Their mother looked instantly suspicious, and for once, Julius agreed. “Why?”
“Because this is a delicate negotiation between clans,” Ian said with a pointed look at David, who was still watching from a safe distance. “It’s not for common ears.”
David’s posture turned instantly hostile. Bethesda, however, looked amused. “All right, traitor,” she said. “You want to bargain? I’ll hear you out. If only for the amusement factor.”
“We’llhear you out,” Julius said pointedly, releasing the death grip on his sword.
Bethesda rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else as the three of them walked away from the two clans locked in a standoff and into Bethesda’s rooms.
***
The moment the door closed, Bethesda dropped all pretense. “What do you want?” she snapped, glaring at Ian like the smaller dragon was five seconds away from being her breakfast.
“What I’ve always wanted,” Ian replied coolly. “Power. I know Heartstriker is now ruled by a Council. I also know there’s an empty seat. I want you to give it to me.”
“What?” Bethesda roared. “You turn traitor, join the enemy when I needed you most, and now you want me to take youback?”
For once, Julius didn’t actually think his mother’s reaction was unjustified. “It does seem disingenuous. You just joined a new clan a few hours ago. There’s no way Svena would be okay with you jumping ship right back.”
“Nonsense,” Ian said with a grin. “Who do you think helped me come up with the idea? Svena’s perfectly content with this, because I’m notplanning to leave her clan. My aim is to be at the top of both.”
Julius had no words. Even Bethesda was temporarily speechless. He knew Ian was arrogant and ambitious, but this was just crazy.
“Impossible!” their mother cried at last. “Welcome a double agent into the top of my clan? I might as well let Svena in, too, since you’re just going to report all our dealings right back to your little snow queen.”
Ian looked disappointed. “Really, Bethesda, is that the limit of your imagination?” He pointed at Julius. “I’ve been running human businesses since I was younger than him. I’m president of three companies and on the board for seven more. That’s how humans do business: the best people rise to the top of any ladder they touch. It doesn’t matter if you’re running one company or fifty so long as the work gets done well. Why should clan structure be any different?”
“Because we’re not humans,” Bethesda growled. “And wedon’tshare. You know what they say about dogs with two masters.”
“I do,” Ian replied coldly. “But I am no dog, and if you would stop being stubborn for five seconds, you’d see that this arrangement benefits us all.”
Bethesda scoffed at that, but Julius was curious. “How?” he asked. “I mean, it’s obvious how you would benefit from rejoining Heartstriker, but what’s in it for us?”
“What a remarkably un-Julius-like question,” Ian said approvingly. “And the answer is plenty. Algonquin has declared war against our species. Svena and I agree that her strike against her mothers was most likely a target of opportunity, but as the closest clan to the DFZ and the one suffering from the most internal turmoil, Heartstriker is the obvious next choice for attack.” His brown eyes locked on Bethesda. “You know this, which is why you’ve called in the entire clan, but all your dragons put together can’t stop a magical weapon powerful enough to take down the Three Sisters.”
Bethesda scoffed. “And you’re saying Svena can?”
“Yes,” Ian said without missing a beat. “Because Svena is the greatest living dragon mage, and a surprise attack only works once.”
“Please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Svena’s decent, but Amelia—”
“Has zero stake in your continued survival,” Ian said pointedly. “I already heard she refused any part in the new clan structure. I wouldn’t be surprised if she scuttled back to the planes any day now. Is that really the power you want protecting you?”
That shut their mother up good. Even Julius had to admit his oldest sister was not the most responsible of dragons, and shehadseemed remarkably uninterested in the clan’s future outside of escaping her own position as Bethesda’s heir. She certainly wasn’t going to put anything on the line to keep her mother safe, a fact Bethesda seemed to understand all too well. “So you’re saying if I let you back in, Svena will protect me, my mountain, and my children from Algonquin?”
“IfI’m on the Council,” Ian said, crossing his arms. “We’re talking about magic on a global scale. She’s not going to waste that kind of power on a clan where I’m just another dragon.”
“Then we have a problem,” Julius said with a sigh. “I’m not sure what Katya’s told you, but Mother and I can’t just put someone on the Council. The seat is decided by a clan vote. If you want the position, you’re going to have to win it.”
“Fine,” Ian said instantly. “Winning is what I do.”
Julius would have rolled his eyes at that if it’d come from anyone else, but Ian wasn’t bragging. He was stating a fact, and the longer Julius thought about that, the more he liked it. “You think you could beat David?”
“In a clan vote?” Ian nodded. “Absolutely.”
Bethesda scoffed. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said, glaring at her. “David has always enjoyed strong support among the upper alphabet, but like most older Heartstrikers, he’s ignored the younger clutches completely. That makes sense when you consider the difference a few hundred years can make for an individual dragon’s power, but a vote is different. The older dragons might be exponentially larger and stronger, but thanks to centuries of attrition, there’s a lot more Heartstrikers at the bottom of the pyramid than the top.”
