Julius looked up to see Bob frantically shaking his head. “Uh…he’s not—”
“Iknowhe’s there,” Chelsie growled. “Put him onnow.”
Bob’s shoulders slumped in defeat, and he reached back for Julius to give him the phone. When he got it, he pressed it between his shoulder and his ear, answering in a voice so falsely cheerful, it put Julius’s teeth on edge. “What a delight! A call from my favorite sister. How are you, Chelsie love?”
Julius couldn’t make out Chelsie’s answer from the back seat, but her tone didn’t sound nearly as pissed as he would have expected given Bob’s greeting. Then again, Chelsie had known Bob much longer than he had. Maybe she was too used to his antics to care? He was wondering if he shouldn’t take a page from her playbook when he felt Katya stir beside him.
He turned just in time to see her sit up in a rush. Her blue eyes popped open, looking around the car in frightened confusion, and then in horror when she spotted Bob in the front seat. “What is going on?” she whispered, turning to Julius. “Why are we in a car with the Great Seer of the Heartstrikers?” Her eyes dropped as she spoke, and she recoiled, pressing her back against the door. “Whathappenedto you?”
Between the dark and the constant panic, Julius hadn’t actually had a chance to look at his wounds properly. He did so now, tilting his head down to study the shredded bloody mess that, this morning, had been a brand new shirt. The longer he looked, though, the more he realized that wasn’t quite right. Most of his shirt had been ripped away during the fighting, which meant the torn-up, far-too-bloody thing he was looking down at was actually hischest.
With that awful realization, the world officially became too much. After all the shocks, attacks, and blood loss of the last hour, he simply had nothing left to pull on, and Julius passed out on the spot, slumping back into the seat with Marci’s frightened shout ringing in his ears.
Chapter 18
Estella the Northern Star, Seer of the Three Sisters, stood behind a rusted-out dumpster at the end of what had once been a high school parking lot, waiting. Above her, the magic eaters she’d lured with her sister’s blood were still swarming, but they gave her a wide berth. Estella paid them no mind in any case. She simply stood, waiting patiently until, at last, she heard the beautifulclink clinkof antique glass rolling over decaying asphalt.
She leaned down, pressing her fingers to the broken ground just in time to catch the golden ball rolling across it. The priceless treasure the human mage had lost in the chaos. The Kosmolabe. Estella stroked the smooth, cool glass with her fingers.HerKosmolabe, at last.
Tucking the beautiful orb carefully into the warded box she’d brought along just for this purpose, Estella hurried back to her car. This whole operation had been a mess. Thanks to the young Heartstriker’s antics, there wasn’t even the remotest possibility the Lady of the Lakes wouldn’t notice what had happened here, which meant Estella needed to leave. The idea irked her—she did not run from anyone—but her mothers had taught her early that it was best to give Algonquin a wide berth, and Estella always listened to her mothers.
Fortunately, her limo was waiting just around the corner. She slid into the back seat, commanding the autodrive to take her back to her hotel. She’d barely made it a block before her ears caught the muted blare of sirens approaching at top speed, and the thundering hooves of a horse.
A minute later, she passed a convoy of DFZ heavy weapons teams going the opposite direction, led by an enormous man riding a horse made of crashing waves and carrying a spear the size of a telephone pole. His magic was so potent, Estella caught the scent of him even inside her car: ocean spray and blood, dragon’s blood to be precise. But then, whom else would you send to a situation like this but a dragon slayer? She was only sad the overgrown Heartstriker whelp had vanished before Algonquin’s hunter could spear him.
In an ironic twist, the wasteland created by the Lady of the Lakes’ emergence was located directly below the DFZ’s Financial District. This meant it was barely a five-minute drive from her hotel, yet another reason why she’d chosen it as the stage for Bixby’s final act. She had hoped he’d beat the odds and survive since he was the only human she had in Vegas, but then, that was why she’d made him give her all his information before sending him in. Estella never bet on long odds.
She’d avoided touching the Kosmolabe the whole drive over, but once she reached her hotel, a massive superscraper luxury development directly across from Svena’s, Estella gave in, digging out the golden ball the moment the elevator doors closed. As a dragon, she’d always coveted beautiful, rare, powerful things, but it was the seer in her who treasured the Kosmolabe’s true gift. With this as her guide, she could find her way straight to any of the outer planes, no matter how hidden. The one she sought was the most hidden of all, but when she looked into the Kosmolabe, there it was, nestled in among all the others like a little star in the heavens, and all she had to do was follow her new compass right to it.
But while Estella finally had what she’d set out to acquire, the cost had been higher than she’d reckoned thanks to Brohomir’s interference. Katya’s loss was negligible—the girl had always been more of a liability than an asset—but Svena was a blow from which their clan could not recover. Estella had seen the possibility building for years now, but even so, she’d held on to hope. She’d even broken her rule against betting on long odds by ordering Svena directly in a desperate attempt to change their fate, but it had all come to nothing. Despite her best efforts, everything had turned out exactly as she’d foreseen. Now, the only thing left to do was to make sure the last chance she’d paid so dearly for came through.
When she reached her hotel suite, Estella locked the door and started clearing a space in the front room. When she’d pushed all the matched furniture to the walls, she stepped into the middle of the now open floor, clutching the Kosmolabe between her palms. Peering down into the twitching, interlocking gold patterns, she fixed on her target and pulled her magic tight, honing her power to an edge sharp enough to slice through the fabric that separated this world from the worlds beyond. She was almost done when the phone in her purse began to ring.
The noise made her jump. She hadn’t foreseen getting a call now. She didn’t recognize the number, either, but her surprise plus the Chinese country code at the front was as good as an engraved calling card, and by the time Estella answered, the voice on the other end was as expected as it was deep.
“Do you know what time it is here?”
Estella sighed. Only the Black Reach would call you to complain about the time where he was. “What do you want?”
There was a rain-like sound as the elder seer stretched, his scales clicking together like a cascade of jade beads. “Actually, this is a courtesy call. I promised the last time we spoke that I would say something if I saw you setting foot down an irrevocable path. Of course, if I’d known you were going to do so at seven-thirty in the morning, I would never have agreed.”
“You didn’t foresee that as well?” Estella said. “And here I thought you were supposed to be the greatest of us all?”
“The greatest and the oldest,” he agreed. “And the most patient with overwrought young seers like yourself who don’t stop to think things through.”
“Your concern is noted,” she said briskly. “But my decision is already made. I refuse to live in a world where that tacky whore and her upstart brood become more powerful than us.”
“So I see,” the Black Reach replied, his smooth, deep voice turning serious. “But a promise is a promise, Estella. I swore to warn you, though it’s up to you to listen.”
Estella sighed and sat down in a richly upholstered chair. “Get on with it, then.”
“You’re beginning your fall, little star,” the old dragon said. “For over two thousand years, the Three Sisters have been the unquestioned queens of the dragon world; their magic unmatched, their seer unparalleled. But no queen rules forever. The wheel of fortune turns on all levels, and the old must always make way for the new.”
“You think I don’t know that?” she snapped. “You act as though you’re the only seer in this conversation. I foresaw the Heartstriker’s rise perfectly well. Unlike you, though, I wasn’t content to drink tea and watch the world fall apart around me. I’ve worked tirelessly for decades now to prevent this catastrophe.”
“And lost your favorite sister in the process.”
Estella closed her eyes with a sharp breath, and in the silence that followed, the Black Reach continued. “Brohomir has done his job exceptionally well for one so young. The Heartstriker’s ascent cannot be prevented. If you wish to survive, you must adapt.”
