Julius almost said “With Chelsie” before he remembered his promise to keep his sister’s lair a secret. “Safe,” he said instead. “And, up until fifteen minutes ago, asleep. But you’ve found me now, so—”
“Yeah,” Justin snapped. “Walking aroundalone. Do you even comprehend the danger you’re in? I went by your room an hour ago on the off chance you’d gotten desperate enough to sleep there, and I found this.”
He held out what looked like a large brick of cream cheese with several wires poking out of it. “What’s that?” Julius asked.
“Plastic explosives,” his brother said. “Cheap but effective. Someone rigged them to a pressure plate under your mattress so they’d go off the moment you sat down, which would have been a good way to get around your Fang if whoever put it there hadn’t forgotten that I can smell C4 a mile away.”
That was very good to know, because to Julius’s nose, the white block in his brother’s hands didn’t smell like anything at all. Even so. “Someone actually put live explosives in my room?” he cried, horrified. “What iswrongwith this family?”
“At least they were taking you seriously,” Justin said, casually tossing the brick of explosives in his hand. “There’s enough here to blow a hole in a good-sized tank. That’s a lot more than anyone would normally bother packing for a J who wasn’t me.”
“Don’t say that like it’s a compliment,” Julius snapped, feeling weirdly insulted. It was one thing to know your family was trying to kill you, but explosives under his bed just felt like dirty pool, even for dragons.
“No point getting your feathers in a ruff now,” Justin said, tossing the disarmed plastic explosive in the trash can beside them. “This is just the warm-up. Gregory and his goons have been out spreading rumors about you all night. Every time I turn around, he’s got someone new cornered.”
That wasn’t good. “What’s he been saying?”
“More of the same,” Justin said with a shrug. “That you’re not a real dragon and you’re only in power thanks to Bob. All of which is true, of course, but he has no right to be badmouthing you over it.”
“How do you figure that?” Julius asked, because he thought that was actually a valid criticism.
“Because he wasn’t there,” his brother growled. “I was. I saw that the whole thing was a seer plot from the get-go, but just because Bob set ’em up doesn’t change the fact that you knocked them down. I saw you stay ahead of Chelsie that night in the throne room, just like I saw you pull the Fang out of Grandfather’s skull and spare Mother’s life when you could have killed her. Gregory doesn’t have jack next to that. He’s just some punk who came in at the last second and is trying to get power for himself by acting like a big shot.” He cracked his knuckles. “I hope he does try to kill you today. I can’t wait to see the smug look go flying off his stupid face when I punch him off the mountain.”
He finished with a bloodthirsty grin, but Julius still couldn’t help feeling touched. “Do you really mean that?”
“Absolutely,” his brother said. “I’m going to punt him into Texas.”
“No, no,” Julius said quickly. “I meant the other stuff. Do you really think I deserve to be at the head of Heartstriker?”
Justin gave him a funny look. “Of course. I wouldn’t have signed the contract booting Mother out of power if I’d felt otherwise.”
“But…you were her favorite,” Julius said, happy to finally have a chance to ask the question he’d been wondering about since his brother had joined them the night of the coup. “I don’t doubt your loyalty, I just want to knowwhy.”
“It was her decision to make me her favorite,” his brother said with a shrug. “Frankly, I didn’t care one way or the other. I want what I’ve always wanted: to be the champion of the biggest, best clan in the world. When Bethesda was the Heartstriker, that meant working for her. But then she said some things that made me realize she wasn’t the all-powerful clan head I thought she was, and after you beat her, the choice only got easier.” He smiled at Julius. “Unlike Mother, you’ve always been there when I needed you. That’s what a clan needs: someone who will fight for all of us, not just themselves. You do that, so I fight for you.”
“And it doesn’t hurt that you got a promotion in the bargain,” Fredrick pointed out.
“What kind of dragon would I be if I accepted a deal that had nothing in it for me?” Justin said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But for real, Gregory can go flame himself. I saw you beat Bethesda. That makes you clan head by every measure that counts, and it’s my duty and pleasure as your knight to turn anyone who says otherwise into dragon hash.”
Like most of Justin’s compliments, that was as terrifying as it was sincere, but after twenty-four years as his brother, Julius had learned to roll with it. “Thank you, Justin.”
“Yeah, well, you can show your appreciation by not going off alone again,” Justin grumbled. “I’ve got a lot riding on you. Conrad’s already told me he doesn’t think I’m ready for this job. If you get yourself offed on my watch, I’ll never live it down.” He grimaced and stepped aside, finally letting Julius and Fredrick out of the stairwell door. “So what are we doing?”
“Meeting with the UN,” Julius said, glancing down the empty hall. “I don’t suppose you know where they are?”
“If you mean the humans, they’re in the third room from the left, hanging out with Katya.”
Julius blinked in surprise. “Katya? I didn’t even know she was still here.”
Justin nodded. “I thought they were here to meet with her, actually. But if you want to crash, I’m down.”
“We’re not crashing,” Julius said quickly. “I’m just surprised. But she’s our ally, too.” And as former head of the Daughters of the Three Sisters, at least for the few hours they’d existed before Svena had renamed them, she certainly had good reason to want to meet with the UN as well. “I think this might actually work out in our favor. Lead on.”
Justin nodded and started down the hall, leading Julius and Fredrick to the door he’d mentioned, which opened into an elegant but surprisingly small room that looked as if it was mostly used for making people wait.
As promised, Katya was already there, standing beside the floor-to-ceiling window with one—Julius wasn’t sure which—of her sisters. She brightened the moment she saw them, flashing Julius a warm, sincere smile that was still a shock to see on a dragon’s face. “Julius,” she said. “Excellent. We were waiting for you.”
“Sorry for the delay,” Julius said, glancing nervously at the two humans in the center of the room, who, despite the multiple leather chairs and couches, were standing as well.
