Bob took a deep breath, his eyes darting from Estella to the floor in front of her. He stared at the spot for so long, Julius began to worry he might actually do it. But then, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, Bob’s smile returned.
“Sorry,” he said brightly. “But I only beg on alternate Thursdays.”
“Then you can stand there and wait for death,” Estella snarled, snatching her arm back to her side. “Either way, I win. Ialwayswin, Brohomir. Remember that.” Her eyes flicked to Julius. “If you attempt to contact Katya again, I’ll kill her.”
That came out of nowhere, but Julius was used to being threatened, and he stopped his flinch in time. Not that it mattered. Estella didn’t even wait to see if her parting shot got through. She was already marching down the hall, leaving nothing but the smell of winter and a trail of frosted footprints behind her.
***
“Well,” Bob said, nudging the fragile fronds of melting frost with his big toe. “That went better than expected.”
“What were you expecting ifthatwas better?” Julius said, rubbing his neck. “She almost took my head off.”
“Ah, but shedidn’t. You’re not even bleeding.” Bob winked. “She must like you.”
That wasn’t even worth replying to, so Julius just moved on. “We have to warn someone.”
“We have to do no such thing,” Bob said. “Estella loves bragging as much as the next dragon, but she doesn’t go around dramatically telling others her business for no reason. She’s trying to manage us, feeding us just enough information to make us react in a way that moves her plan forward. It’s not even a proper seer trick. Mother does it all the time. But then, Estella never did have much in the way of imagination.”
“Well, we have to dosomething,” Julius said. “She just told us to our faces that this whole mating flight is a plot to destroy our clan!”
Bob rolled his eyes. “Newsflash, Julius. Someone isalwaystrying to destroy our clan. We’re always on the brink of some disaster or another, and yet we always pull through. It’s almost as though we have someone in the know. A brilliant, handsome, vigilant dragon with the vision to see what’s coming and the daring to do what must be done.”
He struck a dramatic pose as he finished, and Julius sighed. “If that’s the case, why are you only getting here now? You’re too late to do anything.”
“I wasn’tlate,” Bob said, insulted. “I made adramatic entrance. I also happened to beasleep. I do still have to do that on occasion.”
Fair enough, but, “Why did you go to sleep if you knew this was coming?”
Bob’s eyes narrowed. “You know, I think I preferred it when you were deathly afraid of me. Far less back talk.”
The apology was already on Julius’s lips before he realized what his brother was doing. “You’re changing the subject!” he cried. “Youdidn’tsee this coming, did you?”
Bob’s answer was an angry look. Not comically or dramatically angry, either.Reallyangry. The sight sent a chill up Julius’s spine, but just as he was wondering if he’d finally said too much, Bob flopped down on the ottoman where Katya had been waiting, patting the cushion for Julius to sit next to him.
“It’s not as simple as she makes it sound,” he said as Julius joined him. “It’s the nature of seers to get in each other’s way. I’ve never been able to see Estella’s movements any more than she can see mine, but lately the larger future has been…” He frowned, searching for the right word. “Difficult,” he said at last. “It’s not blindness. I can still look down the stream of possible futures and see what decisions will lead to the desired results, but lately, threads have been disappearing.”
That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean ‘disappearing’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” Bob said. “Every decision we make creates possible futures, even if we never actually get to act on it. Usually, these branching lines of possibility end only when the individual making the decisions that create them dies, but this time…they just aren’t there anymore.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know how else to describe it, and frankly I’m only telling you in the hope that saying it aloud will help it make a little more sense. Svena’s future was the first to go. I couldn’t even see for sure if Estella would be here tonight until I spotted one of your possible futures ending as a stain on Mother’s antique rug. Given all the bonding we’ve done recently, I felt I should do something about that.” He glanced over. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Julius said belatedly. “But it’s interesting you mention Svena. Katya and Ian both said she was acting strange.”
“She shouldn’t be acting at all,” Bob growled. “I just told you, the future is built from decisions, and from what I can see, Svena’s not making any of those at all. Or, at least, she’s not making them for herself. That’s a very dangerous development for the most powerful dragon mage on the planet, which is why I called in Amelia. She’s the only dragon alive who can toe-to-toe it with the White Witch, and given Estella’s hatred of all things us, I thought that was important.”
Julius swallowed. “Do you really think it’ll come to that?”
“Who knows?” the seer said with a shrug. “I’m still not sure all that drama earlier wasn’t a decoy, something big and shiny to keep us looking at one hand while she stabs us with the other.”
He mimed stabbing motions in the air, and Julius shook his head. “Surely it won’t come to that. Whatever Estella is trying to pull off, they’re still just three dragons, and Katya doesn’t even want to fight. There are over a hundred Heartstrikers all together, and we’ve got you. Whatever she’s done to Svena, it can’t be enough to beat those odds.”
“Your vote of confidence touches my heart,” Bob said. “But if there’s a single truth I’ve learned about this business, it’s never trust a seer. They’re liars to the core who never show you a move unless they want you to counter it.”
“I see,” Julius said. “And does that assessment include yourself?”
Bob gave him an enigmatic smile. “What do you think?”
Julius took a moment to consider that. “I think you’re too invested in our clan to let it fall,” he said at last. “And I think you hate losing too much to let Estella win anything.”
