Julius shook his head so fast it hurt. “He’dneverforgive me if I called Chelsie.”
“Then what about your mother?” Marci asked. “He’s her favorite, right? Doesn’t she care that he’ll die?”
“He’s her favorite preciselybecausehe does stuff like this,” Julius said bitterly. “Mother values audacity and ambition over everything else. I swear, sometimes I think she’d rather he die doing something stupidly dramatic than live to see his hundredth birthday.”
And now that he thought about it, that made him angrier than anything. Justin was so strong and fierce, it was easy to forget that they were the same age. Like him, Justin was only twenty-four, a baby by dragon standards, and painfully desperate to prove himself. Marci was right about him needing to live in reality, but how could he do that when everyone else, especially his mother, acted like he was a dragon twenty times his age? The only one who didn’t was Chelsie, and Justin hated her for it. He’d probably hate Julius, too, if he knew what he was thinking, but for once, Julius didn’t care.
“I’ll stop him,” he growled, clenching his fists. “I put it off once today, but never again. I’m not going to lose my brother or you, because none of us are going anywhere near Vann Jeger.”
“Sounds great,” Marci said. “How are you planning to accomplish that?”
Julius shrugged. “I thought we’d start with the curse. That’s the lever forcing us into this mess. If we can break it, we can run and avoid everything.”
“Works for me,” she said, smiling. “I’m still not sure it’s possible to break a Sword of Damocles, but impending deathisthe mother of invention. I’ve actually got some ideas already for—”
The door to Marci’s room banged open again, making them both jump. By the time Julius landed, his brother was on top of him, shoving both him and Marci to the floor.
“Ow!” Julius yelped as Justin slammed him into the hardwood floor. “What are you—”
“Shut up,” Justin growled, glaring at the ceiling. “And stay down. We’ve got incoming.”
“Incomingwhat?” Marci hissed.
Julius was about to ask the same thing when a wind strong enough to rattle the windows swept over the house, followed by the unmistakablethudof a dragon landing on their roof.
Chapter 7
The house was still shaking when Julius scrambled back to his feet.
“Did I notjust sayto stay down?” Justin hissed, grabbing for him.
Julius dodged him without thinking, focusing on the familiar scent in the air as he raced for the stairs, feet barely touching the ground. He cleared both flights in a single jump, landing with a scramble as he lunged for the front door, yanking it open just in time to be blown back again as the enormous, pure white dragon hopped off the roof to land directly in front of him, her wings creating dust storms with every flap.
“HOLY—”
Marci’s shout echoed down the stairs, but it was instantly drowned out by the thunder of Justin’s feet as he charged toward his brother. “Get back insidenow!”
Again, Julius ignored him, his eyes wide with wonder. He’d heard stories of the daughters of the Three Sisters, but nothing could have prepared him for the real thing. Though only two thirds the size of Justin, the white dragon was a jaw-dropping blend of ethereal beauty and coldly efficient predator. Even covered in grime from her flight through the city, her white scales and frosted wings sparkled like fresh snow in the dim glare of their porch light. Cold, pale smoke curled from behind the white, razor-sharp wall of her teeth, and her eyes were the vivid, electric blue of sea ice. Even Justin couldn’t seem to find his voice again in the face of such striking, terrifying beauty, which was why no one said a word until the dragon changed a few moments later, collapsing in on herself like an ice sculpture melting in the sun until she was just Katya again.
A completely naked Katya, shivering on her knees with her hands clutched tight against her chest like she was trying to hold herself together, or trying to hold onto something. He was still staring dumbly when Marci whistled.
“Wow,” she said. “I guess that answers the question of where your clothes go.”
Julius jumped and dropped his eyes at once, cheeks flaming. Justin, of course, kept staring, earning himself a sharp elbow in the ribs from his brother, which he didn’t seem to feel. Julius ignored him after that, ducking back inside to grab his raincoat from their coat closet before running down the stairs to throw it over Katya’s shoulders.
She clutched the long, plastic coat with a nod of thanks, pulling it around her body like a cape as she rose shakily to her feet. “I’m sorry to burst in on you like this,” she said quietly, her normally soft Russian accent thicker than ever. “I didn’t know this was your home.”
“It’s fine,” Julius said quickly. “You’re always welcome.”
“Unless you were followed,” Justin growled.
Katya looked offended. “Who do you think I am?”
“No sirens, no problem,” Julius shooting his brother anot nowlook before offering his hand to Katya, who seemed to be having trouble staying upright. “How far did you fly?”
“From your mountain.”
His jaw fell open. “You flewover a thousand milestonight? Like, since the party?”
