by Rachel Aaron
Fredrick must have seen he was coming to some kind of resolution, because he didn’t interrupt. He simply watched and waited, studying his youngest brother with his own inscrutable version of the Heartstriker’s famous green eyes until, at last, Julius sat up in the bed. It hurt like crazy, but this was the sort of thing Julius felt he needed to be up for, and since standing was out of the question, sitting would have to be enough.
“I can’t tell you why Chelsie’s so determined to never get free,” he said solemnly. “Partially because I can’t breach her confidence, and partially because I legitimately don’t know. But I can tell you that she’s doing it for a good reason. I’ve seen Chelsie face down a dragon-hunting spirit a hundred times her size without breaking a sweat, but whatever Bethesda’s holding over her head to keep her obedient terrifies her, and I respect her judgment. No one hates Bethesda more than Chelsie does. If she’s still here, then she has good reason to be, but what Chelsie doesn’t understand is that this isn’t the clan it used to be. Bethesda doesn’t have the power anymore. We do. That’s been the goal since the beginning, and now that we’re in spitting distance of having a full Council, I won’t be held back by the old threats any longer. I told you yesterday that I was going to set you free, and that’s a promise I intend to keep. As soon as the vote’s done and the Council is complete, I’m going to put forward the motion to free you, your siblings, and Chelsie. If Bethesda has a problem with that, we’ll deal with it, but she doesn’t get to decide our futures anymore.”
That was a reckless promise, but Julius meant every word. He wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to handle the secret problem yet, but with Ian and the rest of the clan eager to get Chelsie off their backs, he was positive he could find enough leverage to convince his mother to keep her mouth shut. It probably wouldn’t even be that hard. All he had to do was engineer a situation that made keeping Chelsie’s secret more advantageous to Bethesda than spilling it, and her selfishness would take care of the rest. But happy as he felt about his decision, it didn’t come close to the joy in Fredrick’s eyes.
“Do you mean it?” he asked, his normally stern voice quivering.
“Absolutely,” Julius said, reaching out to tap Fredrick’s chest on the spot where Bethesda’s seal kept the F’s dragon locked away. “I’m going to set you free. All of you. The moment the Council comes together, it’s done.”
That was a very reckless promise. He was still only one vote out of three, but no matter what, Julius was determined to keep his word. Hell or high water, he was going to make this happen, and from the look on his face, Fredrick believed it.
“Then we are with you, sir,” he whispered, clutching Julius’s bandaged hand. “All of us. Whatever you need, if it’s in our power, it’s yours.”
“I’d be happy if you just promised to keep this a secret from Chelsie,” Julius said with a nervous smile. “She’s been dug in on this subject for a long time. I don’t think she’ll take my attempts at change well.”
Fredrick nodded. “That goes without saying. She hides it admirably, but she’s still an old dragon. They don’t change easily.”
Julius had to laugh at that. “You’re six hundred years old. That makes you an old dragon too, you know.”
“True,” Fredrick said, standing up. “But unlike Chelsie, we never gave up. We’ve been waiting for this chance our whole lives. And speaking of.”
He turned and walked to the door, sticking his head out to speak quietly with someone who was waiting outside. A second later, he came back in carrying a tray of food so massive, Julius wasn’t sure how he’d gotten it through the door. “What is that?”
“Your dinner,” Fredrick said as he balanced the massive tray on the rails of Julius’s hospital bed. “If Ian’s as successful as I think he will be, Heartstriker will vote on the final Council seat tonight, and unless you want to attend in a wheelchair, you need to eat and recover.” He nodded to the spread of steak, sausage, chicken, breads, and root vegetables that would have fed a football team. “That should be enough to get you started. I’ll be back with more in an hour.”
Julius stared at him in horror. “More? Are you crazy? I’ll die if I eat all this!”
