“We have to keep moving,” she said, yanking him up. “I don’t think they’ll chase us, but that doesn’t mean I want to be here if they do.”
She finished with a sharp shove toward the door, but now that he was back was on them, Julius planted his feet stubbornly on the stone. “We need to talk.”
“What is it with you and talking?” Chelsie snapped, turning to Fredrick. “Grab him and let’s go.”
Fredrick clenched his jaw and moved toward Julius, but not to grab him. Instead, he took up position at Julius’s side, turning to face Chelsie with his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.
“Seriously?” Chelsie said.
“Yes,” Fredrick growled back, his not-quite-green eyes gleaming in the dark. “Julius is right. You have a lot to explain.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
“Then we’ll make time,” Julius said. “Because this is important.” He stared pleadingly at his sister. “What are you doing, Chelsie?”
“What I always do,” she snapped. “Saving your tail feathers.”
“Not that,” he said angrily. “I meant what are you doing downhere? Why aren’t you upstairs right now talking to the Qilin?”
“Because that’s a terrible idea.”
“Why?” Julius demanded.
Chelsie’s reply was a silent death glare before turning away. She was walking to the exit when Julius said, “I know what happened in China.”
“I know,” she said, yanking Bob’s door open. “I’ve been stalking you, remember? How do you think I got there in time to save you?”
Julius hadn’t actually thought about that. He was so used to her just appearing behind him, he hadn’t realized what that meant. “So then you heard the Qilin say—”
“I heard enough,” Chelsie growled, sticking her head into the hall. “It’s clear. Let’s go.”
“We’re not going anywhere until we settle this,” Julius said stubbornly. “He still loves you, Chelsie.”
She stepped back from the door with a long, bitter sigh. “You don’t know anything.”
“I know you were in love with the Qilin,” he said. “I know he was your Chinese dragon, the one who painted the picture in your bedroom. I also know that he’s doing all of this foryou. Stopping Algonquin was never anything but an excuse,because even though he thinks you betrayed him, he couldn’t bear to let you die. All he wants is for you to be safe, and I don’t understand why you keep running away.”
“You wouldn’t,” she muttered, glaring at him over her shoulder. “Drop it, Julius.”
“No,” he snarled, clenching his fists. “Can’t you see? You’re our way out of this mess! Whatever happened in the past, it’s obvious you both still care for each other. That’s why you’ve been doing this stupid dance. But if you’d stop running for five minutes andtalkto each other, this whole invasion could be over.”
He stopped there, waiting for an answer, but none came. The whole time he’d been talking, Chelsie had been pulling into herself, folding her arms over her chest and hunching her shoulders until they were up to her ears. Even her eyes were down, locked pointedly on the floor as she muttered, “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Julius demanded.
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“No,” Fredrick said. “But you do owe me one.”
Julius looked at the F in surprise. He wasn’t sure what Fredrick was referring to, but Chelsie must have known, because her face went from angry to spooked. “Stay out of this, Fredrick,” she warned, voice shaking. “This isn’t your business.”
“This is all of our business,” Fredrick growled, taking another step forward. “Mother.”
The room went silent. Even Julius was stunned speechless, his brain racing as he looked back and forth between Fredrick—eldest of the six-hundred-year-old F-clutch who’d been kept in the mountain and treated like a dirty secret since birth, despite Bethesda’s frenzy to boost her ranks—and Chelsie, who’d returned from China also six hundred years ago after running away from her lover with no explanation. Returned withBethesda,who’d supposedly laid F-clutch within days of returning despite not being pregnant when she’d set sailandnot flying a mating flight in China…
Julius slapped his hands over his mouth. That was it.Thatwas the secret. “You’re F-clutch’s mom!”
The words exploded out of him, but no one was listening. While he’d been putting the pieces together, Fredrick and Chelsie seemed to have forgotten he existed.
