Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(67)
“Thank you for caring,” she said, turning back to her maps. “I have to stay down here and coordinate UN forces, so I’ll be counting on you to be my eyes in the sky. I’ll be feeding you real-time positions for all human units, so make sure you keep that headpiece on at all times. I’ve instructed my pilots to obey any orders from you the same as they would from me, so don’t be afraid to send in the jets yourself if you need them.”
Julius swallowed. Being in charge of a dragon clan was one thing, but he was used to Heartstriker. Ordering military air strikes felt much scarier, somehow.
“Don’t make that face,” Emily said. “I know you’re not a killer, because if you were, I’d be dead. But I like that in an ally. I know I can count on you not to waste my soldiers’ lives.” She lifted her head, giving him a sincere smile. “I’m glad you’re the one I ended up with. We didn’t get off to the best start, but if we die today, it’s been an honor to work with you, Julius Heartstriker.”
Julius had no idea how to reply to that. He felt obligated to say “You too” or something similar, but he couldn’t, because even though she’d come back, he still hadn’t forgiven the general for killing Marci. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at her without that old hurt and anger coming up, but there was a practical, eyes-on-the-prize honor to Emily Jackson that he couldn’t deny. She wasn’t kind or compassionate, but Julius trusted her to fight for humanity’s survival—and by extension, all of theirs—to the bitter, bitter end.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
The general nodded and turned back to her map, using her fingers to redraw the battle lines on the projected maps that she’d originally drawn in chalk on the door-turned-table. Duly dismissed, Julius stepped away to fiddle with his new piece of military hardware. The headpiece was easily the coolest gadget he’d ever used. The mana contacts barely needed to touch his skin to hook into his personal magic, and the AR interface was the fastest and most responsive he’d ever seen. He was poking through the floating menus when he felt something loom over him. That was all the warning he got before a giant arm wrapped around his neck.
“Ack!” he cried, hands flying up instinctively to fight off his attacker before he realized the arm belonged to his brother. “Justin!”
The knight of the Heartstrikers cackled in reply, lifting Julius off the ground with a wicked grin. “Look at you,” he said, grinding the knuckles of his free hand into Julius’s scalp. “Got the Phoenix herself eating out of your hand. I knew I’d make a dragon out of you someday!”
“Justin…” Julius gasped, slapping his hands against the vise of his brother’s arm, which was still locked around his neck. “Air…”
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.”