“Areyou?” Justin snapped. “Because I’m offering to solve your problem, here. For free, I might add.”
“Have you been listening toanythingwe’ve said?” Julius cried. “We’re talking aboutVann Jeger,theDeath of Dragons. He didn’t give himself that name, you know! I’m pretty sure he’s killed three of our siblings already.”
“Four,” Justin corrected. “But I’m not afraid of Vann Jeger.”
Julius had already had this conversation with his brother once tonight without success, but this was too important to let slide. “I’m not trying to downplay your battle prowess,” he said diplomatically. “But let’s be realistic here. Vann Jeger is the spirit of a fjord that was formed over multiple ice ages. He also leads a private army of anti-dragon equipped humans with Algonquin herself on call for backup. Bethesda herself couldn’t win a fight like that.”
Justin scoffed. “Youclearlydon’t know what our mother is capable of.”
“But I do knowyou,” Julius said. “If you had your Fang, maybe you’d have a chance, but without it—”
“But I won’t get my Fang back if I don’t do this!” Justin cried. “Don’t you see? This is mychance. Forget sneaking into Reclamation Land. If I can take Vann Jeger’s head, I’ll be famous! They’llhaveto give me my sword back.”
He finished with a grin, clearly waiting for someone to congratulate him on his daring, but Julius was speechless. “That’swhat this is about?” he ground out at last. “Your stupidsword?”
Justin looked insulted. “The Fifth Fang of the Heartstriker is not a stupid—”
“We’re not playing around here, Justin!” Julius yelled. “Marci could die if we screw this up! I could die, you could die. This isn’t the sort of thing you can joke about!”
“Who’s joking?” Justin growled, stabbing his finger into Julius’s chest. “I came here because you needed protection from the Three Sisters,notbecause I was giving up on my sword!Nothingis going to stop me from reclaiming what is mine. Now I’ve found a way to do just thatandsave your human at the same time, and all you can do is complain? This is a win-win situation for us, Julius! Aren’t those the ones you like?”
“Not if you die!” Julius cried.
“I’m not going to die!” his brother yelled back. “I’ve been a Knight of the Heartstrikers for seven years. I know what I’m doing, and I’m telling you, I can beat Vann Jeger, because even though he’s everything you just said, he’s also a spirit who’sthousands of miles from home. Since you spent our tactics classes reading your dumb Fantasy novels, you probably don’t know what that means. Lucky for you,Iremember that spirits get weaker the farther they get from their source of power.” He lifted his chin with a cocky grin. “Vann Jeger might be the big fish back home in Norway, but out here, he’s just another sack of water.”
“That is true,” Marci said skeptically. “But if he’s so easy to beat, why hasn’t anyone else killed him? And how are you even going to take his head if he’s made of water?”
“I don’t know,” Justin growled. “But you’re pretty mouthy for a mortal who had to come running to us for protection, so why don’t you show some respect and shut your—”
“Enough!” Julius snarled, baring his teeth. “That’senough, Justin.”
Justin didn’t look like he’d had anywhere near enough. Neither did Marci, whose bracelets were shining in a way that never meant anything good. Clearly, tempers were running way too high to get anything done at the moment. It was time to defuse the situation, and the quickest way to defuse anything was to get Justin out of it.
“We’ve all had a long night,” he said, keeping his voice down and his posture submissive as he turned to face his brother. “If we’re going to battle an ancient spirit, we all need our rest. Justin, why don’t you take my room? Down the hall, first door on your left. Meanwhile, I’ll stay up and work on the curse angle with Marci.”
His brother shot him a poisonous look. But while he clearly knew that he was being managed, Justin never had been able to resist a surrender. “This isn’t over,” he said, glaring at both of them. “When I wake up, we’re going to make a plan of attack. Arealone, so you’d better bring your A-game. I don’t want to hear some stupid nonsense about how we shouldtalkto Vann Jeger or anything like that. Understood?”
“Understood,” Julius said dutifully. “Goodnight, Justin.”
His brother lifted his head proudly and stomped out into the hall. A few seconds later, Julius heard his bedroom door slam, followed by the tell-tale clunks and crashes of someone angrily getting undressed. But while Julius wasn’t optimistic about the fate of his bedroom furniture, at least it didn’t look like his brother was going to be rushing off to his death immediately. He was taking comfort in small mercies when Marci walked to her bedroom door and closed it with a frown.
“I’ll be honest,” she said, turning to face him again. “I only followed about half of that. What happened to Justin’s sword?”
Julius sighed. “Chelsie took it away because of what happened in the Pit. He lost his position as a knight, too, so you could say he’s sore about it.”
“More like throwing a tantrum.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Julius replied tiredly, reaching up to rub his aching head. “I know he doesn’t deserve sympathy with the way he’s behaving, but if you could cut him some slack, I’d really appreciate it. He’s had some big falls since you last saw him.”
He’d hoped that explanation would help smooth down any ruffled feathers, but Marci’s frown only deepened. “Not to meddle in your family business, but I don’t think you’re doing him any favors thinking like that. I know being compassionate is, like, your thing, but it is possible to betoonice. Justin’s a grown man. Well, grown dragon, but he still has to face reality, and the reality is that if he goes up against Vann Jeger, he’s going to die.”
“I know,” Julius said with a frustrated sigh. “But he won’t listen tonight.”
“He won’t listen tomorrow, either.”
“I don’t know what else to do,” he snapped. “I can’t stop him.”
“So call someone who can,” she said. “Chelsie can clearly manage him.”
