Julius couldn’t blame him for being surprised. The tall, stoic, elegantly scowling Fredrick looked nothing like Julius—who was short for a dragon with Bethesda’s trademark sky-high cheekbones and a very undraconic habit of smiling. It also didn’t help that the green of Fredrick’s eyes still looked weirdly off. It hadn’t been so noticeable down in the basement, but up here in the bright afternoon sunshine streaming down from the skylights that kept Bethesda’s apartment hallway from feeling like a bomb shelter, they didn’t even look properly green, much less Heartstriker green. They were more like the color of yellowed grass in the fall, which definitely wasn’t the color they’d been when Julius had met him. He had no idea what could have caused the change, but it wasn’t helping Fredrick look like a Heartstriker. Thankfully, Lao didn’t know enough to realize just how strange that was.
“I suppose anything is possible in your family,” he said with an elegant shrug. “The Broodmare is famous for her lack of standards, so it makes sense that her children would show a great deal of variance.”
He stopped there, smiling, but Julius was too used to comments at his mother’s expense to even be fazed at this point. When it was clear he wasn’t going to get the rise he wanted, Lao moved on.
“You may bring your brother if you wish, but he’ll have to hold his tongue. The emperor is tired from the long journey, and the burden of this invasion weighs heavily upon his mind. One Heartstriker is bad enough after the trouble you’ve caused. I will not allow you to aggravate things further by teaming up on him.”
“Hold up,” Julius said angrily. “You’re upset atusthat your emperor is stressed out from taking overourterritory?”
“Yes,” Lao said without missing a beat. “If your clan hadn’t been such a failure on all fronts, he wouldn’t have been forced to take such drastic measures.”
“Or he could have stayed home,” Julius said, exasperated. “I’m not trying to start a fight, but if you hate being here so much, you can always just leave.”
“I would like nothing better,” Lao said passionately. “But it is not my place to question the emperor’s will. For ten thousand years, the Qilins have ruled the Chinese clans in peace, harmony, and prosperity. Like his father before him, the Golden Emperor’s great good fortune has sheltered us from the constant war and strife that plagues the rest of the dragon clans. We are all blessed to dwell in his presence. If he wishes to extend that blessing to you, we trust his wisdom, but that doesn’t mean we trustyou.”
He stepped closer, leaning down until his face was level with Julius’s. “I don’t know what you said to anger the empress,” he said quietly. “But the Golden Empire’s prosperity depends on the Qilin’s serenity. If you upset him as you did his mother, I will throw you back to her, and I will make sure you are not rescued a second time. Do I make myself clear, Heartstriker?”
As crystal. But while Julius had no problem following Lao’s threat, the larger picture was more confusing than ever. Why was everyone so concerned about upsetting the Qilin? Did something happen when he got mad? And if so, why had he risked that by invading Heartstriker? Especially with those ridiculous surrender terms? The more Julius saw of this invasion, the more convinced he became thatno onein the Golden Empire wanted to be here, so why were they? Surely there had to be a better way of fighting Algonquin.
As always, nothing about this made sense. The more he learned about the Qilin, the less he understood. But while Julius didn’t like being threatened by Lao any more than he enjoyed it from his own family, he couldn’t afford to walk away. This meeting was his only chance to talk face to face with the one dragon who knew what was actually going on. Julius was willing to put up with a lot for that, so he meekly lowered his head, dropping his eyes in the ultimate display of draconic submission as he leaned over to set his Fang of the Heartstriker on the floor at Lao’s feet.
“There,” he said, holding up his empty hands in surrender. “Like I’ve said from the start, we don’t want any conflict. We just want to talk.”
Lao still looked suspicious, but Julius was being absolutely sincere. Even Fredrick played along, raising his empty hands as well. Together, it must have been enough, because the blue dragon sighed. “Remember,” he growled as he opened the door. “Treat him with the utmost respect. If you say or do anything that disrupts his calm, you will pay for it.”
Julius nodded, stepping eagerly into the parlor, which, like everywhere else at the top of the mountain, was totally changed.