“Spoken like a dragon who’s spent too much time as a human,” Fredrick said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Regeneration takes energy, and unless you want to cannibalize your own fire, that means food. Now eat, or I’ll be forced to feed you.”
“Yes, sir,” Julius said meekly, reaching for the nearest pile of hot corn muffins slathered in butter.
Fredrick watched him like a hawk, tapping his foot loudly every time Julius slowed down. But while Julius’s brain was convinced he was eating himself to death, his body was another matter. Far from feeling sick, digging into a pile of food this huge felt incredibly good, and the more he ate, the better he felt. Before he knew it, he’d cleaned the tray. It hadn’t even taken ten minutes, which normally would have been shameful. Even Justin didn’t eat that fast. But Julius felt too much better to be embarrassed, and Fredrick just looked smug, piling up the empty plates with the cocky smile of a dragon who’d just been proven right.
“I’ll be back with another in a little while,” he said, balancing the tray expertly on one hand. “Try to rest until then, but first, I should give you this.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black rectangle, which he handed to Julius. Julius, however, did not understand. “What’s that?”
“A phone,” Fredrick said, like that should have been obvious. “Yours fell to the ground and cracked when you transformed during the fight with Gregory, so I took the liberty of procuring you a new one. I’ve already transferred all of your numbers, accounts, and so forth. I really should have waited until after you’d slept more, but I thought you’d want it now considering the number of calls you’ve missed from your mage.”
Julius’s stomach dropped like a stone. He’d been so caught up in family drama, he’d completely forgotten about Marci. Now that Fredrick had reminded him, the fact that Marci wasn’t here as well was terrifying. He’d gone down in flames for all to see. After something like that, Bethesda herself wouldn’t have been able to keep Marci from running to his side. So where was she?
“I don’t know,” Fredrick said when he asked. “But before you assume the worst, she’s been calling you every five minutes since Conrad brought you in, which makes it hard to believe she’s in any pressing danger herself.”
That was a huge relief. Julius turned on the new phone, smiling when he saw the mountain of missed calls. “Can you give me—”
“Of course,” Fredrick said, ducking out of the room with the tray. “I’ll be back with more food in a bit.”
Julius mouthed a silent thank you, but he couldn’t say anything out loud because he’d already hit Marci’s picture in the contacts box, wincing as the fancy new phone automatically popped up a video call. He was trying to figure out how to cancel, because the last thing he wanted was for Marci to see him looking like this, but it was already too late. He didn’t even hear the ring go off before the call picked up, and Marci’s lovely face appeared in the AR right in front of him.
“Julius!” Her dark eyes widened in horror as they roved over the bandages wrapped around his head, neck, torso, and pretty much everywhere else. “Oh my God, are you—”
“I’m fine,” he said quickly. When it was clear she wasn’t buying that, he added, “Okay, it hurts a lot. But I’ll heal. I’m a dragon, remember?”
That was a line he never thought he’d say, but for once, Julius felt quite comfortable in his own feathers. Now that his stomach was bursting with food, he could actually feel his magic working, making him itch worse than ever as the burns began to heal. “I’m sorry I missed your calls. I just woke up.” He frowned. “Um, how long was I out, anyway?”
“About three hours,” Marci said, leaning to the side so he could see the not-quite-setting sun over her shoulder…along with what appeared to be a view
of farmland from several thousand feet up in the air.
“Where are you?”
“On a plane,” she said, sitting back up. “That’s what I’ve been calling about.”
Julius froze. “You left?”
That sounded heartbroken even to him, and Marci began frantically waving her hands. “No, no! It’s not like that! I didn’t want to go. I had every intention of staying until the vote tomorrow at least, but then Gregory attacked me after you went down, and—”
This was going from bad to worse. “Gregory attacked you?”
“Don’t worry, I put him in his place,” she said with a wicked grin. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t kill him. I wanted to after what he did to you, but I wasn’t about to undermine your dragon-Gandhi shtick, so I just roughed him up a bit.”
