His whole body itched, actually. It alsohurt. Just the act of breathing caused a hitch in his ribs, and moving his arms felt like an impossible feat. If hedidn’tmove, though, he wouldn’t be able to scratch everything that itched. He was contemplating the conundrum when someone cleared their throat beside him.
“Welcome back, Great Julius.”
Julius’s eyes popped open. He was back in his human form, lying on his back in a large bed in what was clearly a medical room. A quick check told him he was still all there, but every inch of his body was wrapped in white bandages. He was working his arm out of the sheets to push aside the gauze and see what was underneath when Fredrick grabbed his hand.
“I wouldn’t suggest that, sir,” he said, pushing Julius’s hand back down into the mattress before returning to his chair beside the bed. “You were very badly burned, and matters were further complicated by your return to your human form despite being unconscious. Frances said she’d never seen an injured dragon revert to being human. Most go the other way. But you seem to defy stereotypes at every turn, and itdidmake you easier to bandage.”
Julius had to think a moment before he remembered Frances was the F in charge of the Heartstriker infirmary. “Guess I’m used to being human-sized,” he said, looking down at his mummified body. “Will I heal?”
“Of course,” Fredrick said, giving him the closest thing to a cheery smile Julius had ever seen on his dour brother’s face. “With food and rest, you’ll be good as new in a few hours.”
That was a huge improvement over what Julius was used to, and he took a moment to thank his lucky stars yet again that grabbing his grandfather’s Fang had broken his mother’s seal. And speaking of his Fang. “Where’s my sword?”
“Right beside you,” Fredrick said, nodding to the edge of the bed, where, sure enough, Julius’s Fang was waiting propped up against the side of the hospital bed, its wrapped hilt poking between the rails and the mattress in easy reach of Julius’s right hand. “Conrad set it there himself.”
Julius blinked in confusion. “Conrad?”
“That’s right,” Fredrick said. “You were out for that. Conrad saved you.”
“Conrad?” Julius was starting to feel a bit like a parrot again, but that just didn’t make sense. Conrad was Bethesda’s knight, and Bethesda was the whole reason he was in this mess. “Why?”
The F shrugged. “Who knows? He never talks to anyone except Bethesda. But whatever swayed him from her side today, it would seem that the Clan Champion is now firmly on Team Julius. He flew down and saved you from Gregory in front of the entire family.”
Julius couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The last time he’d seen Conrad, the huge dragon had been leaning against the treasury wall, impersonating a support beam while Bethesda ran rampant. Apparently, even their mother’s knight had his limits. Happy as that idea made him, though, his joy was overwhelmed by dread at the implications of the last part of Fredrick’s story.
“When you say he saved me,” he said with a nervous swallow. “You don’t mean he killed…”
“No,” Fredrick said, shaking his head. “And personally, I think that was a mistake. But he must have respected your dedication to not killing family, because as much as Gregory deserved to be publicly beheaded, Conrad was merciful and offered him a choice of exile instead. Coward that he is, Gregory chose banishment over death. He lives, but he’s no longer a Heartstriker.”
That was bound to come back to bite them later, but right now, Julius didn’t care. He was too busy collapsing back into the bed in relief, followed by a very draconic rush of victory.
He’d done it. He’d faced his mother’s plots and Gregory, and he’dwon. Sure, that was only because Conrad had swooped in to save him, but that was a victory, too! Conrad hadalwaysbeen at Bethesda’s side. Now, he’d openly defied her to help Julius,andhe’d done it without killing anyone. Considering how easy it would have been for him to crush Gregory utterly, letting him live had to be a conscious choice, and he’d made it in front of the entire clan. That basically amounted to Conrad openly declaring his support for Julius’s new way of running things, and when Conrad spoke, other dragons listened. “This could change everything.”
“There’s no ‘could’ about it,” Fredrick said. “Many Heartstrikers consider Conrad to be the ultimate example of draconic perfection. Whether he meant it that way or not, now that he appears to have publicly come out in your favor, the whole mountain’s falling over itself to declare how much they always secretly liked you. Ian came by three times while you were in surgery to see when you’d be recovered enough to go around with him and campaign. He’s pushing to have the vote tonight rather than waiting until tomorrow to capitalize on the current mood.”
That sounded like Ian. “And what does Bethesda say?”
“Nothing,” Fredrick said, looking smug. “Mother hasn’t come out of her rooms since the incident.”
“She never was a good loser,” Julius muttered, trying in vain to scratch through the layers of gauze. “But still, I wonder why she hasn’t sent Chelsie to…you know…”
“Kill you?” Fredrick finished. “I’m sure she wants to, but she can’t. The whole mountain and Conrad are currently rallied behind you. If Chelsie kills you now, everyone will know who gave the order. If that happens, Mother really will have rebellion on her hands, only this one won’t end in a Council. Without you there to stop them, it’ll be her head on a pike.”
That was a horribly morbid image, but it still made Julius smile, his face splitting into as wide a grin as his burns allowed. “You know what this means, right?”
“I do,” Fredrick said, grinning back. “Gregory’s protest faction collapsed the moment he was defeated. Now Bethesda’s been forced to retreat as well, which means there’s nothing left to stand in the way of the Council vote. In other words, you’ve won.”
“We’vewon,” Julius said, clenching his fists. “Wedidit!” With this, everything he’d wanted—the election, the Council, the final removal of ultimate power from his mother’s hands—was finally coming true. He’d done the impossible. He’d actuallychangedhis stubborn, snarly, prideful family for the better, and he’d done it without killing anyone!
Or, at least, he hoped he had. “How’s Justin?”
“Still unconscious,” Fredrick said. “He lost a great deal of blood. But a Knight of the Mountain won’t be killed by something so small as this. As my sister Frances says every time she patches him up, your brother is too stubborn to die.”
Julius had said exactly the same thing himself plenty of times, but hearing it from someone who was actually an expert on dragon medicine was a huge relief nonetheless. But while he was overjoyed to hear Justin would pull through, there was still another sibling he had to worry about.
“How’s Chelsie?”
The smile fell off Fredrick’s face. “The same,” he said grimly. “Her speed at getting him treatment was the only reason Justin survived. Fitting, since she was the one who sliced him up in the first place. But saving Heartstrikers is as much a part of her job as hurting them, and no matter the circumstances, Chelsie always does her job.”