The last time Julius had been here, the room had been a red-velvet nightmare. Now, all of the overstuffed divans, red shaded lamps, and awkward nude portraits of his mother were gone. The red-and-gold boudoir paper had been peeled off the walls as well, revealing the mountain’s natural rust-colored stone, which someone had scoured to a pale rose. The floor had been scrubbed within an inch of its life as well, removing centuries of soot and dried blood. Even the tiny porthole window had been polished so clean, the glass was practically invisible, allowing the sun to transform the dark chamber into a bright, airy space that felt three times as large as before. Julius couldn’t imagine how much effort it had taken to work such a miracle, but it was still nothing compared to the tall dragon in golden robes sitting in front of the unlit fireplace.
For the second time today, seeing the Golden Emperor hit Julius like a punch. It didn’t seem to matter that he knew what to expect this time. It simply wasn’t possible to ready yourself for something so impossibly perfect.
And perfect he was. Just sitting alone in an empty room with his face hidden by the ever-present golden veil—which was properly pinned to his hair this time rather than just being draped over his head—the Qilin looked more regal than Bethesda had in her full regalia. Admittedly, part of that was because the Qilin’s overlapping robes contained more gold than Bethesda’s dress, headdress, and jewelry combined.
Mostly, though, it was just him. The way the streaming sunlight struck him perfectly, illuminating the motes of dust in the air above him until they sparkled like a halo. The way his robes, which had to weigh hundreds of pounds between all the ornamentations and threads of gold, draped his body like supple silk. The way the smooth skin his folded hands looked like perfectly carved stone brought to life.
From anyone else, Julius would have suspected an illusion, some kind of trick to make the emperor appear to be more than what he was. With the Qilin, though, it just looked right, because thatwaswhat he was: more. He was something else, a creature who lived in perfect harmony with everything around him. Just being in his presence made Julius instinctively want to harmonize with him if only so he’d have a place in the tranquil, beautiful scene. He was still standing there gawking in dumb wonder when Lao stepped in front of him with a bow.
“Great emperor,” he said, his voice humble and reverent in a way Julius had never heard from a dragon before. “I have brought the young Heartstriker, as you requested.”
“Thank you, cousin,” the emperor said, turning his veiled face toward Julius as he held out his hand toward one of the elegant mahogany chairs that had been set up in a semicircle in front of him. “Sit.”
It was an offer, not a command, but Julius still flinched. The Qilin’s voice was softer than it had been this morning, but the power behind it was no less entrancing.Literallyentrancing, he realized with a jolt. He’d gotten a hint of it back in the desert, but now that they were together in a smaller space, he could actually feel the Qilin’s magic pushing him to comply. To not make a fuss or disrupt the perfection. It wasn’t as hard or sharp as normal dragon magic, but it was definitely there, and the more it leaned on him, the less Julius liked it.
“I’ll stand, thank you,” he said, forcing his feet to stay rooted to the floor.
It was probably his imagination, but Julius would have sworn his refusal made the Qilin uncomfortable. It was impossible to tell for sure through the veil, but his body seemed more rigid when he turned to the dragon behind Julius. “Whom have you brought with you?”
“This is my brother,” Julius said proudly, reaching back to pull Fredrick forward until he and the F were standing side by side. “Fredrick.”
Fredrick dipped his head in a quick bow, but while his face was calm as always, his arm was shaking against Julius’s hand. Julius didn’t know if that was because the F was afraid of the emperor or if he was simply not used to being pulled out of the background, but he immediately felt like a heel for causing it. He was trying to make eye contact with Fredrick to let him know it was okay to step back again when the Qilin leaned forward.
“Fredrick?” he said, emphasizing the F. “As in Bethesda’s hidden clutch?”
When Fredrick nodded, the Qilin seemed enthralled. “I’d heard rumors that the Heartstriker kept an entire clutch of her own children as servants, but I always assumed it was a story started by her enemies. Maybe even by Bethesda herself as a ploy to play up her ruthlessness. I never dreamed it would actually be true.”
“It was true,” Fredrick said, his voice quivering. “But not anymore.” He smiled down at Julius. “My brother freed us when he came to power, and I swore a debt of loyalty to him in return.”
“Which is why you’re here,” the emperor said, nodding as his veiled head turned back to Julius. “Now I am even more eager to speak with the new head of Heartstriker.”
