“Because I don’t work that way,” Julius said with far more confidence than he felt.
Her eyes narrowed. “What is your name, Heartstriker? How did you find me?”
“I’m Julius,” he said. “And I found you by tracing the number Ross Vedder gave me.”
Her expression turned equal parts betrayed and furious when he mentioned her human lover’s name, and Julius raised his hands at once.
“He didn’t sell you out or give in to threats,” he assured her. “I didn’t do anything to him, actually, and it wouldn’t have worked if I’d tried. That man would have fought me to the last breath rather than give up any information about you. He didn’t even tell me you two were together until I’d convinced him I meant you no harm, and the only reason he gave me your number then was because he was out of his mind with worry.”
“Well, I wasn’t worried about him,” Katya said, though the lie was so bad even she winced. “I appreciate you not putting that chain on me,” she said quietly. “And I’m happy you didn’t hurt Ross. He’s a very good human. But I can’t go back. You don’t know what it’s like for me at home.”
“You might be surprised,” Julius said, resting his elbows on the cheap Formica table.
Katya shook her head. “You can’t understand. You’re a Heartstriker. You have, what, a thousand siblings?”
He chuckled. “Not athousand.”
“There are twelve of us,” she went on, ignoring him. “Twelve daughters, all born of magic one at a time.”
Julius stared at her, uncomprehending. He’d heard that none of the Three Sisters had ever engaged in a mating flight, but he’d always assumed it was a myth. Even the most powerful dragons had to obey the basic rules of biology, but Katya was shaking her head.
“My mothers are the most powerful dragons to ever inhabit this plane,” she explained, her voice more bitter than proud. “No one was considered worthy to father their children, and so they scorned all suitors, creating eggs between themselves one at a time using their power alone. Each daughter took centuries to create. I was the last, hatched just before the Earth’s native magic dropped too low to support such an enormous ritual. Our mothers went to sleep immediately after. I’ve never met them, actually. Svena raised me.”
She finished with a shrug, but Julius could only stare. No wonder the Three Sisters considered Bethesda an upstart. If Katya had hatched back before Earth’s magic dried up, she had to be at least a thousand years old, which meant their youngest daughter was almost as old as his mother.
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat. “That explains why Svena asked me to find you. She must be very worried.”
Katya rolled her eyes. “If she’s worried about anything, it’s that I’ll embarrass her. I’m a failure, you see. All of my sisters are great mages, Svena especially, but I could never manage more than the simplest magic. It was so bad that my eldest sister, Estella, deemed me an incurable disgrace before the end of my first century. I’ve been locked away in our glacier in Siberia ever since so no one would find out that the daughters of the Three Sisters aren’t uniformly perfect.”
He winced. “I can see why you ran away.”
“This is my twenty-third escape, actually,” Katya said bitterly. “You can’t imagine what it’s like up there. Nothing but ice and snow and the constant echoes of my mothers’ troubled dreams. None of my other sisters will stay for more than a few days at a time, but I’m expected to live there forever simply because Estella decided I didn’t fit our family image.” She tilted her head toward the dark window beside her. “I came to the DFZ because I thought if I went to a place where dragons couldn’t move freely, I could buy some extra time. But it’s barely been a month, and here you are.”
“Well,” Julius began. “I—”
“I’m not going back,” Katya snarled, baring her sharp, too-white teeth. “I refuse! And if you try to make me, I will kill you!”
She said this as viciously as any dragon, but Julius had a lot of experience with death threats, and there was a lack of surety in her tone that made him suspect that Katya of the Three Sisters had never actually killed anyone in her life. Voicing his suspicions would be an unforgivable insult, however, so he made a show of looking properly cowed, lifting his hands and exposing his neck in a display of surrender.
“I wasn’t planning on making you do anything,” he said meekly. “Believe it or not, I understand you completely, and I’m on your side. I’m not a thousand yet, but I know what it’s like to be trapped by your family’s expectations. My mother actually threatened to eat me just this morning if I failed to bring you back to your sister.”
“So why don’t you?” Katya demanded. “What game are you playing with me?”
“I’m not playing at all,” he said. “You’re right. My life would undoubtedly be a lot simpler if I’d taken my chance and chained you a few minutes ago. But if I had it to do over, I’d make the same decision, because putting you to sleep and returning you to your family against your will isn’t something I feel right doing.”
Now she just looked confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’ve recently had cause to reevaluate my life,” he explained. “You see, my family thinks I’m a failure, too.”
“I guessed that much from the seal,” she said, giving him another appraising look, though a curious one this time. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Everything, according to my mother,” he said with a laugh. “Let’s just say I don’t fit her vision of what a dragon should be.”
Katya chuckled. “I can see that. Any dragon who didn’t take the chance and chain me when he could is clearly a few scales shy of a full coat.” Her eyes dipped to his chest. “Or is it feathers with you?”
“A mix,” he admitted.
He hadn’t meant it as a joke, but she began to smile all the same. “I think I see Bethesda’s problem. You’re much too nice to be a dragon.”
