“But I’m not trying to save David!” Julius cried, beating his fists weakly against Fredrick’s chest. “I’m trying to save usall. Do you think I don’t know how much easier my life would have been if I’d just killed the dragons who tried to stop me? If I’d killed Bethesda? I could have fixed all of this with one sword stroke, but Ididn’t.Not because she didn’t deserve to die, but because you can’t build a peaceful future on corpses, and I care about that a lot more than I do about justice. We’ve been up to our eyeballs in family blood since this clan was founded. Now we finally have a chance to change for the better, but it only happens if we actually stop killing each other long enough to take it.” He grabbed Fredrick’s arms as hard as he could, pulling himself up until they were nose to nose. “Please, brother,” he begged. “If you care about anything I’ve done these last few days, help me.”
Fredrick’s eyes narrowed, and for a long moment, Julius was sure the F was about to throw him back down to the ground. But then, to his amazement, Fredrick leaned down and eased his arm under Julius’s.
“Keep this on the wound,” he ordered, shoving the bloody napkin into Julius’s hand. “And don’t try to walk. I’ll carry you.”
Julius nodded, not caring how ridiculous they looked as his brother lifted him off the floor. There’d be time for dignity later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was catching Chelsie before she slaughtered David in front of everyone and undid all of Julius’s hard work.
“Hurry,” he gasped, gritting his teeth as he pressed the cloth to his bleeding stomach.
Fredrick obeyed, helping Julius out of the room with surprising speed. It still wasn’t fast enough to keep up with Chelsie, but her trail was easy to trace. All they had to do was follow the lines of gawking dragons down the hall from the main infirmary and up the stairs to the clan’s grand, hotel-style dining room one floor up.
It was the same room where Ian had dragged Julius for breakfast just that morning. Now, as then, it was packed with dragons. Even Ian was there having pre-dinner drinks with his crowd of supporters. But while it was obvious everyone was here to gossip, by the time Fredrick and Julius made it through the doors, the packed room was deathly silent. Every green eye in the place was locked on Chelsie as she slammed David down on the elegantly decorated banquet table at the room’s center, knocking over a vase of flowers as tall as Julius in the process.
“You can’t do this!” David shouted as Chelsie drew her sword, showing him the Fang’s bone-white blade before she pressed it against his chest. “You were forbidden from helping him!”
“I’m not helping him,” Chelsie said coldly. “I’m punishingyou.” She leaned in closer. “You have no idea what kind of day I’ve had. But since I can’t kill the ones who truly deserve it, I’ll settle for you. You’re about to be a public example of what happens to idiot Heartstrikers who—”
“Chelsie!”
Her body went stiff, and then she turned with deadly slowness to glare at Julius as Fredrick slowly limped them in.
“Julius!” Ian cried, his eyes going wide as he saw the blood dripping from his brother’s stomach. “What happened to—”
“Shut up!” Chelsie roared, making Ian sit right back down as she kept her eyes on Julius. “And you stay out of this.”
“No,” Julius said, glaring back at her as Fredrick set him on his feet in front of her. “This isn’t how we do things anymore.”
“This isexactlyhow we do things,” she growled, turning back to her victim. “David tried to kill you, which is still against the rules. Until the Council says otherwise, no one kills Heartstrikers except for Bethesda and myself. David knew that, but he stabbed you anyway, and now he’s going to pay in kind.”
David turned a little green at the eagerness in her voice, and Julius grabbed his sister’s arm. “No,” he said again. “He has nothing to pay for. I’m still alive.”
“Only because of Fredrick,” Chelsie growled, yanking her arm away. “Besides, the fact that you survived just means David here is a rule-breakeranda failure, and we all know the price of failure.”
A murmur of agreement rippled through the room, making Julius’s skin crawl. No. He hadn’t fought this hard just to backslide now, especially not for something as stupid and pointless as this. Chelsie didn’t even seem to be looking at David. She was just fighting blindly, Justin’s dried blood cracking off her fingers as she clenched her sword so hard, Julius worried it might break. And the moment he saw that, he knew what he had to do.
“Chelsie, stop,” he said quietly. “You don’t want to kill David.”
“Oh, I assure you, I do,” she growled, sneering at him over her shoulder. “Did you know he was the one pulling Gregory’s strings? He’s the reason for all your injuries, not just that knife wound. Still think he doesn’t deserve to die?”
“I don’t care what he deserves,” Julius said. “I care about what makes us better, and that’s never death. You know that better than anyone. You’ve killed more dragons than all of us put together. Tell me, has it ever made the clan better?”
His sister bared her teeth. “I can think of one death that would solve all our problems. But you won’t do that, will you?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I won’t kill Bethesda.”
Chelsie’s look turned deadened. “Then you don’t get to stop me from carrying out her will.”
“But this isn’t her will,” he said. “It’s yours.” He pointed at David, who was still sprawled on the banquet table in front of them like a chicken waiting to be butchered. “You’re killing him because you can’t kill Bethesda. Because she hurt you, and this is a way you can hurt her without technically disobeying. I get it, okay? I understand. But it’s also why I can’t let you do this, because you’renota killer. You are better than what she’s made you, Chelsie, and as soon as the Council is formed, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you never have to kill again.”
“You can’t change anything,” Chelsie snarled. “Nothing ever changes for us, Julius. Not so long as Bethesda is alive.”
“You’re wrong,” he snarled back. “We’ve already changed so much. Look around! Would this many dragons be sitting together if Bethesda was still actually in power?”
She snorted. “They’re just afraid.”
“Of you,” Julius said. “But they don’t have to be.” He pulled himself as straight as his wound allowed. “I’ve already proven how far I’m willing to go to change this clan, and it hasn’t been in vain. Gregory’s banished, and David’s failed now, too. Every piece Bethesda’s put on the board to stop this has lost, because she’s not the game master anymore. She’s just another piece, same as all the rest of us, but the real victory is that we’re playing our own game now. One wherewedecide the rules, and that includes you. I’m not saying you have to forgive her, all I’m asking is that you work with me. Help me make a better clan, one where this”—he nodded at David—“doesn’t happen.”
“Impossible,” she muttered, though she didn’t sound as certain as she once had. “Dragons always kill.”
