“What my brother meant to say was ‘Why are you here?’” he growled, stepping directly into the other dragon’s path.
“Certainly not to have a monosyllabic conversation with you,” Ian replied curtly. “Move.”
Justin sneered down at him, a feat that took Justin levels of freakish size and bravado given how tall Ian was as well. The two of them stayed like that for a good thirty seconds before Julius decided he’d better say something before the ballooning dragon one-upsmanship became lethal.
“It’s okay, Justin,” he said, tugging on his brother’s arm. “Ian’s on our side again, remember?”
“If by ‘our’ side you mean ‘his,’ then yeah,” Justin snapped.
“My side isyour side, fool,” Ian said coldly, giving the knight a final disgusted look before turning to Julius. “I’m calling in a favor.”
Julius blinked in surprise. “What favor?”
“Remember that lovely house I gave you for a song last month?” Ian asked sweetly. “The one that’s now going to have to be completely renovated due to the extensive damage my building manager says you did to the first floor?”
“Of course I remember,” Julius said. “I lived there. But if this is about the repair bill, you should send it to Conrad. He’s the one who cut the front door open, and the rest of the wall with it.”
Considering Conrad had been under Estella’s chains at the time, that wasn’t actually fair, but Ian was already moving on. “Actually, I’m selling the whole thing as is. It’ll be a write-off, but there’s not much point in owning property in the DFZ for us right now, is there? Whatever I decide to do with my property, though, it doesn’t change the fact that you still owe me for letting you use it in the first place, and I’m calling that in.”
Justin shot Julius anI told you solook over his shoulder, but there was nothing to be done. Ian was right. Julius was in his debt, and he just waved for the dragon to get on with it.
“It’s a very small boon,” Ian assured him. “I thought I’d let you off light as a gesture of goodwill since we’re going to be working together soon.”
“David had said the same thing,” Julius said with a long sigh. “Just tell me what you want, Ian.”
“Very well,” his brother said. “I want you to have breakfast with me. Right now.”
“Breakfast?” Julius repeated, confused. “Sure, but not right now. I have to get back to—”
“Julius,” Ian said testily. “It’s eight thirty in the morning. There is nothing youhaveto get back to that can’t wait another hour, and you smell hungry.” He smiled at Justin. “Your lug of a guard dragon can come, too. A mark of my generous nature.”
Justin still looked surly, though he’d definitely perked up at the mention of food. To his shame, Julius had, too. He’d been a human for so long, he’d gotten used to eating like one. Now that his seal was off, though, he realized he was starving. Just the mention of food was enough to set his stomach rumbling, and from the look in his eyes, Ian had heard it.
“Come,” the dragon said, gesturing down the hall. “One breakfast, and then we’re even.”
“Just breakfast?” Julius asked. Because that sounded too good to be true.
“I might have invited a few guests,” Ian admitted. “But I think you’ll like it.”
Julius wasn’t sure about that, but given that this was payback for an entire house, breakfast seemed like a pretty small price. Also, Marci would probably be asleep for another hour at least, and if she did wake up before he was done, he’d just invite her up to join them.
That last bit of logic decided it, and Julius motioned for Ian to lead the way as the three of them walked together toward the elevator.
***
“Well,” Myron said as they stepped out of the mountain’s front entrance and into their waiting car. “That went well.”
“Not as well as it could have,” Emily said as the soldier closed the armored door behind them. “You pushed too hard on the human. He suspects something.”
“So what?” Myron said, stripping off his gloves before reaching into his pocket for one of his moleskin notebooks that had been meticulously filled with ink drawings of mazes. “Even if he is suspicious, I don’t think he’ll keep her from us. He seems very reasonable for a dragon. Certainly more so than his mother. Bethesda would make us crawl on principle. This one we can work with.”
“Assuming he actually tells this Marci about us,” the general said, frowning through the tinted window at the towering mountain. “I don’t like it. He seems emotionally attached, which doesn’t bode well for the girl. Dragons—especially Heartstrikers—have a reputation for making humans do stupid things.”
“Good thing we don’t actually need the girl, then,” Myron said, turning the page. “We just need the spirit. That’s the important bit. If the vessel proves difficult, we’ll simply offer the Mortal Spirit a better home.”
Emily cocked an eyebrow. “By which I suppose you mean yourself?”
“Why not?” Myron said. “Iamthe greatest living mage. I’m not sure what sort of Mortal Spirit we’re dealing with yet, but I’m positive I’d be a step up from some random dragon groupie. The first Merlin should be a mage who knows what he’s doing.”
