Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(114)
“We also support him,” Svena said. “The youngest Heartstriker has long been an ally of my clan, and I can think of no better use of his skills than what he has proposed for this city.” She flashed Julius a cold smile. “He is, after all, the dragon who tamed Heartstriker. I think we are all eager to see what other miracles he can perform.”
The other clans seemed to like that, and Julius let out his breath at last. “Thank you all for your support,” he said, trying not to sound as relieved as he felt. “And welcome to my territory. Now…” He smiled wide. “What can I help you with?”
***
“See that?” Bob said, passing his binoculars to the Black Reach, who was sitting beside him on the scaffolding surrounding the still-under-construction hotel directly across from the one the dragons were having their meeting in. “What did I tell you? He had it in the bag the whole time.”
“You are no longer in a position to tell me anything,” the construct replied sourly, though he did look through the binoculars. “You made a lucky guess.”
“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Bob said proudly. “That, old friend, was skill. I know all my assets, and Julius is the most reliable, especially for something like this.” He sighed happily. “They’ll be calling him ‘Julius the Peacemaker’ and flocking to him with their problems before the year is out, mark my words.”
“Of course they will,” the Black Reach said. “Because you’ll be sending them, and spreading that ridiculous epitaph.” He passed the binoculars back to Bob. “It’s not actually predicting the future if you’re setting everything up, you know.”
“I don’t care what you call it so long as it happens,” Bob replied. “And neither should you. My little brother is in there building the future you’ve always wanted. You should be falling over yourself to help me help him.”
“Who says I’m not?” the Black Reach said with a cryptic smile. “I’m here, aren’t I? Despite that thing on your shoulder.”
Bob went pale in horror, his hands shooting up to shield his pigeon roosting against his neck. “Don’t listen to him, darling,” he whispered. “He’s just jealous you’re with me.”
The bird cooed in reply, and the oldest seer rose to his feet with a sigh. “Now that you’ve made your point, can we go? They’re going to be in that meeting until midnight at least, and you promised me a local delicacy for dinner. Some sort of canine, I believe?”
“A coney dog,” Bob said, popping to his feet as well. “Which isn’t actually a dog, but you’re still going to love it. And across the street, there’s a place that serves chicken and waffles!”
The Black Reach looked troubled. “Why would anyone put chicken on a waffle?”
“Oh, my sweet, innocent child,” Bob said, wrapping his arm around the taller seer’s shoulders. “This is going to be the best vacation you’ve ever had.”
The Black Reach sighed again, but he didn’t resist as Bob dragged him down the scaffolding toward the service elevator, the pigeon fluttering along behind them in the cold winter air.
***
The meeting didn’t get out until one in the morning. Julius was exhausted by ten. Given the state of his body, he really should have called it earlier, but the whole “get dragons to talk instead of killing each other” plan was working so well, he couldn’t bring himself to stop. By the time the all-clan meeting adjourned, he’d helped resolve three clan wars—all of which were stupid—arranged a five-clan trade summit for next weekend, and gotten Svena and Amelia to agree to take on younger dragons as apprentices to help rekindle the dying art of formal dragon magic. All in all, it was a marvelous beginning, but the best part came at the end, when he hobbled out on his cane to find Marci waiting in the hotel lobby.
He hadn’t expected to see her again tonight. The Merlin delegation was still fantastically busy. Getting them to come and support him for the first ten minutes had been tricky enough given their overlapping obligations, and he hadn’t been offended when they’d ducked out the moment the actual clan politicking had started. He’d assumed they’d moved on to whatever world crisis was on the docket next, but when he stepped out, there she was, waiting for him by the elevators in the same lovely, long dress she’d worn to the meeting.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey yourself,” he replied, hobbling over with a grin. “What are you doing here?”
She gave him a funny look. “What do you think? You just became the Dragon of Detroit. I’m here to help you celebrate!” Her look turned sly. “I might also have gotten us a room at the hotel since, you know, it’s late and I thought you might be sick of the hospital.”
He loved the way she thought. “You have no idea,” he said, hitting the button to summon the elevator. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, reaching out to take his hand. It wasn’t until they got into the elevator, though, that Julius realized Ghost wasn’t there. Not that she could ever really be separated from her spirit, but by their standards, this was alone.
Even three weeks after he’d confessed his feelings, that was still enough to turn his whole head red. “So,” he said, loosening his collar against the sudden heat. “Anything big happen while I was in the meeting?”