By the time she finished, Julius was smiling so hard his face ached. If he hadn’t been head over heels in love with Marci already, that show of understanding would have finished the job. “Thank you,” he said when he could speak again. “For everything. I’m sorry I ever doubted that you could take care of yourself, but I still don’t see how getting attacked ended with you being on a plane.”
“About that,” Marci said, shifting uncomfortably. “I didn’t see Gregory’s initial attack. Ghost protected me from getting insta-roasted, but it took everything he had left to do it. Now he’s hurt really bad, and I can’t fix him with the magic I’ve got access to here. The only way to save him is to take him back home to the DFZ.”
Fear closed over Julius like a fist. “The DFZ?” he whispered, hands shaking on the bed. “Marci, you can’t go there. Algonquin’s on the warpath against dragons. She knows you’re with me. If she—”
“Normally, you’d be right,” Marci said. “But I’ve already got it covered. I’m going to the DFZ as a special guest of the United Nations, and Algonquin’s not at war with them.”
“That’s not going to stop her,” Julius said, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt. “The UN is a human organization. Algonquin doesn’t follow their rules. What are they going to do if she attacks you? Embargo the DFZ?”
“It’s not like I have a choice,” she said angrily. “I’m not doing this because I want to. If I had my way, I’d be there with you, but I don’t. I’m doing this for Ghost. He’s my spirit, he’s sick, and he needs my help. If that means taking him back to the DFZ, then that’s where we go. You’d do the same thing if I was the one in trouble, right?”
In a heartbeat, but that didn’t do anything to stop the icy dread crawling up Julius’s spine. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“It’ll be fine,” Marci assured him. “These UN guys are total bosses. We’ll be in and out before Algonquin even knows we’re there.”
That might be true, but the way she said it only gave Julius something else to worry about. “Why are they helping you?” he asked suspiciously. “I get that Ghost is special, but you have to admit it seems a bit suspicious that a general and the undersecretary of magic would just drop everything to fly you to the DFZ.”
“Not that suspicious,” she said, her eyes gleaming with the Marci-brand excitement that always meant trouble. “Ghost is the spirit who defeated Vann Jeger, but there’s a chance he might be a lot more. You remember that Mortal Spirit stuff I told you about?”
Julius nodded.
“Well, he might be the first,” she said proudly. “That’s big. Big enough to make the UN play taxi, anyway.”
That was exactly what Julius was afraid of. He’d only met the UN humans once, but once was enough to recognize both of them as power players in their respective fields. In his experience, power players—human, dragon, or spirit—didn’t let assets like Marci go once they had them in hand. They’d happily fly her to the DFZ now if it protected their interests, but it was what could happen afterward that had Julius tied in knots.
“Would you relax?” Marci said, rolling her eyes. “You are such a worrywart. Look, it’s going to be fine. Everyone knows this is a one-time gig to save Ghost. Once he’s up and running again, I’m heading straight back to you. With any luck, we’ll have this wrapped up in a few hours, and I’ll be back at the mountain in time for the vote tomorrow morning.”
“Actually, Ian’s pushing to have it tonight,” Julius said. “But that doesn’t matter. Whenever you get back is good with me, so long as it’s soon. I miss you.”
He hadn’t meant to say that last part. The sentimental words had just popped out, and Julius’s face began to burn. Thankfully, bandages made a good mask, but nothing could hide the fact that he was acting like a mopey, clingy idiot. But while he was kicking himself for being stupid, Marci seemed to be having a very different reaction to the words.
“I miss you, too,” she said quietly, giving him a shy smile that made him forget all about that other stuff. “I know we haven’t gotten a chance to talk much these last few days, but while we’re here and on the subject, I want you to know that I…that is…”
She stopped to brush her hair back from her eyes with nervous fingers, but Julius wasn’t moving at all. He didn’t even dare to breathe lest he risk missing a millisecond of whatever Marci was trying to say. Before she could take another stab at it, though, something black and feathered flew in front of the phone’s camera, making them both jump.
