Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(105)
“Brohomir!”
“Oh dear,” Bob said, closing his claws protectively around Julius’s sputtering flame as he lifted his head to face the Black Reach, who was hovering above them like a weather front.
“Ungrateful seer!” the construct thundered, black smoke pouring from his mouth. “I showed you mercy! I gave you my fire! I spent uncounted thousands of years of my power to cover your wager, and this is how you repay me?”
“Well, technically, I didn’t do it for you,” Bob said. “You see—”
“Spare me your excuses,” the Black Reach snarled. “There was one thing you could not do. One thing, and you stuck your snout right in it! I haven’t even had a chance to look and see which futures you sold, but I felt you do it. You have committed the one crime I can never forgive, and now I have no choice but to kill you!” He slammed his tail into the lake, splashing water so high into the air, it froze. “Do you know what I went through to spare you? How hard it was to fight ten thousand years of programming to do what I felt was actually right? Why did you put me through all that if you were just going to betray me now?”
“Because I also had to do what was right,” Bob said with a shrug. “And for the record, I don’t regret it at all. Especially since you’re not going to kill me this time, either.”
“There, you are wrong,” the Black Reach snarled, reaching out his charter-bus-sized claws. “There’s no escape this time, Brohomir of the Heartstrikers. You’ve already done what can never be forgiven, and from the number of futures I can no longer see, you did it to the hilt. I don’t know what you got in return, but it certainly wasn’t your survival, because every future I see has your life ending right here.”
“Then I’d suggest you look again,” Bob said. “Because I know for a fact that you can’t kill me.”
The construct growled in frustration, but he must have been at least a little bit curious, because he asked, “And how is that?”
“Because you are the death of seers,” Bob replied. “And I am no longer a seer.”
The giant dragon froze. “What?”
“I’m no longer a seer,” Bob repeated. “I still have my powers, but I gave up every future where I use them in exchange for this.” He held up his claws, opening them just enough so the Black Reach could see the precious fire hidden inside.
The eldest seer squinted. “Is that Julius?”
“My littlest brother,” Bob said, nodding. “He was the axis around which I built the machine that saved the world. We all owe him our futures, including you, but since I’m the one who set everything up, it only felt fair that I be the one to foot the bill this time around. The fact that this selfless act of brotherhood also conveniently puts me outside of your jurisdiction is merely a convenient coincidence.”
“It is never coincidence with you,” the Black Reach snarled, looming close. “You planned this.”
“Actually, I planned a lot less than this,” Bob said, his voice strangely thick. “My lady and I worked this cleverness out together, as we do all things. When the moment came, though, the price was higher than we expected, and I did not have enough. I would have given everything, I owed Julius that much, but my lady spotted me the difference.” His voice began to shake. “An End sacrificed her one present to give us a chance at a better future. Surely you can appreciate the poetry in that?”
“There is no appreciation that can save you now,” the Black Reach snarled. “Even if the only futures sold were your own and a Nameless End’s, you still crossed the line, and for that you must die.”
“Why?” Bob demanded. “Your purpose is to stop seers before they sell our futures. That’s why you had to kill Estella even though her initial deal wasn’t on our plane, because we both knew she’d never stop until I was dead. I’m a different case entirely. I can’t sell a future ever again. I gave that power away to save my brother’s life, so what would killing me accomplish?” He shrugged. “Nothing. I’m now the safest seer you could ever ask for, because I am now physically incapable of breaking your rules. If anything, you should be thanking me for this. Not only did I save your favorite dragon’s life, but with me no longer able to meddle in the future and Chelsie’s daughter not due to have her first vision until she hits puberty, I’ve bought you a decade of vacation. When was the last time you got that?”
He finished with a toothy grin, but the Black Reach looked unamused. “It doesn’t matter if the ends were good, the means you employed go directly against my purpose. I cannot let that go without punishment.”
“Without punishment?” Bob cried. “I gave up my powers! Do you know how good a seer I was? I beat Estella, who was two thousand years older than I was, at her own game! I orchestrated the plot that saved the world! I beat you! No one is ever going to top that, and I just gave it away!”
Chelsie rolled her eyes. “So much for modesty.”
“It’s the truth,” Bob snapped. “I’m amazing, and you know it. By losing my powers now, I’m quitting at my peak. That’s punishment enough for the entire world.”
“Enough,” the Black Reach growled, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “I don’t have time for your antics. I used up more of my fire today than I have in the last ten thousand years combined. I should use more to punish you, but while you absolutely deserve to die, I have decided to postpone your execution.”