“Because the thing you think of as your loyal cat is actually a spirit with more potential than any other in the world right now,” Amelia replied, smoothing the borrowed dress in her hands. “That kind of power doesn’t stay subservient willingly. I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, but if you don’t want to end up being his pet instead, I suggest you make sure that, whatever happens, youalwayshave the upper hand.”
By the time she finished, Marci was cold inside. She didn’t want to believe what the dragon was saying, but at the same time, it made a lot of sense, especially since she could still hear Ghost’s purring voice in her head.
We can be very powerful together.
The memory made her shiver, and Marci turned away, walking to the door in long, purposeful strides. “Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“See that you do,” Amelia replied, standing up. “I’m going to use your shower. Good luck tonight.”
“You too,” Marci said, hurrying into the hall without looking back.
She went down the stairs just as fast, rubbing her arms to get rid of the creepy feeling that still clung to her like glue. She didn’t have time for this right now. It wasn’t that she was not grateful for Amelia’s advice, but Marci had talked a big game to Julius earlier about banishing Vann Jeger. To actually pull that off, she was going to need her wits about her, not off worrying about Ghost.
With that in mind, Marci pulled herself together, plastered a smile on her face, and raced out the front door. “Sorry that took so long!” she cried as she bounded down the steps. “Amelia had some last minute advice for…”
Her voice trailed off. As she’d asked, Julius was waiting for her beside the running truck, but he was no longer alone.
***
When his sister had gone upstairs with Marci, Julius had quietly fled outside to focus on calming down.
He knew he was being a wuss, freaking out about wearing a disguise when everyone else was doing their part, but he hadn’t expected to feel so…different. It wasn’t that he had any complaints about the illusion. If anything, Marci and Amelia had done their jobtoowell. They’d transformed him into a picture perfect specimen of an ancient, ruthless, tyrannical dragon, which meant he now looked like the thing he hated most in the world.
This was even more horrible than he’d imagined. He’d gone into this with low expectations, but now that the illusion was finished, he couldn’t even look at himself without feeling like he’d done something he should apologize for, and the magic itself was even worse. Where Marci’s magic had always felt like a comforting blanket, Amelia’s felt like being caught in a dragon-sized bear trap, changing him from the inside out. He felt different, he walked different, he evensmelleddifferent. And while that was probably a good thing if Vann Jeger had anything resembling a dragon’s sense of smell, having your nose constantly filled with the scent of ancient, terrifying predator was stressful to the max. Even knowing it was fake, Julius couldn’t stop his subconscious from constantly freaking out about the giant dragon it was convinced was standing right behind him, which was a real liability when your plan for survival depended on you looking confident.
But awful as all this was, it was way too late to change the plan now. Like it or not, the illusion was here to stay, and so, after carefully placing Marci’s bag inside the truck like she’d asked, Julius closed his eyes to focus on not making a fool of himself. He was still working on it when his nose caught a new scent that made his own constructed menace feel like nothing. A scent that, in hindsight, he really should have expected an hour ago.
Under more normal circumstances, that would have been enough to send him over the edge, but apparently there were only so many shocks a dragon could take. He mostly just felt a sense of resignation as he turned to face the terrifying dragon who wasactuallystanding behind him.
“Hello, Chelsie.”
The Heartstriker enforcer stepped out of the shadows beside the front porch, her green eyes glowing. “Not surprised to see me?” she said, resting her hand on the hilt of the Fang at her waist. “You’re getting better, Julius.”
“Never too late to improve,” he replied, trying for a smile only to fail utterly. “I guess you’re here to kill me, then?”
“If I was, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Julius’s eyes widened. “So, Mother didn’t order you here to…you know…”
“Oh no,” Chelsie said. “Bethesda’s orders were very specific. I’m to kill Amelia first, then you, and then your human, just for good measure. After that, I’m supposed to sneak into Algonquin’s Tower and kill Justin so he can’t be used against us. You know, just make a nice, clean sweep of things.”
She swept her hand through the air as she finished, and Julius swallowed. “So why aren’t you?”
That was a suicidal thing to say, but Julius was genuinely curious, and it wasn’t like he could stop his sister from doing whatever she wanted anyway. Also, despite the cold, casual way she was talking about killing them all, Chelsie didn’t look half as deadly as she usually did. She looked more tired than anything. Tired and sad, her face haggard in the porch light’s dim glow.
“It’s been a long day,” she said at last, walking over to lean on the rusted truck beside him. “And surprising as you might find it, I don’t relish the idea of killing the one sister I’ve ever been close to and my baby brother in the same swoop. Especially not when said baby brother has finally grown the fangs to say something to Bethesda that wasn’t ‘yes’ or ‘I’m sorry.’”
Julius winced. “You heard that?”
“I was in the room when she called,” Chelsie said, her lips quirking in what might have been the ghost of a smile. “Ironic, isn’t it? The one time you actually act like a dragon, Mother decides to kill you for it.”
“But not you?” he said hopefully.
Chelsie frowned up into the dark. “I don’t believe in punishing whelps for learning what we teach them,” she said slowly. “And I don’t think you were wrong.”
“Youdon’t?”
He hadn’t meant for that to come out sounding so skeptical, but his sister just nodded. “Mothers shouldn’t ransom one family member against another,” she said quietly. “I told her as much a long time ago, and I’m still paying for it.”