“Crud,” she muttered, shooting whatever it was a nasty look. “We’ve got company.”
“So send them away,” Julius said frantically, leaning forward in the bed. “Please, keep going.”
“This isn’t the sort of voyeur I can just ‘send away,’” she said, blowing out a frustrated breath. “But it’s probably for the best. I didn’t want to say this over the phone, anyway. We’ll finish this when I get back tomorrow, without an audience.”
There was an odd croaking sound from her side of the call, but Julius barely heard it. The moment Marci had promised they’d continue this tomorrow, in private, his poor heart had started thudding so hard he was amazed he hadn’t set off the heart rate monitor beside his bed. “I’ll be waiting for you,” he said in a rush. “I swear, Marci, the moment this vote is over, we are taking a vacation from everything. I’ll fly you anywhere in the world you want to go.”
“Now that sounds like heaven,” she said wistfully. “I can’t wait.” The odd croaking sounded again, and Marci rolled her eyes. “I have to go. Good luck with the vote. Call me when it’s done, okay?”
“I will,” he promised. “And please be careful.”
“Hey,” she said. “It’s me. I’m always professional, and I’m human. We don’t go around pulsing magic like you guys do, plus there’s nine million of us in the DFZ. I’ll be a glass needle in a backlit haystack. Algonquin won’t even know I’m there.”
Julius sincerely hoped she was right about that. He still hated the idea of her getting anywhere near the DFZ, but as she’d said, there was nothing else for it. Part of loving Marci was respecting her bond with her spirit, and if Ghost needed to be fixed, he wasn’t about to stand in her way. He only hoped he could keep from worrying himself sick in the meanwhile. “Just…please be careful,” he said again. “And call. Any chance you get, even if you don’t have anything to say, I’d still like to hear your voice and know you’re not a head on one of Algonquin’s pikes.”
“Aww, that’s sweet and gruesome,” she said, laughing. “Same goes for you, though. Heal up, and try not to let any more dragons take chunks out of you, or there’ll be nothing left when I get back.”
“I’ll try,” he promised.
This was the place where one of them should have said good-bye, but Julius didn’t want to be the one to do it. From the way she was also hovering, Marci obviously didn’t want to, either. But while Julius would have been perfectly happy to sit here looking at her forever, it was obvious she was no longer alone. While they’d both been avoiding saying good-bye, the large, black blur from before had hopped onto the back of Marci’s seat. When it dipped its head down into the AR camera’s frame,
Julius saw it was a bird. A raven, to be precise, and a huge one. Far larger than any natural bird could grow. He was already opening his mouth to ask if this was the Raven, as in the spirit, when the bird began tugging impatiently at Marci’s hair.
“Would you stop it?” she snapped, batting the bird away before turning back to Julius with an apologetic look. “I’ve got to go. Take care, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow,” he replied. “And Marci, I—”
The call cut off before he could finish, and he lay back in the bed with a sigh. He was looking at his phone trying to calculate the minimum acceptable time period before he could call her again when he heard his door open.
He looked with a smile, eagerly expecting Fredrick with his second dinner tray, but the dragon standing in the doorway wasn’t an F. It wasn’t Ian come to roust him out of bed, either, or even Chelsie or Bob. It was, in fact, the very last dragon save for Bethesda herself that Julius had expected to pay him a visit, but nonetheless, it was clearly David who was walking into his room, his handsome face plastered with that unshakable politician’s smile as Julius’s hand instinctively went for his sword.
***
“Was that strictly necessary?” Marci griped, rubbing her scalp.
“Absolutely,” Raven said, hopping down to perch on the leather seat across from hers in the back of General Jackson’s extremely swanky military jet. “I’ve watched your kind go through the ritual of courtship millions of times, and I could see you were about to make a critical misstep.”
