Svena scoffed. “Who do you think I am, Bethesda? I’m a dragon, not an egg factory. Especially since there’s no reason to rush.” She reached down to press a white hand against her flat stomach. “My information network is very good, which is why I can say with absolute certainty that I am theonlyexpecting dragoness in the world right now. Even if your mother ran out and got herself knocked up this morning—which, for the record, wouldn’t surprise me at all—I would still have plenty of time for a proper incubation. Especially since I’m only having five.”
“You can control that?” Marci asked, finally sinking into the chair Amelia had brought her.
“Of course,” Svena said, pushing her oversized sunglasses down her nose so she could glare at Marci properly. “We’re not like you monkeys, breeding however biology demands. Just as we can control our fire, a proper dragoness maintains a firm hand on her pregnancy to ensure the best possible outcome. For me, that’s five. An unusual number, to be sure, but despite the Heartstriker’s mantra of quantity over quality, dragons born to smaller clutches aremuchmore magically potent.” She shrugged. “It’s simple mathematics. Even I only have so much fire to give, and fewer mouths to feed makes for stronger offspring.”
“Only at the beginning,” said Amelia, who’d given up even the pretense of having a cup to refill in favor of drinking straight from the pitcher. “After a century or so, the advantage evens out.”
“I’ll take a century’s head start over having to deal with a litter of substandard children any day,” Svena said crisply. “And unlike your ridiculous mother, I have magic to lose.” She turned back to Marci. “The egg-laying process is not without its risks. It takes a phenomenal amount of fire to spark a new dragon’s life, more than even a fantastically powerful dragon such as myself can produce in a decade. That’s why, with the exception of freaks like Bethesda, whose powerisegg laying, most sensible dragons clutch only once, maybe twice in their entire lives. More than that, and you risk taking so much out of yourself that you’ll never fully recover.”
“What do you mean ‘never recover’?” Marci asked. “Do you lose that magic permanently?”
“It’s more like losing potential,” Amelia explained. “Old dragons have big fires inside us. We produce alotof magic, but no one’s infinite, and like she said, eggs take alot. Even an old hag like Svena who’s been hoarding her power for centuries can’t take that big a hit without flinching.”
“It’s most definitely not a pleasant experience,” Svena said, giving Amelia a dirty look. “I’m less than twelve hours in, and I’m already certain Ineverwant to do this again. That’s why I’m doing everything I can to give my children the best advantage. If I must suffer, I want to make sure I’m getting the best possible return on my investment.”
Marci had never considered motherhood from that cold, pragmatic point of view. To be honest, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Amelia, on the other hand, looked absolutely delighted.
“Well, I for one can’t wait to be an auntie to your little white puffballs,” she said with drunken glee. “I’ll take them on field trips to the outer planes and teach them how not to be stuck-up ice divas. It’ll be Magic School Bus: Awesome Edition!”
“As though I’d let you near them,” Svena said with a sniff. “Between the return of magic and my own well-groomed power, this clutch has the potential to be the most powerful dragons born since my own mothers stopped. Add to that the fact that one of my daughters will be the next seer, and I’m breeding the foundation of a new dynasty the likes of which this world has never seen.” She grinned wide, her blue eyes flashing in anticipation. “Aproperclan, run by dragons who understand what it takes to win. I will teach my children to love and fear me, and when your overgrown family inevitably crumbles under its own weight or whatever ridiculousness that tiny J is planning, Ian will make sure that we are in position to take over the failing Heartstriker empire as well.” Her grin turned smug. “We’ll see how your attitude improves whenIam your clan head, Planeswalker.”
“I wouldn’t make too many grand plans just yet,” Amelia cautioned. “Remember, Ian still has to actually win his seat on the Council. He’s running against David. That’s hardly a shoo-in.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Svena said. “One of the very first things that attracted me to Ian was his talent for seizing power wherever he finds it. Take last night, for example. All I had to do was loosen Bethesda’s hold on him, and he took off running.” She sighed delightedly. “He’ssoambitious.”
“Please don’t sigh like a teenager about my little brother,” Amelia said with a grimace. “But while we’re on the topic, I’ve been meaning to ask: howdidyou break Bethesda’s green eyes? Because I’ve been working on it forever.”
“Really?” Svena said innocently. “How surprising. I found it quite easy. But then, even the most complicated curses are simple for those of us who actually take the time to learn finesse. I imagine unraveling such a delicate puzzlewouldbe nearly impossible for a sloppy, brute-force mage such as yourself.”
Amelia heaved an enormous sigh. “Okay, okay, I admit it. You areslightlybetter at technical spells than I am. But that’s only because I’ve been out doing something with my life instead of sitting around practicing insanely complicated magic in the basement of my mothers’ glacier. In this one very specific case, you are superior, so please, Great Svena, enlighten me. How’d you do it?”
Svena lounged back in her chair, tapping her lips with one perfectly filed nail as she thought Amelia’s request over. “Mmmmm…no.”
“No?” Amelia cried. “Don’t you want to brag?”
“I don’t have to,” Svena said. “You already admitted I was superior.”
Amelia cursed under her breath. “Fine, let’s just cut to the chase. What do I have to pay to get you to tell me what you did?”
The white dragon shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Amelia repeated incredulously. “So you’re saying there isnothingI own, nothing from a lifetime’s worth of planar acquisitions, that could convince you to share this one simple secret. Nothing at all of mine that you want?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Svena said settling more comfortably into her chair with an absurdly self-satisfied smile. “We have been enemies for a very long time now, Amelia the Planeswalker, and I can think of absolutely nothing—no treasure, no power, no lands or favors—that would give me more delight than possessing something you want and not giving it to you.”
By the time she finished, Amelia was growling low in her chest. “See, this is why we’re notactuallyfriends.”
Svena shrugged. “A loss, I’m sure. But I’m still not telling.”
“What if I begged?”
Now she just looked insulted. “Begging requires pride to have meaning, and we both know you have none of that.”
Amelia scoffed. “Ihave no pride?”
“None,” Svena said solemnly, shaking her head. “I know you, Amelia. You’re a horrible braggart with a completely unfounded sky-high opinion of herself. But for all your pretense at ego, when push comes to shove, you’ve always been a practical, conniving, manipulative little snake who’d happily crawl through the mud on her belly if that’s what was needed to achieve her goals. Honestly, it’s your only redeeming quality, but knowing that you’d beg for anything completely sucks the joy out of making you do it now.”
Amelia sighed, blowing out a long line of black smoke. “So you’re not going to tell me?”
