“He doesn’t,” Bethesda snarled. “Which is why I’mupset. Though at least this explains what happened to my missiles.”
“What does his being here have to do with our missiles failing?”
His mother looked at him like he was insane. “Did you sleep throughallyour dragon politics classes?”
“I went to class!” Julius cried. Sometimes. When he wasn’t hiding to escape being the rest of J-clutch’s punching bag or spell practice dummy, or both. “But we didn’t exactly spend much time on China since our entire family is banned from setting foot in the country.”
Bethesda closed her eyes. “For the love of—Fine.” She marched to the front of the bunker, stiletto heels clicking furiously on the stone as she stopped under the wall of monitors and reached up to tap her nail on the one showing a close-up of the knot of dragons.
“You see all these colored dragons?” she said in her most patronizing voice. “These are members of the Twenty Sacred Clans, the original dragon clans of China who were conquered thousands of years ago by the first Golden Emperor. I thought initially they were all we were dealing with. You know, a normal invasion force composed of soldiers and shock troops. Alas, it seems we’re not that lucky, because they brought their boss.”
She rose up on her tiptoes to point at the gleam of gold hidden inside the dragon’s tight formation. “Now do you understand? This isn’t some errant thuggery to take advantage of our weakness. That’s theGolden Emperor, the Qilin, Greatest Dragon of China, the Luck Dragon, Living Embodiment of All Good Fortune, the—”
“I’ve heard his titles,” Julius interrupted. “And I see how him being here is bad, but—”
“Clearly, youdon’tsee,” Bethesda snapped. “Because if you did, you’d know those aren’t just titles. I’m called ‘The Heartstriker’ because of what I’ve done, but the Qilin is called ‘the Living Embodiment of All Good Fortune’ because that’s what heis. He’s a luck dragon.Literally.That’s how he conquered all the dragons in China without losing any of his own. That’s how he conquered the modern human nation of China in less than three days after the return of magic and how he’s held it for the last sixty years without a single rebellion. It’s not because he’s an amazing general or a brilliant tactician. It’s because that’s how his magic works. Anything he desires—power, empire, the wealth of nations, other dragons—his good fortune gives him, and now we’re in his sights.”
She said all of this as though it were indisputable fact, but Julius still couldn’t wrap his head around it. “How is that possible? Is he some kind of seer?”
Bethesda scoffed. “Of course not. Seers see the future and use that knowledge to make sure events happen in their favor, but their magic can’t actually change events. They can only see, not shove. The Qilin is the opposite. He can’t see the future any more than we can, but his magic moves it around like clay, manipulating events blindly to ensure that he always gets what he wants. That’s how you end up with every missile in our arsenal independently throwing a different error the moment I decide to shoot him out of the sky. It’s all just bad luck.”
“I thought you said the Qilin broughtgoodluck.”
“Bad luck for your enemies is good luck for you,” she said. “And Heartstriker is mostdefinitelythe Qilin’s enemy. Who do you think banished us from China?”
If he’d thought he’d get anywhere this time, Julius would have taken that opening to ask, why? What had happened to make the Qilin hate their clan so much? But he’d hit the brick wall of China too many times at this point to even waste his breath. Whatever had happened in the past would have to stay there for now. He was more concerned with surviving the next few minutes.
“We need to find out why they’re here.”
“What’s to find out?” Bethesda asked. “They’re the second-biggest clan in the world. We’re the first, and we’re vulnerable.” She shrugged. “Seems pretty obvious to me.”
“But how did theyknowwe were vulnerable?” he asked. “It’s not like we’ve put out a press release.”
“Because this is the Qilin!” she cried. “He doesn’t need normal things like inside knowledge to win. Whatever day he picked was bound to be the right day because that’s how he works. He doesn’t have to try. Everything he wants simplyhappens.”
“Then we should make something happen first,” Justin said, grabbing his Fang. “I say we go out there and—”
“No,” Julius said. “We can’t do that.”
His brother’s face fell into a dangerous scowl, and Julius sighed. “I’m not doubting your capabilities, Justin, but look around. There’s only four of us. Three if you take out Bethesda, who’s sealed. That’s about a hundred short of what we’d need to fight a force that size.”
“Hedidbring a lot,” Fredrick agreed, still glued to his drone screens. “I’ve been trying to get a head count. The tight formation makes it difficult, but I estimate we’re looking at fifty dragons. At least.”
“Fifty?” Justin said, incredulous. “Last I heard, the entire Golden Court only had eighty-two. Did he bring every dragon in China?”
“Well, at least we know he’s taking us seriously,” Bethesda pointed out. “What a comfort that will be when he’s putting our heads on pikes.”
Julius sighed. “You’re not helping, Mother.”
“And you are?” she drawled, glowering at him. “If you’re so confident, Julius, what wouldyousuggest we do? Talk nicely?”
“Actually,” he said, “that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
Bethesda’s eyes went wide, and then she dropped her head to her hands. “I knew it,” she groaned. “We’re doomed.”
“We are not doomed,” Julius said, exasperated. “Stop being ridiculous for a moment and listen. I might not understand the Qilin’s magic a hundred percent yet, but I’ve seen enough to guess it’s not the sort of thing we can bash our way through. That said, he hasn’t actually attacked us yet. If your claims about his power are true, Mother, then his luck could have just as easily caused those missiles to explode on top of us rather than simply not work. Since theydidn’t, we can assume the Qilin wants us alive, at least for now. That’s something we can work with.” He stared at the tight formation of dragons on the screen. “I think our best option is to go out there and see what he wants.”
“Hewantsour clan,” Bethesda said. “And you’re telling us to give it to him!”
