,” she said, racing through the explanation like she’d done this before. “Amelia fought Svena, but it was all a set-up to let Estella hit her with a plane. I got knocked out in the blast. I’d just woken up when Chelsie appeared. She cut her way to the island and found Amelia, but as you can see, she’s pretty messed up, so we decided to bring her here.” She looked at Chelsie. “Why did we do that again?”
“Ask him,” Chelsie said, nodding at Bob. “He’s the one who called and told me to get to Amelia, but couldn’t tell me where she was.”
Everyone turned to stare at the seer, who was kneeling beside his sister with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. “I was worried something like this might happen,” he said softly, reaching up to pat the blood off Amelia’s face with a towel. “But I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“Why not?” Julius asked. “Didn’t Estella attack Conrad just last night?”
Chelsie’s hand was on his throat before he realized she’d moved. “How do you know about that?”
“Katya told me,” he choked out, putting his hands up in instant surrender. “She ran from her sisters while it was happening and came here.”
For the first time in his life, Chelsie looked surprised. “She came to you?”
He nodded, and she let him go. “Why?”
Julius was too busy recovering from the near choking to answer immediately, so Bob did it for him. “Because Julius is nice,” he said. “But we knew that. I’m far more concerned about the parts of this we don’t understand. Namely, why Amelia, like Conrad, is still alive.”
“She almost wasn’t,” Marci pointed out, but Chelsie was shaking her head.
“A plane crash, even a big one like this, isn’t enough to kill a dragon like Amelia. Estella would know that. This was clearly an attack to wound, not kill.” She glared at Julius. “Not that I should be telling you this, but since you already know, Conrad was the same. So far as we can tell, Estella and Svena attacked him in his room early this morning. Likewise, I smelled both Estella and Svena at the beach on top of the scent of burning fuel. That means they were both there after the plane crashed, so why did they leave? Svena’s been trying to kill Amelia for years. I don’t believe for a second she’d stand over her unconscious body and not finish the job.”
“I don’t know about that,” Marci said. “Svena was acting really weird.”
“Katya said the same thing,” Julius agreed. “What’s going on?”
Once again, everyone looked at Bob. This time, though, the seer just sighed. “I don’t know.”
A cold chill went up Julius’s spine. “You don’t know? How do you not know?”
“I already explained this to you last night,” Bob said, annoyed. “Ever since Estella returned, the future has been a mess. Threads of possibility are vanishing all over the place. First Svena, then Conrad, and now—”
“Amelia,” Chelsie finished with a growl.
“But how is that possible?” Julius asked. “You specifically told me last month that our family was safe. ‘My brothers, my pawns,’ that’s what you said. Svena I can understand, but how could she get Conrad and Amelia?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Bob grumbled, sitting down on the floor. “A seer’s work is dominated by probability. We look at all the things that might happen, and then we do whatever it takes to ensure that might becomes will. But even with the power of foresight, there are still some events that are so unlikely, they’re functionally impossible. For sanity’s sake, seers learn to ignore these extremes, but over the last twenty-four hours, those seemingly impossible futures are exactly what has been happening.” Bob bared his teeth. “It’s like Estella’s just yanking the future into whatever shape she pleases. I could accept that as just really good seer work if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s also yanking my pieces away with no setup whatsoever.”
The seer was growling by the time he finished, and the sound was enough to make Julius want to run for the hills. He’d never seen Bob actually angry before, and he never wanted to again. Even Marci looked spooked, stepping back toward the wall. Chelsie was the only one who looked unaffected. “So how is Estella able to do it?” she asked.
“There’s only one explanation,” Bob growled. “She’s cheating.”
Marci frowned. “How do you cheat at the future?”
“I don’t know,” the seer said, glaring down at Amelia. “But I intend to find out.”
Chelsie sighed. “Be that as it may, we still have two siblings down. Conrad—”
She stopped, looking pointedly at Julius and Marci, but Bob just rolled his eyes. “They’re in neck deep already,” he reminded her. “Might as well put everything out there and get more minds working on the problem.”
“Fine,” Chelsie growled. “It’s not like they can make things worse.” She turned to Julius, folding her arms over her chest. “Unlike Amelia, Conrad suffered no injuries at all from his attack. The only reason we know something happened at all was because I found him unconscious in his room with Estella’s scent on his clothes. When he woke up, he had no memory of what had occurred. Now, Amelia’s situation is obviously different, but given that she still hasn’t woken up, I wouldn’t be surprised if her memories were altered as well. Since they both came out of Estella’s clutches alive and in our custody, however, we have no choice but to assume they’ve been compromised.”
