Julius couldn’t believe his ears. “So you don’t know where he is?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Watch your tone.”
He shut his mouth at once, and, after a moment, Bethesda relaxed. “If you’resoconcerned, you can ask Chelsie,” she said casually. “It’s her job to know what you’re all up to.”
That was not the answer Julius was hoping for, but it was better than nothing and most likely all he was going to get. From her bored look, Bethesda was clearly done with him, so Julius took his chance to slip out of the crowd of better, more ambitious dragons competing for the Heartstriker’s attention and set off in search of his sister.
He didn’t actually have high hopes of finding her. He’d seen her when Estella showed up, so he knew she was in the mountain, but Chelsie was called Bethesda’s Shade for a reason, and it wasn’t because she was easy to find. Sure enough, despite searching the throne room and its adjacent hallways for almost twenty minutes, Julius ended up back by the restrooms where he and Katya had spoken with nothing to show for his efforts.
He sank onto the ottoman with a tired sigh, pulling out his phone to book a commercial flight back to the DFZ since he obviously wasn’t going to be getting a ride back home from his mother tonight. He was trying to decide between flying out of Albuquerque or Las Vegas when a dry voice whispered in his ear.
“I understand you’re looking for me?”
Julius almost had a heart attack. He jumped a good foot off his seat, clutching his chest as he looked up to see Chelsie looming over him. “Do youhaveto do that?”
She gave him a cutting look. “I wasn’ttryingto scare you,” she said. “You’re just critically bad at paying attention to your surroundings. Get better and this won’t be a problem.”
Easy for her to say. By this point in the night, though, Julius was numb to dragons criticizing him. He was just happy he didn’t have to keep searching for her. “Mother said you knew where Justin was?”
“Justin?” Chelsie frowned. “Why do you care?”
“Maybe because he’s mybrother?” Julius said, exasperated. Seriously, why did no one understand this? “I’m worried about him, okay?”
“Don’t waste your worry on that idiot,” Chelsie said bitterly. “I warned him, just like I warned you. He knew exactly what would happen if he messed up in the DFZ, but he did it anyway, so I took his sword.”
“But isn’t that a little harsh?” Julius asked, wringing his hands. “I mean, yeah, he broke the rules, but he also—”
“There is noalso,” she growled. “Rules are rules, Julius. Contrary to what some dragons might think, they’re not made to be broken. And for the record, I took Justin’s sword because it’s the only thing he cares about enough to actually be a punishment. I was planning to let him stew on it for a few months in the hopes that he’d have an epiphany and decide to stop acting like a moron, but then Mother filled his head with all that nonsense about earning his blade back, so now he’s off doing that.” She looked Julius up and down. “I don’t think he’d appreciate your assistance.”
He probably wouldn’t, but, “It’s my fault he was in the Pit to begin with,” Julius said firmly. “The only reason he got into trouble was because he was helping me. I want to return the favor.”
She snorted. “You want to get in trouble?”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said quickly. “I just want to know where he is so I can offer my help if he wants it. Please, Chelsie.”
By the time he finished, his sister looked even more coldly disdainful than usual. “It’s not my policy to give out information for free,” she said suspiciously. “Especially not to whelps who’ll only use it to make my life harder. But it just so happens that I was planning to have a talk with you tonight as well.”
Julius stopped his cringe at the last second. “Really? Why?”
She leaned down, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Earlier tonight, Bob and Estella talked. I know you were there, and I know you heard, so I want you to tell me exactly what was said. Give me that, and I’ll tell you where your brother is.”
That wasn’t an unreasonable request at all. In fact, Julius was incredibly relieved to find someone besides himself who was willing to take this Estella stuff seriously. He didn’t likehowshe’d asked. Trading information like this about family members felt slimy, especially since he’d have gladly told her whatever she wanted about Bob and Estella without the bargaining. But explaining all of that would just further confirm Chelsie’s low opinion of him, and it was far too late for this nonsense, so Julius just sucked it up and told her, repeating Bob and Estella’s conversation as best he could remember.
By the time he finished, his sister looked even grimmer than usual. “I don’t like it,” she muttered. “The trap you can see is never the real one.”
Julius could have hugged her for that. “That’s whatIsaid!” he cried. “Can you please talk some sense into Mother?”
“If I could dothat, life would be very different,” Chelsie grumbled, pulling out her phone. “Our problem is that Estella knew exactly how to bait her trap. Bethesda’s always resented the Three Sisters for looking down on her. Now she has a chance to destroy the clan that made her feel inferior and get her mating flight at the same time. That’s an offer she can’t refuse, and if we’re going to get through it alive, we’re going to have to be prepared.”
Julius winced. “How do you prepare for a seer?”
“That’s not your concern,” Chelsie said coldly, tapping the air above her phone. “Here.”
His phone beeped in his pocket, and Julius pulled it out to see a series of messages from a number he didn’t recognize. “What’s this?”
“Clearance to take the second jet back to the DFZ.”
Julius couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re sending me home?”
