“Then maybe you should have considered that before you let your seer betray her,” Katya snapped.
That statement left Bethesda looking absolutely bewildered, and for once, Julius was right there with her. “What are you talking about?” he asked, squeezing between Ian and his mother so he could speak to Katya directly rather than through the taller dragons. “How didBobbetray Svena?”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Obviously not,” Ian growled. “We’ve been trapped in a meeting all afternoon.” He grabbed her shoulders. “What happened, Katya?”
Julius fully expected Katya to bite his hands off for grabbing her like that, but whatever had happened between Bob and Svena must have been a special kind of bad, because Katya just looked sad. “I was hoping you could tell me,” she said. “Two hours ago, Brohomir killed Amelia the Planeswalker.”
Her words hit Julius like a punch. “Bob…killed Amelia?” When she nodded, his fists clenched. “Impossible.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Katya said. “But Svena saw it with her own eyes. She teleported into Amelia’s room just as Brohomir finished turning her to ash.”
“But that can’t be true,” Julius argued. “Bob wouldneverhurt Amelia. She’s his favorite sister. There’s no way he’d—”
“Well, he did,” Katya said angrily. “And nowmysister is furious. Svena’s always considered the Planeswalker her only true rival. By murdering her, Brohomir has stolen her victory. That’s more than an insult between clans. It’s personal, and Svena’s taking it very badly.”
Obviously. “Can’t you talk her down?”
“You think I didn’t try?” Katya said with an angry puff of smoke. “Our clan’s barely recovered from losing Estella and our mothers. The last thing we need is to break faith and make enemies with the biggest clan in the world. Svenaknowsthis, but she won’t listen. I’ve never seen her this angry.” She shook her head. “You’re lucky she didn’t bring your mountain down on top of you the moment she saw Brohomir do it.”
“Didshe actually see him do it?”
Katya shot him a furious look, and Julius hurried to explain. “I’m not saying Svena’s lying, but Bob’s a seer. He often does things that look terrible on the surface but turn out to be fine once you realize what’s actually going on. Maybe he was just—”
“This isn’t the sort of thing you can mistake,” Katya snapped. “If you want proof, go to Amelia’s room and see for yourself.”
She said that like a challenge, and Julius was upset enough to take it, marching around Katya and into the elevator behind her. The rest of the dragons followed right on his heels, cramming into the gold-plated box as Julius repeatedly mashed the button for the floor Amelia shared with Bob.
***
“I take no joy in saying this,” Katya whispered. “But I told you so.”
Julius didn’t say a word. He was too busy staring at the pile of gray-white ash that had once been Amelia the Planeswalker.
“Must’ve been some fight,” Bethesda said, poking at the puddles of water that covered the stone floor with the toe of her stiletto. “Svena launched enough ice to sink a battleship.” She eyed Katya suspiciously. “Are you certain your sister didn’t kill Amelia herself?”
“If she had, she wouldn’t blame a seer,” Katya replied angrily. “She’d come and tell you herself.”
“And she’d probably be throwing a party instead of a fit,” Julius added.
“I don’t think Svena would ever take Amelia’s death well,” Ian said. “Not even if she was the one who caused it. That stated…” He knelt beside the divan where Amelia’s pile of ash was sinking into the cushions. “Svena didn’t do this.”
“How can you be sure?” Julius asked.
Ian shot him a scathing look. “Use your nose. Amelia’s magic is everywhere in this room, but it’s all old. The newest I can smell is twelve hours stale at least, certainly nothing from this afternoon. Whoever killed her, Amelia didn’t fight back, and Svena has invested far too much in this rivalry to accept such a cheap victory.”
Julius didn’t need Katya’s nod to know his brother was right. Svena was a cruel, ruthless dragon, and proud of it, but she had her own kind of honor. She would never stoop to killing her rival while Amelia was lying helpless. Even her wintry scent was concentrated in the middle of the room, a dozen feet away from the divan that had been the Planeswalker’s deathbed. Bob’s scent, on the other hand, was everywhere. Including all over Amelia’s ashes.
That was the most damning evidence of all. Even Julius couldn’t deny that the only way Bob’s scent could have gotten on those ashes was if he’d had his hands in them. Even if he’d discovered Amelia’s remains after the fact, Bob had undeniably been here, and since nothing surprised a seer, that meant he’d known. He might not have done it, but he’d known Amelia was going to die today,andhe’d let Svena see him. Whatever the truth actually was, he’d deliberately let the Daughters of the Three Sisters assume he was guilty, and now they were all in deep trouble.
“Why?” Julius asked the ashes. “Why would he do this?”
“Who knows?” Katya said bitterly. “But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry this happened. For both our clans.” She put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “I know what it’s like to have your seer turn on you.”
Julius appreciated the sentiment, but he didn’t think that was it. Estella had been psychotic, but Bob was…well,Bob. He was flighty and ridiculous and impossible to understand, but no matter how bad things looked, he always came through in the end.
Except when he was telling Julius not to free Chelsie.
