There was a lifetime of anger simmering under that last sentence. It made Julius curious, but he knew better than to poke at old wounds, especially now. “So what are you going to do?” he asked instead. “If you’re not here to kill me, whyareyou here?”
“Because I can’t disobey,” she growled, turning to glare at him in the dark. “I don’t do this job because I enjoy it, Julius. I’m bound by oaths I can never break to obey the Heartstriker until she dies or I do. Fortunately, when Mother ordered me to go to the DFZ and kill you all, she neglected to set a time limit. By coming here tonight, I’ve obeyed her order to the letter, if not the spirit, but that’s still enough to free me from my obligations for the time being. So now the question becomes, what areyougoing to do?”
Julius blinked. “Me?”
“You’re all dolled up for something,” Chelsie said, looking him up and down. “Unless you’ve taken up cosplaying as an actual dragon, I can only assume this get-up is part of a plan to take down Vann Jeger, and I want in.”
He couldn’t have heard that right. “Youwant to help us fight Vann Jeger?”
Chelsie nodded.
“Why?”
“Weren’t you listening?” she snapped. “I. Don’t. Want. You. To. Die. I told you that last month. I told you that thismorning. I’ve been bending over backwards to keep you alive ever since Mother booted you out of the mountain. I’m not about to throw all that work away just because you’re overly attached to your human and your brother’s a pig-headed moron.”
Julius stared at her in wonder. The way she said it made it sound like he was being chewed out, but that didn’t change the fact that Chelsie’s rant was still the nicest thing anyone in his family had ever said about him. “Thank you.”
“Don’t start,” she growled, looking away. “I’m doing this for me, not you. Mother loves a winner. I don’t know what crazy plan you’ve concocted tonight, but if I help you defeat Algonquin’s champion, there’s a chance Bethesda will be so impressed, she’ll rescind her order, and thenIwon’t have to kill you.”
Julius nodded rapidly. “And we can save Justin!”
Chelsie gave him a sideways look. “Say what?”
He quickly explained the plan to leverage banishing Vann Jeger against Algonquin to ransom Justin. Going through the steps again, it actually sounded a lot more solid than Julius remembered. By the time he finished, though, Chelsie was looking more skeptical than ever. “Do you really believe your human can banish an ancient spirit like Vann Jeger in thirty minutes?”
“She’s never been wrong about this sort of thing before,” Julius said. “I’m way more worried about my ability to keep Vann Jeger from crushing me before she finishes.”
“That makes two of us,” Chelsie said with a scowl. “But it’s too late to shift gears now. We’ll start with your plan, and when things go south, I’ll come and bail you out. If Vann Jeger doesn’t know I’m there, I should be able to land at least one good shot on him.”
“Thank you,” Julius said, sincerely touched. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate—”
“Then don’t.”
He winced at her harsh tone, and Chelsie sighed. “Save your gratitude until after I’ve actually done something,” she said, a little more gently this time. “Vann Jeger came by his reputation honestly, and I’m specialized to kill dragons, not spirits. If your plan to keep him distracted can buy us ten minutes, I can probably hold him off for the last twenty. After that, all bets are off.” She glanced up at the brightly lit house. “I just hope your mage isn’t a lot of hot air, or this is going to be a very short fight.”
“If she says she can do it, she can do it,” Julius said firmly. “I trust her.”
“That must be nice.”
Given who was speaking, Julius would’ve expected that to be sarcastic, but there was no venom in Chelsie’s voice. She actually sounded sincere, which, in turn, made him feel ridiculously grateful all over again. “I’mreallyglad you’re here,” he said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder with a smile. “Thank you, Chelsie.”
His sister’s eyes widened and she jerked away, but not before Julius saw the flush that spread over her cheeks. “Yeah, well, you can consider it payback for you keeping your lips shut about how my Fang works,” she growled. “Which youaregoing to do, or I will take your lipsoff.”
“Of course,” he assured her, “I wasn’t going to say anything, anyway.”
Chelsie’s look told him she didn’t buy that for a second, but before she could say as much, Marci burst through the front door.
“Sorry that took so long!” she cried, running down the steps. “Amelia had some last minute advice for…”
She trailed off, her eyes jumping from Chelsie to Julius and back again, and then the air filled with the scent of her magic right before her bracelets lit up.
“Marci!” he cried, jumping between his battle-ready mage and his sister. “It’s okay! She’s here to help.”
“Is she?” Marci said coldly, not dropping her magic an inch. “Because the last time I saw her, she was trying to make you leave me todie.”
“Thatwouldhave been easier,” Chelsie said, crossing her arms. “But Julius has convinced me you’re a vital part of the plan, so you may live for now.”
“And what about Amelia?” Marci demanded. “I’m no Heartstriker, but I know you’re Bethesda’s Shade. How do we know you won’t betray her to your mother while we’re gone?”
