She shrugged. “I’ve always been a good flier.”
Julius would have said amazing. A flight that long would have taken him days. But then, from the hunted look in her eyes, he didn’t think Katya had done it for fun.
“Let’s get you inside before someone sees,” he said, guiding her toward the stairs. When he tried to take her up them, though, a big, Justin-sized roadblock stepped into their path.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Helping,” Julius said with a scowl. “She’s not our enemy.”
“Did the definition of ‘enemy’ change while I was in the shower?” Justin shouted, stabbing his finger at Katya’s face. “You told me not an hour ago that her clan just declared war on us, and that Mother wanted me here to protect you and your life debt. Now a daughter of the Three Sisters literally lands on your doorstep, and you want tohelpher?”
“Yes,” Julius said, exasperated. “Katya’s the one who owes me the life debt you’re protecting, remember? Now move over and let her in before we end up with more dragon hunters on our tail.”
Katya’s eyes widened. “Dragon hunters?”
“Long story,” Julius looking over his shoulder. “But, I have to ask, did anyone see you coming in?”
“Absolutely not,” she said proudly, giving Justin an icy look. “Contrary to what some might think, it’s not hard to slip by Algonquin’s defenses, and you don’t escape as many times as I have without getting very good at flying without being seen.”
“How did you even know where to fly?” Justin snapped, turning back to Julius. “Do you just give your address to everyone, now?”
“I already told you, I didn’t know this was his home,” she said, opening her clutched hand to reveal a crumpled square of dirty paper. “A pigeon gave me this.”
Justin snapped his mouth shut while Julius did a double-take. “A pigeon?”
Katya nodded, and the Heartstrikers exchanged a look.
“Fine,” Justin growled. “We’ll hear what she has to say. But remember, this isyouridea.”
Julius sighed and glanced back at Katya, who was shifting uncomfortably under his cheap raincoat. “We should probably get you into some real clothes before we do anything serious,” he said, guiding her into the house. “Marci? Do you have something she could borrow?”
“Sure,” Marci said, watching Katya with a mix of awe and intense curiosity. “This way.”
Clutching the plastic coat shut with one hand, Katya followed her upstairs. Julius locked the door and walked over to join his brother, who was still glaring up the stairs after them like he expected a fireball at any second.
“What’s the plan?”
“I don’t know,” Julius admitted tiredly. “Talk to her, I guess?”
“Talking isn’t a plan,” his brother said with a sneer. “I say we take her hostage.”
“Okay, first, Estella tried to kill Katya herself just last month, so I don’t think that’ll work,” Julius said. “Second, Katya’s my friend, and friends don’t take friends hostage. Third, Bob’s the one who sent her here. He doesn’t do things without reason.”
“He does things for no reason all the time!” Justin said. “Remember three years ago when he sent us all used hubcaps for our birthday?”
“This is different,” Julius said quickly. “I’m not saying we’re going to rush out and do whatever she wants, I just want to talk to her and see what’s going on.”
He thought that was all pretty reasonable, but his brother still looked dangerously growly, so Julius decided to use his big gun. “I’ll buy us dinner.”
Like always, Justin perked up at the mention of food. As ploys went, it was an expensive one—his brother was a bottomless pit even by Heartstriker standards—but all dragons were at their most peaceable while eating. Katya was probably starving as well after a flight like that, and Julius hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday. A meal would smooth this process out for everyone, but getting enough to feed three dragons and a human was no easy task. Fortunately, Julius had a good relationship with the rapid-delivery Vietnamese place on the other side of the on-ramps. Ten minutes after he placed the order, a delivery driver showed up with enough food to feed a small army. Justin was already claiming multiple bags for himself when Katya and Marci finally came back downstairs.
Katya must have taken a shower, because her blond hair was damp and all the dirt from her flight was gone. That alone made her look infinitely less bedraggled, and while the six inch height difference between her and Marci should have made her look ridiculous in her borrowed clothes, Katya carried it off with typical draconic grace. If Julius hadn’t known for a fact that Marci’s UNLV Thaumaturgy Casting Team t-shirt normally fell past her hips, he would have assumed it had always been meant to be a crop top from the elegant way Katya wore it, sitting down at their shabby, delivery-bag covered kitchen table like she was taking her place at a banquet.
Since it was usually only Marci and Julius, they only had two chairs. Since their guest had already take one, Julius gave Marci the other and hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter. Justin, as usual, chose to stand, looming in the corner and scowling at Katya over his box of spring rolls like he was one excuse away from eating her as well. When Julius tried to signal him to take the aggression down a notch, he blew out a line of smoke, and Julius gave up with a sigh.
“Please excuse my brother.”
“What is there to excuse?” Katya said with a sad shrug. “I am an enemy of your clan seeking shelter in your home. If the situation was reversed, my sisters would be acting far worse.”
