Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(109)
Now she looked really suspicious. “You sure?”
“I’m sure,” Julius said, wheeling toward the elevator as fast as he could go.
He knew she meant well, but Amelia’s hovering made him feel like an invalid. Even Svena’s presence was only for show. She far preferred to spend her time with Ian, whom she’d immediately moved back in with the moment the DFZ had repaired their superscraper apartment building. But he’d noticed Amelia always seemed to have another dragon around whenever he was awake, and it was starting to get to him. Having so many people watching made him feel like a drain, especially since he knew Marci could have used Amelia’s help. She hadn’t figured out the trick to being in multiple places at once yet, but she was a spirit too. She should have been in that meeting in the Sea of Magic, but she’d insisted on staying here. Ostensibly because of Svena, but Julius didn’t believe that for a second. As flighty as she could be, his sister took her position as the Spirit of Dragons very seriously. The only reason she’d skip out on something this big was because she didn’t think Julius could be left alone, and that made him feel like a failure.
With a frustrated sigh, Julius took the elevator back down to his floor. With so few people in the city, they had the hospital mostly to themselves, which meant no one was around to see him get out of his chair and hobble the last few feet down the hall to his room. It was really too soon, but he was so tired of feeling useless. He was trying to open his door without falling over when a hand shot past his to grab the knob.
“Let me get that.”
Julius jumped, coming dangerously close to losing his balance as he spun around to see Chelsie standing behind him. This in itself was nothing unusual—it was the Heartstriker family motto that Chelsie was always behind you—but the rest of her was a shock.
His sister looked different. Physically, she was the same—same lean body, same short black hair, same deadly aura—but she wasn’t dressed in black combat armor and boots anymore. She was wearing normal clothes. Colorful clothes, including a purple sundress and a washed-out jean jacket that stopped just above her waist. Her feet were tied into pretty lace-up sandals with little straw flowers on the tips, and her toenails were painted the same green as her eyes. It was such a stark difference from how she usually looked, Julius didn’t know what to say, which unfortunately meant he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
“Are you going undercover?”
“What? No! I just…” Her cheeks flushed as she looked down at her clothes. “I haven’t gone shopping in a long time, okay? Modern women’s clothing is… tricky.” Her brows furrowed. “Is it weird?”
“No, no,” he said at once. “You look great! It’s just… really different.”
“You’re telling me,” she said, opening the door to his room so they could go in. “But I always hated wearing armor. Now that I no longer have to, I thought I’d try something new.”
“It looks lovely,” he assured her, trying not to show how relieved he was to get back to his bed. “So why are you here?”
Chelsie shrugged. “Can’t I just visit you?”
“Yes, but no one does that except Marci.” Julius sighed. “Amelia called you, didn’t she?”
“The moment you left the roof,” his sister confirmed. “But that’s actually very responsible of her. Your fire is still too low to be left unattended. Really, though, you should be flattered. The only other dragon she’s ever been this on the ball for is Bob.”
Julius was flattered, which was part of what made this so annoying. It was hard to be mad at your sister when she was only trying to help. “I’m just tired of being treated like I’m made of glass,” Julius grumbled. “I feel fine.”
Chelsie snorted. “You just collapsed in your bed after walking half a hallway.”
“Says the dragon who didn’t stop working after she got stabbed.”
“That was different,” Chelsie said sharply. “I had to do those things, but you’re not like me. You’re free, and we’re only doing this because we care about you. I don’t see how you have cause to complain.”
“I know,” Julius said, slumping into his pillows. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But it’s only been two days, and I’m already sick of it. I just feel so useless. Everyone else is up to their necks in important work, and I’m stuck here being a burden.”
“You’re not a burden,” Chelsie said. “You carried us over a lot of hard ground, Julius. Let us carry you for a change. And not all of us are working.” Her lips curled in a smile. “I didn’t just happen to be in the area when Amelia put out the call for someone to check on you. I came to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Julius sat up with a start. “Why goodbye? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Chelsie said. “I’m just going on vacation.”
He gaped at her. “You are going on vacation?”
Chelsie’s smile grew wider. “Crazy, huh? I didn’t want to leave so soon, but Fredrick insisted. He and Frieda practically packed my bags for me. Bethesda’s still enjoying the novelty of getting to be in the DFZ without hiding, so F-clutch has taken over Heartstriker Mountain. They’re all there, including the baby. They said they needed Felicity to themselves for a whole week, some nonsense about teaching her F-clutch solidarity, so they kicked me out.” She shrugged helplessly. “I’d be suspicious, but it’s so transparent, there’s no point. Especially since Fredrick already went through the trouble of getting Xian kicked out too.”