His voice was so bitter by the end it gave Julius goose bumps, and he instinctively rushed to Chelsie’s defense. “She doesn’t want to,” he said. “She despises all of this as much as we do, but Bethesda has her by the throat. You can’t hate someone for doing something they were forced to do.”
“I don’t hate her,” Fredrick said. “Chelsie’s the reason we’re all still alive. She’s never been soft, but she’s protected my clutch since we hatched. She’s been more of a mother to us than Bethesda ever was, and yet…” His eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer to the bed, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I know she told you not to free us.”
Julius’s eyes went wide. “You heard her?”
Fredrick shook his head. “Even my ears aren’t that good. Whatever Chelsie told you in her rooms is still your secret, but I don’t have to know the specifics to guess. She’s always said we can never be free, but she’s never saidwhy.” He glared at Julius. “Did she tell you?”
That was a very complicated question. Technically, Chelsie had told Julius he couldn’t free her or the Fs because Bethesda knew a secret that could ruin them all, one she’d use in a heartbeat if she felt her hold on Chelsie was being threatened. But while Julius had no problem believing the worst of his mother, and he was pretty sure Fredrick wouldn’t, either, Chelsie had told him this in strictest confidence. Given how close she was to F-clutch, if Fredrickdidn’tknow, there had to be a good reason.
Until Julius knew what that was, he wasn’t comfortable letting that dragon out of its bag. At the same time, though, he strongly felt that Fredrick deserved to know. The Fs were prisoners of this every bit as much as Chelsie herself, but unlike her, he hadn’t chosen their suffering. Chelsie might be serving Bethesda to protect a secret, but Fredrick and the other Fs were legitimately trapped through no fault of their own, and it was wrong. The whole point of the Council was to break their family out from under Bethesda’s boot. What good was his victory today if a whole clutch got left behind?
With that, something inside Julius clicked into place. Maybe he was just drunk on victory, but for once, he didn’t feel like compromising. He’d started down this path to make a better clan, one where dragons would no longer be casually stepped on or thrown away. That was the dream he’d been chasing this whole time, and he’d bled for it enough by now that he was no longer willing to accept anything less than total victory. If he was going to change Heartstriker, then he was going to do it forallHeartstrikers, F-clutch and Chelsie included. And if Bethesda tried to stop him, he’d beat her again. Whatever knife she pulled, whatever secret she trotted out, he’d find a way around just like he’d circumvented all her other plans. He didn’t care how much it hurt him personally to do it, either. At this point, pain was just part of the job. The only real defeat would be if he left someone behind, and after all she’d done to them—done tohim—Julius was determined never to lose to his mother again.
Fredrick must have seen he was coming to some kind of resolution, because he didn’t interrupt. He simply watched and waited, studying his youngest brother with his own inscrutable version of the Heartstriker’s famous green eyes until, at last, Julius sat up in the bed. It hurt like crazy, but this was the sort of thing Julius felt he needed to be up for, and since standing was out of the question, sitting would have to be enough.
“I can’t tell you why Chelsie’s so determined to never get free,” he said solemnly. “Partially because I can’t breach her confidence, and partially because I legitimately don’t know. But Icantell you that she’s doing it for a good reason. I’ve seen Chelsie face down a dragon-hunting spirit a hundred times her size without breaking a sweat, but whatever Bethesda’s holding over her head to keep her obedientterrifiesher, and I respect her judgment. No one hates Bethesda more than Chelsie does. If she’s still here, then she has good reason to be, but what Chelsie doesn’t understand is that this isn’t the clan it used to be. Bethesda doesn’t have the power anymore. We do. That’s been the goal since the beginning, and now that we’re in spitting distance of having a full Council, I won’t be held back by the old threats any longer. I told you yesterday that I was going to set you free, and that’s a promise I intend to keep. As soon as the vote’s done and the Council is complete, I’m going to put forward the motion to free you, your siblings, and Chelsie. If Bethesda has a problem with that, we’ll deal with it, but she doesn’t get to decide our futures anymore.”
