“Fredrick found it for me,” he said, reaching up to touch the shorter feathers falling over his shoulders. “He said it would be appropriate given my new status, and after seeing what you’re wearing, I agree. We could hardly stand up as equals if you’re dressed like a golden statue and I’m wearing a normal old suit.”
“Fredrick found it, did he?” Bethesda bared her teeth. “He’ll pay for that.”
“No, he won’t,” Julius growled back, folding his arms over his gold-and-jaguar-pelt-covered chest. “You don’t get to punish us any more, Mother. After this vote, your rule is over.”
“We’ll see about that,” Bethesda growled. But while that sounded like the end of it, she didn’t stop staring at him. Normally, Julius would have said she was just trying to make him squirm, but that didn’t feel right this time, mostly because she didn’t seem to be actually looking at him. It was more like she was looking through him, and from the way her lip was trembling, she didn’t like what she saw one bit.
“What is it?” he asked when he’d had all the staring he could take.
“Nothing,” his mother said, blinking rapidly. “It’s just a…a shock to see you looking so draconic for once. You always dress so terribly, I never noticed the resemblance until now.”
Julius frowned. “Resemblance to what?”
Bethesda turned away. “My father.”
There was no way he’d heard that right. “Ilook like the Quetzalcoatl?”
“Don’t take it as a compliment,” she snapped. “He never was much to look at in his human form. And before you let any of this go to your head, remember how he ended.”
She snapped her teeth, making Julius wince. Still, he couldn’t help looking at their reflections in the dressing room mirrors. Nothing had actually changed since Fredrick had left ten minutes ago, but Julius no longer thought he looked ridiculous. Quite the opposite. Standing there beside his mother and brother with his Fang on his hip and his grandfather’s magic hanging over him like a shroud, he looked like a dragon. He was still staring in wonder when his mother swept out of the room.
“Enough preening,” she growled. “I refuse to participate in this idiocy a moment longer than I must, so if you don’t want the final stage of your mutiny to start without you, get moving. You’re the last one. The others are already waiting.”
Julius wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but everything became clear when he followed her into the hallway to see Bob and Chelsie waiting for them. The seer was still wearing his ridiculous tux from this morning, though his pigeon was conspicuously absent. Chelsie, on the other hand, looked exactly like she always did: terrifying in her black combat suit with her Fang displayed prominently on her hip.
“Don’t you look dashing!” Bob cried, looking Julius over. “Ialmostthought you were someone else.”
He winked at their mother, who snarled at him, and Julius decided he’d better keep things moving before someone got blood all over his bloodless revolution. “Is everyone here?”
“Yes,” Chelsie said, glancing down the hall at the very recently repaired doors to the still-empty throne room. “With the exception of the six of us and Amelia, who’s refused to come out of her room, every living Heartstriker is waiting in the hall, and has been for the past ten minutes.”
“Well, at least something’s going right,” Bethesda said, shaking her head to make sure the feathers of her headdress were falling smoothly down her back before turning to Julius with a superior sneer. “Ready to see how it’s done?”
Before Julius could answer, his mother marched ahead down the hall and into the empty throne room, which now looked very different from the last time Julius had seen it. It wasn’t back to normal—the cracks in the floor and walls had yet to be repaired—but the Quetzalcoatl’s skull was back on its chains, hanging from the ceiling, and all the rubble, including Bethesda’s broken throne, had been cleared away to leave the cave as one enormous, open space save for a wooden platform that had been set up in front of the balcony. By the time he’d taken it all in, Bethesda had already hopped up on the stage, taking the very best spot at the center. The moment she was in position, she nodded to the F standing discreetly by the entrance, who obeyed at once, throwing open the newly rebuilt throne room doors with acrack.
The moment the seal broke, the smell of dragons hit Julius like a hammer. The hall of heads running up to the Heartstriker throne room was enormous, but the massive crowd of dragons still managed to take up every speck of available space, spilling through the doors into the broken stone chamber like a silent, angry tide.
Before this moment, Julius had never seen his entire family together in one place. Going by the size of the crowd that was rapidly filling the room, though, he was beginning to realize that he’d never seen even half of them, and every green eye in the place seemed to be locked on him.
For a shy dragon who’d spent his entire life avoiding attention, it was a scene out of his nightmares. He’d known this was coming, of course, but after everything else he’d been through, he’d assumed he could handle it. Apparently, he’d assumed wrong. Even confronting Vann Jeger paled in comparison to being the focus of so many dragons’ attention. If he hadn’t been physically held upright by his ridiculous golden armor, Julius would have crumbled on the spot. He still wasn’t certain he wasn’t going to faint when Justin jabbed him in the small of his back.
“Go,” his brother hissed.
Julius cast him a terrified look. “I—”
His brother didn’t give him a chance to finish. He just grabbed Julius’s shoulder and shoved him forward, marching him down the far wall across the crowded throne room to the stage before physically lifting him onto it. By the time Julius was in control of his own actions again, he was standing directly behind his mother, staring down at a sea of Heartstrikers who were watching them both like predators.
By this point, Julius’s fight-or-flight instinct was in full effect. For the first time he could remember, though, maybe the first timeever, his choice was fight. It certainly wasn’t the smartest decision—now that he was unsealed, he could clearly see just how much bigger and more magical every other dragon in the room was compared to him—but after everything he’d put up with to get to this point, running simply wasn’t an option. He was still terrified, but now that Justin’s shove had gotten him past the initial shock, the fear didn’t feel as overwhelming as it once had. Maybe it was because he’d risked so much more than his life for this, or maybe he’d simply grown accustomed to mortal terror, but as Julius stood up straight at his mother’s side, a new sensation fought its way to the forefront: anticipation.
This was it, he realized breathlessly.Thiswas what he’d fought for. After this vote, the Council would be complete, and the Heartstriker clan would be changed forever. For thebetter. The bright future that had seemed like a pipe dream three days ago was actually about to happen, and all he had to do was keep it together. So that was what he did. He kept it together, forcing himself to be calm, to stand straight and proud beside Bethesda as she began to address the clan that was no longer hers.
“I know there have been rumors,” she said, her voice ringing out to the far corners of the room. “Let me put them to rest. Last night, we killed Estella the Northern Star, ending our war with the Daughters of the Three Sisters.”
She paused to let that sink in. Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, “I was also overthrown by the dragon standing beside me.”
A startled murmur rose from the crowd before Bethesda silenced it with a deadly glare. “I do not deny what happened,” she continued crisply. “But, as you can see, I am still very much alive and in power. So before the rest of you get any revolutionary ideas, remember that I am and shall always be the Heartstriker. Even when I lose, Ialwayscome out on top. This is the core value of our clan, and I expect each of you to follow my good example should you ever find yourself in a similar situation.”
Julius fought the urge to roll his eyes. Leave it to Bethesda to turn her owncoup d’étatinto something to brag about. But his mother wasn’t done yet.
