There might even be enough time to hold their first session, which meant that he could put forward the vote to free Chelsie and F-clutchtonight! No more interruptions or grandstanding, just a united clan actually moving forward. Together.
That was enough to make Julius dizzy with happiness. Or maybe it was just the blood loss. Either way, he was grinning like an idiot when he stepped forward to take his brother’s outstretched hand, shaking it with every bit of strength his poor abused body could manage. “Thank you for being so mature about this, David. Your decision to bow out peacefully will make a huge difference.”
“It’d better,” David said, grabbing Julius’s fingers in a crushing grip. “Because this whole Council system needs a great deal of work. Having one seat that’s split between five Fangs and one that’s elected from everyone else is hideously unbalanced. Even with Ian’s new popularity, I still had enough guaranteed votes left in my pocket to make him sweat. You got your seat simply because no other Fang could be bothered to run.”
“I know it’s not perfect,” Julius agreed quickly, trying in vain to wiggle his fingers out of David’s. “But this was just our first attempt based on the power structure we had at the time. Once the Council’s established, we can change the rules to divide the power up more equally, starting with the Fang’s seat.” He grinned at his brother. “Seeing how you’ve been a senator for longer than I’ve been alive, I’d be happy to hear your expert opinion on how best to do that.”
“I’m sure you would,” David said, squeezing harder. “But you mistake my meaning. Ilikehaving one seat for five Fangs. Far less competition, and it’s not like getting a Fang of your own is hard.”
Julius stared at him, confused. “What do you—”
“Pulling the tooth out of the Quetzalcoatl’s skull initially is a challenge, to be sure,” David went on. “But once they’re out, the Fangs will go to anyone who fits their broad requirements. Just look at Justin. Surely you don’t think he’s what our grandfather envisioned for a Knight of the Mountain? Of course not. He got his Fang because he was reckless, prideful, and violent. For a tooth that was already out of its skull, that was good enough. And now that you’ve done the impossible and dislodged the Diplomat’s Blade, any reasonable, politically inclined Heartstriker should be able to waltz right up and—”
His free hand—the one he wasn’t currently using to crush Julius’s—darted down to grab the hilt of Julius’s Fang where he’d left it on the bed. But while David was faster than a human, he wasn’t particularly fast for a dragon. Julius, by contrast, was still the fastest of his clutch. Even injured, he grabbed his brother’s wrist with time to spare. His brain, unfortunately, wasn’t nearly as quick on the pick-up.
“What are you doing?” he demanded as he struggled to hold David’s hand in place. “Did you even listen to what you just said? The tide has turned. You can’t win like this anymore!”
“I know,” David said with a smile that turned Julius’s blood to ice water. “Which is why I’m going to win likethis.”
His other hand—the one that, until now, had been employed for the vise-like handshake—released Julius’s fingers and shot forward. It still wasn’t really that fast, but stopping David’s grab for the Fang had put Julius at a very bad angle, and with his hand already positioned less than a foot from Julius’s bandaged stomach, David didn’t have far to go. Julius barely had time to spot the gleam of the knife that slid out of David’s sleeve before the dragon plunged it into him, stabbing through the bandages and into his ribs before angling up in a precise strike for his heart.
He was going to make it, too. Despite his restored dragon form, Julius had been a human for a very long time. Where other dragons would have changed right there and let the size difference spoil the attack, Julius’s first instinct was to jump backwards. Since he was still gripping David’s wrist to keep him away from the Fang, though, this turned out to be impossible, and the mistake cost him dearly. In the time he’d wasted trying to simultaneously scramble back and keep his Fang safe, David had stepped in for the kill, sinking his long knife to the hilt in Julius’s already-injured chest. And then, just when Julius was sure he’d doomed himself to the stupidest, most gullible death possible, a miracle happened.
The medical room door flew open, and Fredrick burst into the room, tossing his laden tray of food on the floor as he lunged straight at David. The other dragon was so focused on Julius, and so used to ignoring the Fs, he didn’t even notice the new dragon until Fredrick’s hands wrapped his chest, yanking him back and dragging the knife out of Julius’s ribs a split second before it reached his heart.
“Youidiot!” he roared, snatching his hands off David as though holding onto the other dragon was physically painful, which, given how many seals of obedience Bethesda had put on his clutch, it probably was. “She’ll kill you for this!”
For a moment, David could only stare at the F in stupefied shock, and then he pulled himself back together, casually brushing Julius’s blood off his shirt cuffs like he did this every day. “Please,” he said at last, looking at the still-seething Fredrick in contempt. “Bethesda won’t do a thing. She’s wanted this whelp dead for—”
“He wasn’t talking about Bethesda.”
The cold whisper made them all freeze. Even Julius, who should have been focusing on not bleeding to death, went perfectly still, his eyes darting to the shadows behind David, who’d gone white as a sheet. But unlike the rest of the disastrous last few minutes, this time, Julius’s instincts were right on the mark. By looking at the shadows, he was the only one who saw Chelsie before she grabbed David.
He almost wished he hadn’t. He’d seen his sister in a lot of different lights, but she’d never looked half as deadly as she did right now. She grabbed David’s throat like she meant to rip it out right there, yanking him back against her so fast, he never had a chance to fight.
“I warned you,” she growled as David made a terrified sound. “Youknewwhat would happen if you did something stupid. Well, David,that”—she forced his head down to look at Julius—“was averystupid thing to do. Now you’re going to learn the hard way what happens to stupid dragons who don’t listen.”
“Wait,” Julius gurgled, reaching out a bloody hand. “Chelsie, stop! Don’t—”
His sister didn’t listen. She just turned and kicked the door open, dragging the still-choking David behind her as she stomped into the hallway. When Julius tried to follow, though, his legs refused to work. He was still struggling to stand when Fredrick shoved him back down to the floor.
“Be still,” the F hissed, pinning him to the ground. “You’re going to bleed out.”
“It’s just a knife wound,” Julius hissed back, craning his neck in a frantic effort to keep Chelsie and David in sight. “I’ll be fine. I’m a dragon.”
“You are aJ,” Fredrick snarled, letting Julius go for a split second while he grabbed a cloth napkin from the wreck of the tray he’d tossed over when he’d come in. “And you’ve already been seriously injured. Do you think David chose this time to attack by chance?” He shook his head as he shoved the napkin into Julius’s wound. “He knew exactly what he was doing. You could die from this, and then where will we be?”
“Nowhere if I don’t do something,” Julius said through clenched teeth, grabbing the lapel of Fredrick’s suit in a last-ditch effort to pull himself up. “I have to go after her.”
“No,” the dragon growled, smacking him right back down. “If you die, all our work goes down the drain.”
“But this is exactly what I’m working to stop!” Julius cried, staring pleadingly at his brother. “Please, Fredrick. If Chelsie kills David because he tried to kill me, everything I just went through with Gregory will be fornothing.”
“He should die,” Fredrick snarled. “He knew he’d lost, and he still tried to kill you.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Julius said, panting. “We can’t keep doing this. Sister killing brother, mother killing child, on and on and on. I don’t care how much a dragon deserves to die, unless someone lets a killing offense go, the killing will never stop. That’s the entire reason I refused to fight Gregory. That’s why I’ve doneallof this, and it’s why I can’t let Chelsie do what we both know she’s about to do right now. Youhaveto let me go.”
“No,” Fredrick growled, looking him in the face at last. “Don’t you get it? You’re our only hope. My clutch has lived our entire lives as Bethesda’s slaves. You’re about to be in a position where you can actually do something to change that, and I will break both your arms before I let you throw your life away and our freedom with it trying to save a monster like David.”
