Justin released him, and Julius doubled over, coughing as spots danced in front of his eyes. He was still trying to catch his breath when Justin slapped him on the back hard enough to send him sprawling on the ground.
“I always knew you’d pull it off,” the knight said proudly as he yanked Julius back to his feet. “Everyone said your coup against Mother was a fluke, but I knew you had fire in you. You had a weird way of showing it, but you still beat the Qilin and kept our clan from getting conquered. I just got the whole story from Fredrick, and it was awesome. I can’t wait to rub this in the rest of our clan’s faces forever. They told me I was stupid for wanting to be your knight, but who’s looking stupid now?”
He yelled that last part at the gathered group of Heartstrikers, who rolled their green eyes, and Julius winced. “Could you not?” he said, dusting himself off. “I still need them to listen to me, you know.”
“Oh, they’ll listen,” Justin said confidently. “The White Witch and Amelia the Planeswalker just whistled up every living dragon to fight under your banner. Everyone’s scared of them, and they’re taking orders from you. That makes you the most important dragon in the world.” He slapped Julius on the back again. “I knew you had it in you!”
There were so many things wrong with that statement, Julius didn’t know where to begin, so he didn’t bother. Arguing with his brother over facts was the same as banging your head against a wall: painful and ineffective. There was no point, anyway. If Justin was happy, that was good enough for Julius, so he dismissed the inaccuracies and accepted the compliment as it had been intended. “Thank you, Justin.”
“I’m the one who should be grateful,” Justin said, puffing out his chest. “You made me look amazing, and I wasn’t even there! I should give you a boon for this.”
“Please don’t,” Julius begged. “I’ve had enough trouble with debts to last me the rest of my life. The last thing I need is another…”
He trailed off. Justin went quiet as well, dropping a hand to the wrapped handle of his Fang of the Heartstriker as Marlin Drake left his knot of dragons and approached, a charming, hungry smile on his too-handsome face.
As soon as he got within striking distance, Justin put himself between the older dragon and Julius. “What do you want, clanless?”
“Just coming to pay my regards while we wait,” Drake replied smoothly. “The Affiliated Clanless Dragons have always been steadfast allies of the Heartstriker. Bethesda’s been a regular on my show for fifty years, you know.”
“Yeah, we know,” Justin snapped. “She makes us watch every time she’s on. But I don’t see what your famewhoring sellout of a dragon-and-pony show has to do with anything.”
“Justin,” Julius hissed, putting a hand on his brother’s arm as he dropped his voice to a whisper. “We don’t have enough allies to afford insulting one!”
“But he’s the head of the clanless,” Justin hissed back. “They’ll take anyone who’ll swear loyalty to Drake. Complete lack of standards. Don’t believe me, check out who’s lurking in his ranks.”
Justin glanced at the mismatched knot of Marlin Drake’s “clan” standing at the far edge of the cavern. Sure enough, the clanless dragons stood out from the rest of the room like platypuses among swans. All the other families were clearly cut from the same cloth with similar clothing and physical features. Even the Golden Empire’s dragons—which were technically twenty different clans held together by a lucky golden claw—looked like a matched set. But the only uniting feature of the clanless dragons was that they were standing together. They came from every family, age, and type, including a few breeds Julius had never seen before. All of them looked scruffy and intimidated by the bigger powers surrounding them, but one dragon in particular seemed to be going out of his way to hide in the shadows, his green eyes glowing like a sulking cat’s.
“Is that…” Julius squinted through the gloom, breathing in deep to catch the dragon’s scent. When he found it, he grabbed Justin’s arm. “That’s Gregory!”
It didn’t seem possible, but Julius’s nose didn’t lie. There was no question the dragon lurking at the urban cavern’s edge was Gregory no-longer-Heartstriker. Just seeing him was enough to make Julius’s long-healed injuries twinge as if they were fresh. The only reason he didn’t panic was because Gregory looked just as freaked out as Julius felt. The banished dragon was practically cowering behind his fellow clanless, watching the Heartstrikers as though he expected them to come over and rip his head off at any second, which, given the way Justin was growling, was probably a legitimate fear.
“You dare bring a traitor into our midst?” the knight snarled, taking a menacing step toward Marlin Drake. “Some ally.”
“I didn’t bring him,” Drake replied. “He was called by the Planeswalker and summoned by the White Witch same as the rest of us. My only crime was vouching for him, but don’t worry. I’ve heard all about the unpleasantness at Heartstriker Mountain, and I promise you personally that he will be no trouble.” He looked over his shoulder at Gregory with a killing smile. “As a clanless dragon, he has nowhere else to go. Even Heartstriker’s enemies would not shelter a traitor. I’m his only safe harbor, and I’ve made it very clear that my protection is strictly conditional on our continued good relations with your family.” He turned back to Julius with a smile. “You won’t even know he’s here.”
“I’ll believe that when it happens,” Julius grumbled. But annoyed as he was at this new complication, a very small part of him was happy that Gregory had found someone to take him in. Dragons were highly social creatures, and traitor or not, no one deserved to be alone.
“This has been a very humbling experience for him,” Drake said, leaning around the still-growling Justin to lock his eyes on Julius. “He was actually the one who first told me your name. You’re the head of Heartstriker now, aren’t you?”
“I’m one of three heads,” Julius corrected. “I share power with Bethesda and my brother Ian via a clan council.”
“Dragons don’t share power,” Drake said dismissively. “On paper, perhaps, your rule is split, but I just saw every dragon in the world deferring to you, which tells me where the real power lies.” He moved a little closer. “So how did it actually go down? Gregory was tragically short on the details, and Bethesda threatened to eat me when I asked her. I’d love to hear the whole story from the dragon who was in the middle of things.”
He smiled eagerly, and Julius bit his lip. “We don’t really have the time right now to—”