“Compromised?” Marci squeaked. “You mean like bugged or mind controlled or—”
“I don’t know,” Chelsie said sharply. “But there’s no way Estella would take out two of the most powerful Heartstrikers only to turn right around and give them back to us without a hitch. Even Mother’s accepted that and ordered Con
rad be restrained until we know exactly what’s going on. Unfortunately, Amelia’s situation is a little more complicated.”
“More complicated how?” Julius asked, staring at his sister, who was starting to look deathly pale. “Shouldn’t we be getting her back home as well? She needs a doctor if nothing else, and Heartstriker Mountain’s the only place—”
“No.”
They all jumped. On the couch, Amelia’s eyes shot open. “No,” she gasped again. “Not the mountain. Never. Never—”
Magic began to surge. It rose from Amelia’s body in a desperate strike, digging into Julius’s chest before he could defend himself. But then, just when he was sure the power would rip him open, Chelsie grabbed Amelia’s head and slammed down with magic of her own. It happened so fast, Julius couldn’t even tell what Chelsie had done. Whatever it was, though, it worked. Amelia collapsed back onto the couch, her whole body going limp as her magic vanished as quickly as it had risen. Chelsie kept her hands tight on her sister’s head until the last of it was gone, and then she unclenched her fingers with a grimace. “That was close.”
“Too close,” Marci said, shaking. “She nearly sliced and diced us.”
“What did you expect?” Bob asked, glaring at Julius. “He threatened to take her to Mother.”
“I said she needed a doctor!” Julius cried. “I know Bethesda isn’t exactly Mother of the Year, but unlike my house, she has physicians on hand who actually know how to treat a dragon. And how was I supposed to know she’d freak out like that? Amelia was at the mountain just last night.” He looked back down at his sister, who looked terrifyingly pale. “I still think taking her back is the best option. I don’t know what Mother’s beef with Amelia is, but there’s no way she’d risk starting trouble inside the family while we’re under attack from another clan.”
That logic made perfect sense to Julius, but by the time he finished, Chelsie and Bob were both staring at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Please tell me he’s kidding.”
“I don’t think he is.”
Julius’s cheeks began to heat. “What did I say?”
“Julius,” Chelsie said, exasperated. “Amelia is Bethesda’s heir. Do you have any idea what would happen if she arrived at the mountain injured and vulnerable? It wouldn’t matter if there was an army at our gate, Mother would never overlook a chance like that.”
“You can’t be serious,” Julius said, horrified. “I know Bethesda’s ruthless, but she’s not stupid. Using whelps as pawns is one thing, but a dragon like Amelia is an irreplaceable asset. There’s no way she’d throw away a dragon that valuable. I mean, Conrad’s there chained up right now, and you’re not worried about him.”
“That’s because Conrad’s male,” Chelsie growled. “Not to mention he’s two clutches down. Plus, he has the eyes.”
Julius grew very still. “What do you mean, the eyes?”
“Heartstriker Green isn’t exactly a natural development,” Bob said grimly, blinking his own neon green eyes. “But that’s not what’s important right now. The real issue here is that Amelia is female and only a hundred years younger than Bethesda herself. That makes her a threat of the highest order, or have you forgotten how Bethesda became the Heartstriker?”
Julius hadn’t. The story of how their mother betrayed their grandfather and took his clan was the legend of their family. He’d been taught from birth to revere Bethesda’s ruthlessness and cunning, using the confusion caused by the sudden disappearance of magic and her status as her father’s favorite daughter to take down an ancient dragon ten times more powerful than herself. What he’d never considered, though, was how that kind of treachery would color Bethesda’s own view of her children. Even so.
“I can believe she’d be suspicious of Amelia’s intentions,” he said. “She certainly didn’t look happy to see her at the party, but we’re under siege here. You said yourself that Amelia’s the only one who can stand toe-to-toe with Svena.” He shook his head. “I just can’t believe that Bethesda would risk losing an asset that powerful just because she’s paranoid about her heir, especially since Amelia doesn’t even seem to like being on this plane.”
“Oh, Julius,” Bob sighed. “Sweet, naive Julius. Never change.”
“What?” he said, defensive. “How is that wrong?”
“You’re giving our mother too much credit,” Chelsie said dryly, glaring at him. “Or do you really think all the A’s died of natural causes?”
