“Welcome back.”
That felt needlessly cryptic, but Julius was too worried about the state of his brother to mind. “What happened to you?” he whispered frantically.
“You did,” Bob replied, hauling himself up in his chair. “You gave us quite the scare. I must have poured five hundred years of fire into you before your flame caught, and who knows how much Amelia used. Even after we got you going, your fire was so weak we had to have someone with you at all times to keep it from snuffing out. We eventually set up a rotation. That’s what the spellwork was for. Marci and the other human, Myron, I think his name is, they figured out how to construct a system that would send concentrated dragon magic straight into you. Sort of like an IV, except for fire. Anyway, everyone’s been through to take their turn—Chelsie, Justin, Conrad, Fredrick, Svena, Katya, the Qilin.” He grinned. “You’ve got so many different magics in you, you’re practically the draconic average at this point. Even Mother dropped in to do her share.”
Julius’s jaw dropped. “Bethesda came to help me?”
“It was the fashionable thing to do,” Bob said. “You know her. If everyone’s doing something, she has to have her piece. I’m sure you’ll hear all about how she saved your life the next time she needs a favor.”
He was sure he would. “But,” Julius said, clutching his sheet, “I don’t understand. I was dead. How did you—”
“Never underestimate a desperate dragon,” Bob said with a wink. “I still had a Nameless End of my own, so I traded her all the futures where I use my abilities as a seer in exchange for one where you lived. Of course, that exchange only guaranteed that I’d save your fire. Keeping it going was another matter, but if you think I was going to let you go out after spending so much to save you, you’re crazier than everyone says I am.”
Julius stared at his brother in wonder. “You… you did that for me?” he whispered. “Gave up your—Why?”
“Because I owed you,” Bob said, his voice uncharacteristically sincere. “You’ve suffered for my plans for a long time now, Julius. The least I could do was pick up the slack at the end. Anyway, I was done being a seer. Once you’ve beaten the Black Reach, where else is there to go? The challenge was gone, so I thought I’d give myself a handicap and try playing the game on your level for a while. You know, just for something different.”
“But you’re the Great Seer of the Heartstrikers!” Julius cried. “How can you just give that up?”
“Because I never asked to be it,” his brother said with a shrug. “There’s no pride in being what you were born to be. It’s how you use your gifts that counts, and I don’t need to see the future for that. Everything that makes me great was always up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “Never forget, I was a genius long before I was a seer. If you think losing my vision of the future will make me any less good at manipulating dragons, you haven’t been paying attention. And speaking of attention, I need to be going.”
“Why?” Julius asked, alarmed. “What’s about to happen?”
“Nothing I’m aware of,” Bob said, pointing at his eyes. “Blind as a bat now, remember? But I haven’t slept since you went down two weeks ago, and I’d very much like to break my streak. Also, the sleeping pill I slipped your mortal should be wearing off any minute now, and I don’t think you want me in the room for that.”
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Julius’s cheeks began to burn. Laughing at him, Bob rose from his chair and held out his arm for his pigeon, who hopped off Julius’s vitals monitor with a happy coo. It was such a usual Bob thing to do, Julius didn’t even realize it was wrong until his brother was almost out the door.
“Wait!”
Bob glanced over his shoulder, and Julius pointed to the bird-that-wasn’t-a-bird. “If you’re not a seer anymore, why do you still have your Nameless End?”
“Julius!” Bob cried, cupping a hand over his pigeon’s head as though he were trying to shield her from such offensive speech. “What sort of dragon do you think I am? I would never use and leave a lady just because my plots were finished. I can’t believe you’d say that.”
“Sorry,” Julius said quickly. “I didn’t mean to insult your, um—”
“Consort,” his brother said primly. “She is my consort, and you are being very rude. She gave up her futures to save you as well, I’ll have you know.”
“I-I didn’t know that,” Julius said, bowing his head respectfully to the pigeon. “Thank you.”
The pigeon blinked at him, uncomprehending, but Bob looked placated. “I am exceedingly lucky I found her again,” he said, pressing a kiss to her feathered head. “I had to bribe Amelia to open me a new portal into the space beyond reality so I could start us over since all our timelines in this reality were used up. But that’s the lovely thing about the future: you can always make more of it. All it takes is a bit of effort, and the fact that she was waiting just outside for me didn’t hurt, either.”
The pigeon cooed happily at that, and Bob sighed, lovestruck. “Anyway, you owe your life to both of us. I expect you to show proper gratitude in a few days after I’ve slept this off. Our pick, your treat, and make sure you behave like a gentleman this time.”
“Of course,” Julius said, ducking his head to the pigeon again. “I’m sorry if I offended you, ma’am.”
The pigeon nodded back to him, which seemed to please Bob greatly. “Splendid!” he said as he walked out the door. “See you soon.”
“You too,” Julius said quietly, staring after his eldest brother in bafflement. He was still trying to puzzle out if Bob had been really offended just now or if this whole exchange had been another of his ploys when Marci woke with a start, her eyes shooting wide as she turned her head to gape at him.
“Hi,” Julius said, smiling awkwardly. “Um, I’m back?”
The words weren’t even out of his mouth before she tackled him, sobbing and laughing and hugging him until he couldn’t breathe. He hugged her back with all he had, closing his eyes as he breathed in her scent. Breathed in being alive.
Needless to say, he didn’t worry about Bob again for a long time.
***
“Yeah, well, I always knew he’d pull through,” Amelia said, taking a swig from her cocktail. “How could he not? He had me on his team, and I’m a god now, remember?”
“How can we forget?” Svena grumbled. “You remind us every five minutes. And it’s not as though godhood is anything special these days.” Her blue eyes slid pointedly to Raven, who was perched on the railing beside Ghost’s cat and the giant rat that was the DFZ. “We are overrun with vermin.”