“No,” he snapped, pressing a hand to his aching side. “I’m hurt and tired and I just want this to be over. I want to finallywin.”
He mostly wanted Chelsie and F-clutch to be free. Only when that was done would Julius finally feel like he’d actually succeeded, but he still didn’t know how he was going to get around Bethesda’s killer secret, and he didn’t dare poke Chelsie about it again. She was already looking suspiciously fragile, her jaw clamped tight despite the appearances she was so clearly desperate to keep up.
He wasn’t doing much better. His burns were healing quickly—Fredrick had actually removed all the bandages except for the ones around his stomach an hour ago—but even though he looked better than he had all afternoon, Julius felt like he was one stiff breeze from going down. He was about to give up and tell Chelsie he was going to bed when he smelled a familiar scent approaching from the side.
Chelsie caught it, too, her body going stiff as the two of them turned to face David, who was now waiting nervously beside the stage. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all,” Julius said, smiling extra wide to dispel the aura of doom that had fallen when David and Chelsie noticed each other. “Thank you so much for your help tonight. We couldn’t have managed this without you.”
“I’m aware of that,” the senator said. “Though I’d much rather you applied your gratitude to my debt.” His green eyes flicked to Ian, who was standing to the side of the stage, artfully kissing his way up Svena’s arm. “I came up to congratulate my opponent, but he seems to be indisposed,so I’ll just take my leave. I’ve missed four senate hearings over this election nonsense as it is. If I miss another, I risk losing my control over my subcommittees.”
“Go, then,” Julius said. “Thank you again, and good luck.”
“Good luck to you as well,” he said with a pointed look at Bethesda’s closed door. “You’ll need it.”
He held out his hand, and Julius shook it without hesitation, wincing only a little when the bigger dragon squeezed down hard. Still, despite the return to the macho posturing, he was happy with how things between him and David had shaken out. He’d rather not have gotten stabbed for it, but in the end, this mess had netted him an invaluable ally, as tonight’s vote had already proven.
“I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming,” Chelsie said as David walked away. “You really do have the oddest talent for turning enemies into assets.”
“Not assets,” Julius said, shaking his head. “Friends. Or at least allies. Either way, it’s amazing what can happen when you actually talk to your enemies instead of just trying to crush them.”
“Then I hope you talk to many more,” she said. “We could use a few less—”
She cut off suddenly, her green eyes darting over Julius’s shoulder. When he turned to see why, he found Svena standing right behind him.
“Julius,” she said, her voice haughty and cold with all the proud self-possession of a powerful clan head who hadn’t just been making out with his brother. “Congratulations. You pulled it off. I look forward to the mutually beneficial relationship between our clans this election will produce. Katya will be especially pleased. She always said you’d be the one who came out on top.”
“Thank you for your support,” Julius said, doing his best to sound sincere. It was a bit of a struggle since, privately, he thought Svena had taken advantage of this whole situation purely to jumpstart her own new clan. But whatever her initial reasons, she and Ian seemed legitimately happy together. Moreover, everything had worked out in the end, which was all that really mattered.
But as he was trying to think of an appropriately polite way to ask how she’d be keeping up her end of the bargain now that the election was over, Svena abruptly changed the subject. “Where is your human?”
Julius blinked. “My—you mean Marci?”
“Do you have another?” the dragoness said with a sniff. “And before you start with the ‘she’s not my human’ rot again, yes, I mean your mage. Where is she?”
As always, any dragon asking questions about Marci put Julius’s back up. He didn’t think Svena meant any harm. The White Witch was as ambitious and calculating as they came, but she had her own brand of honor that almost certainly didn’t include stealing other dragons’ mortals. That said, shedidhave an intense rivalry with Amelia, which could explain the sudden interest in Marci.
Whatever the reason, he didn’t like it, especially since he didn’t actually know the answer. He hadn’t heard from Marci since their last call six hours ago. All he knew was that she was somewhere in the DFZ, a fact he was most definitely not making public knowledge. But dodging the question would be suspicious and disrespectful toward Svena, so Julius settled on the truth, albeit only a tiny fraction. “She’s with her spirit.”
For some reason, that made Svena frown. “I worried that was the case. Not that I care what foolishness your trouble-prone mortal gets herself into. I only ask because of Amelia.”
Now Julius was even more confused. “Amelia?”
“Yes,” Svena said. “You know, your oldest and most obnoxious sister. The—”
“I know who Amelia is,” he said, frustrated. “But what does she have to do with Marci?”
“You don’t know?” she asked, surprised. “Amelia had me put half her life’s fire into your human the day before yesterday.”
Julius nearly fell off the stage. “What?”
“How do you not know this?” Svena demanded. “Amelia’s scent was all over her.”
Juliushadsmelled his sister on Marci the last time they were together, but he’d assumed it was because they’d been drinking together, not because she was apparently housing half of his sister’slife. Marci certainly hadn’t said anything, not that she would’ve had a chance given how little time he’d given her. Itwouldexplain Amelia’s cryptic comments when he’d talked to her yesterday, but Julius still didn’t understand. “Why would Amelia do that?”
“Because she’s as stubborn and crazy as the rest of you,” Svena growled. “I told her that putting half her life into a mortal, especially one as disaster prone as yours, was aterribleidea, but did she listen? Of course not. I went up to see her just now while Ian was busy with the vote, and she looked absolutely terrible. Drained to a husk. It wouldn’t even be a challenge for me to kill her as she is now. Were it anyone else, I’d demand to know who she’d been fighting. But since no one save myself has a chance against the Planeswalker, the only explanation for her current state is thatyourhuman has been off being reckless with her magic.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a huff. “I will not lose my last true rival to this idiocy. Spit it out! Where is your mage?”
“I don’t know,” Julius said honestly, and he was nowveryconcerned about that. He knew better than to just take any dragon at their word, but Svena’s story was simply too bizarre to be a lie, and Amelia had looked sick when he’d visited her yesterday. But if shewastelling the truth and Amelia’s current downturn was because of Marci, then they could both be in real danger.