He hadn’t actually thought about that. “I—”
“Mother killed them,” she said, cutting him off. “She used them until they were old enough to be a threat, and then she killed them one by one, a preemptive strike against the one clutch strong enough to do to her what she did to her own father. The only reason Amelia’s still alive is because she was smart enough to stay away. That’s why she’s been out on the planes so long. It’s the one place Mother can’t get to her. She only came to the party last night because she knew she could get away if she had to, and because she never could resist a chance to rub her new power in Bethesda’s face. Now that she’s injured, though, it’s a different game, and that’s why your argument won’t work. It doesn’t matter if we’re under attack. Estella could have a sword to Bethesda’s throat, and our mother would lean right into it if that meant getting a chance to finally take Amelia down. It’s all about target priority. The Daughters of the Three Sisters are a major threat, but at the end of the day, all they can do is kill Bethesda. Amelia, on the other hand, is one of us. If she challenged our mother and won, she could take her power and become the Heartstriker in her place, and it is that, not death, that Bethesda fears most.”
By the time she finished, Julius was chilled to the bone. He’d never heard Chelsie sound so bitter, but he didn’t doubt her words for a second. If there was one thing he was learning not to underestimate, it was his mother’s ruthlessness when it came to preserving her own position. “Okay,” he said with a deep breath. “No mountain. But should she really be on my couch?”
“No,” said Chelsie.
“Yes,” said Bob at the same time.
Chelsie shot him a dangerous glare, but Bob stood firm. “You’re busy,” he reminded her.
“You really want to entrust our sister’s safety to Julius?”
“Yes,” Bob said. “Honestly, I can’t think of anyone better.”
Chelsie bared her teeth. “Have you finally gone insane?”
“No more than usual,” the seer said, clapping a hand on Julius’s shoulder. “But if you can name another dragon who could be trusted to look after the unconscious heir to the Heartstrikers without betraying her to Mother the moment we’re gone, I’m all ears.”
Chelsie’s face fell into a stubborn scowl. “Fair point,” she grumbled, turning her glare back to Julius. “Don’t let me down, whelp.”
Julius swallowed. On the one hand, this was quite possibly the highest compliment he’d ever received. Two of his most powerful siblings were entrusting him with a job that could change the course of their whole clan, and they were doing it because he was who he was, not who he wasn’t. He’d earned their trust by being loyal, not ruthless. But as much as he wanted to swear up and down that he’d guard Amelia with his life, there was still a fjord-sized problem in his way.
“I want to help,” he said. “Really, I do. But Amelia can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Chelsie demanded.
He began to sweat. This was not how he’d intended to break the news to his family, but there was no hiding it now. “Because,” he said, voice shaking. “I’m being hunted by Vann Jeger.”
“What?”
Chelsie’s shriek made him jump. Or, rather, start to jump. He hadn’t actually made it off the ground before she grabbed him by his collar and slammed him into the wall. “And you were planning on reporting this when?”
“It only happened last night,” he said, trying not to panic as she lifted him off the ground. “After the party. I wasn
’t trying to hide anything, I swear! It just went down so fast.”
“At least this explains why your human has a killing curse on her neck,” Chelsie said, glancing at Marci. “That’s how they trapped you, wasn’t it?”
She made it sound like a personal failing, but Julius didn’t care. “Yes,” he said. “And unless I go with her to face Vann Jeger tonight, that sword is going to cut off her head.”
“And you were just going to go?” she cried. “What were you going to do when you got there? Nice him to death?”
“We had a plan,” Julius said. “Amelia was going to—”
“Amelia isn’t doing anything now,” Chelsie growled, dropping him as she turned her wrath on Bob. “Did you know about this?”
“I might have seen something,” the seer said. “But it didn’t seem immediately important.”
“Not immediately important?” Chelsie yelled. “Being targeted by the most powerful dragon hunter in the world didn’t strike you as immediately important?”
“It’s not exactly easy to read a future that’s in constant flux,” Bob said defensively. “There was a lot going on.”
Chelsie closed her eyes with a long sigh. “Done is done,” she growled, turning back to Julius. “Pack your things. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Julius choked out. “But what about Amelia?”
“I’ll find somewhere else for her,” his sister snapped. “But you are going back to the mountain. Right now.”
“What?” he cried. “No! I can’t go home. Weren’t you listening? If I don’t show up, Marci will die.”
“All mortals die,” Chelsie said. “It’s time you accepted that.”
Behind them, Julius was aware of Marci going very still. She didn’t make a sound, but it didn’t matter. He could smell her fear like acid in the air, and it sent his fists clenching as he said, “No.”
