“Now!” Bethesda yelled again, her green eyes wide as they went to the throne room doors. Doors that weren’t opening.
“They can’t hear you,” Estella said slowly, enjoying every moment of the Heartstriker’s fear as Amelia’s building magic reached a crescendo. “No one can.”
Bethesda turned with a hiss, making a break for the hidden door behind her throne, but she was miles too late. The portal was already opening in the air beside her, creating a perfect doorway through space as Chelsie, Conrad, and Amelia stepped into the room.
“Chelsie!” Bethesda screamed, the name sharp with magic as the Heartstriker stabbed her finger at Estella. “Kill her!”
But whatever power was behind that order, it didn’t work, because when Chelsie drew her Fang, she pointed it straight at her mother. Conrad followed suit, drawing his massive sword as he moved to block off any escape through the balcony. But despite the swords pointed her direction, Bethesda only had eyes for her eldest daughter.
Amelia, of course, ignored her. She simply walked to Estella’s side and lifted her hands, filling the room with magic once again as she covered the wards Bethesda had been boasting about only seconds before with an even stronger barrier of her own.
“There,” Estella said, looking down on her cornered prey. “That should prevent any interruptions.”
Bethesda’s green eyes flicked to the various exits, and then she straightened to her full height. “It won’t work,” she said haughtily, like she was still the one with power. “I don’t know what you’ve done to achieve this compliance, but these aremychildren. My dragons in every way.”
Estella smiled, letting her true hatred show on her face for the first time since she’d arrived. “Not any more.”
Chelsie stepped closer as she said this, and Bethesda’s confident sneer began to waver. “You’re bluffing,” she snapped as her hand crept behind her back. “Did you think thatI, ofalldragons, would not have safeguards in place against treason?”
“Quite the contrary,” Estella said, enjoying this to the hilt. “I’m counting on it. Let’s put them to the test. Conrad?”
The Heartstriker Champion stepped forward, raising his sword in a smooth sweep. He was about to bring it down on her head when Bethesda’s arm, the one she’d snuck behind her back, shot out again, and Conrad’s sword went flying, clattering away across the throne room’s stone floor before sliding to a stop inches from the balcony’s sheer edge.
“What did I tell you?” the Heartstriker crowed, lifting her hand to show Estella the bone-colored sword clutched in her fingers.
Estella arched a pale eyebrow. Even with her seer’s perception, she had no idea how Bethesda had hidden aswordin that flimsy excuse for a dress, but there was no question that the weapon in her hand was a Fang of the Heartstriker. “I should have guessed you’d keep one for yourself.”
“Of course,” the dragon scoffed. “Who do you think I am? The Fangs of the Heartstriker are the teeth of my clan. Who else should hold the strongest one but me?”
“ButI,” Estella corrected with a smile, enjoying the dragon’s confusion at her lack of fear.
Why should she be afraid? Bethesda’s supposed trump card actually made her life a great deal easier. Even for a seer, the Fangs of the Heartstriker were difficult to pin down. This was partially because, as body parts of a dead dragon with no future, they didn’t follow the normal rules, and partially because Brohomir had taken enormous pains to hide them. It was common knowledge that one belonged to the clan’s Champion, one to the Enforcer, and one, the Fifth Blade, to whatever idiot Bethesda conned into being her knight. But even counting the sixth Fang that had never actually been pulled from the Quetzalcoatl’s head, that still left two Fangs of the Heartstriker unaccounted for even with Estella’s now perfect knowledge of the future. Now that Bethesda had revealed her hand at last, though, total victory over the Heartstriker had just become one Fang simpler.
“What’s the matter, white snake?” Bethesda taunted. “Can’t you see the future? Because you wouldn’t be smiling like that if you could.”
“It’s precisely because I can see that I’m smiling,” Estella replied, shaking her head. “A sword in your hand makes no difference, Broodmare. You’re still outnumbered.”
“It makesallthe difference,” the Heartstriker snarled, lifting her blade high.
The moment her arm was fully extended, Chelsie gasped in pain, dropping her own sword, which immediately flew to Bethesda. Conrad’s Fang did the same, flying from where it had fallen moments before. By the time Bethesda lowered her sword again, both of her children’s Fangs were floating behind her like familiars, their tips pointed directly at Estella’s heart.
“Didn’t see that one coming, did you, seer?” Bethesda crowed, her face split in a triumphant grin as she held up her sword for Estella to see. “Every Fang of the Heartstriker has its own abilities, but mine is the First Fang that controls them all. Now, you’re going to feel their bite.Allof them.”
She raised her blade to her lips as she finished, and the room flooded with magic as Bethesda began to change. Behind her, the swords she’d taken from her children pulled closer, the blades already sparking with her father’s green fire. If Estella hadn’t been prepared, the display would have been truly terrifying. Bethesda alone was nothing, but three Fangs of the Heartstriker were no laughing matter. But while Estella hadn’t foreseen this specific bit about the swords, Bethesda’s plan to change into her true form would have been obvious even without her knowledge of the future, and the counter she’d arranged was probably Estella’s favorite part of the night.
“Amelia,” she said sweetly, stepping back to avoid the green flames licking at Bethesda’s feet. “Now.”
The Planeswalker obeyed instantly. Bethesda didn’t even have time to react before her daughter’s hand shot out, launching a wave of fire that sent the Heartstriker, and all her swords, flying.
With the perfect irony that only came from properly executed seer work, Bethesda landed on her throne, crashing into the stone chair so hard it cracked. She was still pushing herself up from the wreckage when Estella climbed up to join her. “Tell me again, Heartstriker,” she cooed. “Why should I be afraid?”
Bethesda’s only reply was a challenging growl as she tensed. A growl that faded to a whimper when nothing happened.
“What?” she roared, staring down at her hands. Her stillhumanhands. “Why am I not a dragon?What did you do?”
“Don’t you recognize it?” Estella asked, her eyes wide with feigned innocence. “I got the idea from you.”
Bethesda’s fury turned to horror as the truth finally dawned. “Yousealedme!”