That was a reckless promise, but Julius meant every word. He wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to handle the secret problem yet, but with Ian and the rest of the clan eager to get Chelsie off their backs, he was positive he could find enough leverage to convince his mother to keep her mouth shut. It probably wouldn’t even be that hard. All he had to do was engineer a situation that made keeping Chelsie’s secret more advantageous to Bethesda than spilling it, and her selfishness would take care of the rest. But happy as he felt about his decision, it didn’t come close to the joy in Fredrick’s eyes.
“Do you mean it?” he asked, his normally stern voice quivering.
“Absolutely,” Julius said, reaching out to tap Fredrick’s chest on the spot where Bethesda’s seal kept the F’s dragon locked away. “I’m going to set you free. All of you. The moment the Council comes together, it’s done.”
That was averyreckless promise. He was still only one vote out of three, but no matter what, Julius was determined to keep his word. Hell or high water, he was going to make this happen, and from the look on his face, Fredrick believed it.
“Then we are with you, sir,” he whispered, clutching Julius’s bandaged hand. “All of us. Whatever you need, if it’s in our power, it’s yours.”
“I’d be happy if you just promised to keep this a secret from Chelsie,” Julius said with a nervous smile. “She’s been dug in on this subject for a long time. I don’t think she’ll take my attempts at change well.”
Fredrick nodded. “That goes without saying. She hides it admirably, but she’s still an old dragon. They don’t change easily.”
Julius had to laugh at that. “You’re six hundred years old. That makes you an old dragon too, you know.”
“True,” Fredrick said, standing up. “But unlike Chelsie, we never gave up. We’ve been waiting for this chance our whole lives. And speaking of.”
He turned and walked to the door, sticking his head out to speak quietly with someone who was waiting outside. A second later, he came back in carrying a tray of food so massive, Julius wasn’t sure how he’d gotten it through the door. “What isthat?”
“Your dinner,” Fredrick said as he balanced the massive tray on the rails of Julius’s hospital bed. “If Ian’s as successful as I think he will be, Heartstriker will vote on the final Council seat tonight, and unless you want to attend in a wheelchair, you need to eat and recover.” He nodded to the spread of steak, sausage, chicken, breads, and root vegetables that would have fed a football team. “That should be enough to get you started. I’ll be back with more in an hour.”
Julius stared at him in horror. “More? Are you crazy? I’ll die if I eat all this!”
“Spoken like a dragon who’s spent too much time as a human,” Fredrick said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Regeneration takes energy, and unless you want to cannibalize your own fire, that means food. Now eat, or I’ll be forced to feed you.”
“Yes, sir,” Julius said meekly, reaching for the nearest pile of hot corn muffins slathered in butter.
Fredrick watched him like a hawk, tapping his foot loudly every time Julius slowed down. But while Julius’s brain was convinced he was eating himself to death, his body was another matter. Far from feeling sick, digging into a pile of food this huge felt incredibly good, and the more he ate, the better he felt. Before he knew it, he’d cleaned the tray. It hadn’t even taken ten minutes, which normally would have been shameful. Even Justin didn’t eatthatfast. But Julius felt too much better to be embarrassed, and Fredrick just looked smug, piling up the empty plates with the cocky smile of a dragon who’d just been proven right.
“I’ll be back with another in a little while,” he said, balancing the tray expertly on one hand. “Try to rest until then, but first, I should give you this.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black rectangle, which he handed to Julius. Julius, however, did not understand. “What’s that?”
“A phone,” Fredrick said, like that should have been obvious. “Yours fell to the ground and cracked when you transformed during the fight with Gregory, so I took the liberty of procuring you a new one. I’ve already transferred all of your numbers, accounts, and so forth. I really should have waited until after you’d slept more, but I thought you’d want it now considering the number of calls you’ve missed from your mage.”
Julius’s stomach dropped like a stone. He’d been so caught up in family drama, he’d completely forgotten about Marci. Now that Fredrick had reminded him, the fact that Marci wasn’t here as well was terrifying. He’d gone down in flames for all to see. After something like that, Bethesda herself wouldn’t have been able to keep Marci from running to his side. So where was she?
“I don’t know,” Fredrick said when he asked. “But before you assume the worst, she’s been calling you every five minutes since Conrad brought you in, which makes it hard to believe she’s in any pressing danger herself.”
That was a huge relief. Julius turned on the new phone, smiling when he saw the mountain of missed calls. “Can you give me—”
