Julius had to spot her that one. Fortunately for his fledgling ego, however, a reply was not required.
“I know this is asking you to play against character,” she went on. “But do try not to mess this up. It’s such a simple task, finding one little runaway dragon, and I can’t tell you how unhappy I’d be if Ian’s chance with Svena, and, thereby, my chance at becoming a grandmother, fell through because of your incompetence.”
“Grandmother?” The word popped out before Julius could stop it, and he bit his tongue. He had to get better at this poker face stuff before he blurted out something that got him killed. Thankfully, his mother only chuckled.
“Don’t sound so surprised. Those ice snakes are as stuck-up as they come, but Ian is so handsome and takes so much after myself that I think he has a real chance at this, provided he’s not undermined by underperforming siblings.”
Julius swallowed.
“Just think what a triumph this would be for us,” his mother continued. “I’ve mated into every important dragon clan on the planet over the last thousand years. Those three old fossils were the final holdouts. They always thought themselves so far above me. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they finally wake up to discover one of their precious daughters has slept her way onto the winning team. And not just any daughter, but the White Witch herself!”
She cackled after that. An honest-to-God cackle, and Julius began to sweat. He couldn’t imagine cold, vicious Svena condescending to touch a Heartstriker, let alone agreeing to something as serious as a mating flight. But while he privately considered his mother’s plan to be wishful thinking bordering on delusion, Bethesda the Heartstriker wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t the sort to drop information thoughtlessly over the phone. If she was telling him her hopes for Ian, there had to be a reason, and it wasn’t just so he’d know the stakes. After all, for Julius, the stakes for this job were already life and death. Telling him about a potential mating flight wouldn’t change his motivation one way or the other, so why was she doing it? And why phrase it so that it sounded like Ian’s chances with Svena hinged entirely upon Julius’s success? Surely his mother wasn’t really pinning her hopes on—
Julius’s breath left him in a rush. “You’re setting me up.”
“Pardon?” his mother replied sweetly.
“You don’t actually care about finding Katya,” he said. “This whole job was just a ploy to give Ian a chance to seduce Svena.”
“Naturally,” she purred. “Why else would we help them?”
“But we’re not,” Julius said. “You’re baiting them. Svena’s one of the oldest and most revered dragons in the world. Bob would barely have a chance with her, much less Ian. If Svena plays with him and dumps him, it makes our whole family look bad. You’d never let anyone gamble with Heartstriker pride like that, but Ian’s one of your favorites, and he’s ambitious enough for two dragons. You wanted to let him try, but you needed a safety measure, someone else who could take the fall if things went bad.”
The whole puzzle was coming together as he spoke, and with every piece that snapped into place, Julius got angrier and angrier. “That’s why you had Ian give me the job, isn’t it? I was the excuse he used to involve himself in Three Sisters politics and get closer to Svena. But you never even meant for me to find Katya, did you? That’s why the deadline is so ridiculous. You want me to fail. That way, if Ian can’t land Svena, he can just blame it on me for not getting the job done.” His hand clenched so hard on the phone he nearly cracked the glass. “I’m nothing but your fall guy!”
“Why, Julius,” Bethesda whispered tearfully. “What a terrible thing to imply about your mother.”
He didn’t buy it for a second. “It’s true, isn’t it?’
“Of course it’s true,” she said, dropping the hurt mother act as easily as she’d picked it up. “But I don’t see why you’re so upset. It’s not like you were doing anything with your life. Ian, on the other hand, is already a success, and any good player knows you always sacrifice the lower-value piece to support the higher.”
Her casual words made Julius’s stomach clench with a sharpness that surprised him. It wasn’t that he was shocked his mother was using him—that was the only reason Bethesda had children—but he hadn’t realized that she considered him quite so…disposable. “If you never meant me to succeed, why the big setup? Why even bother sealing me?”
“Come now, Julius. You’re a weakling and a coward, but you’re not usually an idiot. Try to keep up. Sealing you wasn’t just necessary to make Svena buy Ian’s story that we had the perfect tool to nab her skittish sister, I also needed it for you.”
“For me?” Julius repeated, disbelieving. “But I thought I was the lesser piece you were throwing away?”
“You are, dear,” Bethesda said. “But I’m your mother. I understand your weaknesses better than anyone, and I knew right from the start that if I didn’t build a proper fire under your feet, nothing would get done at all. The seal was the easiest way to keep you desperate and hard-working while also conveniently making it highly unlikely that you’d get into any real trouble in DFZ. Plus, it kept you from flying away, which I felt was pertinent. You always were a runner.”
She finished with a chuckle, but Julius didn’t know what to say. His mother had played him utterly, saying and doing exactly what was needed to make him jump at her command. She’d only been wrong about one thing so far: he was an idiot. An idiot for thinking that by giving up his freedom and hiding in his room, he could also hide from his mother’s plans. What a joke. The only thing he’d managed by sticking his head under the sand was to miss the trap closing around him, and now it was too late. If he ran, he was dead. If he failed to get Katya, he was dead. Even if he did find her before the deadline, if Ian’s power-grab didn’t work, Julius was still the fall guy. Bethesda would figure out a way to make it his fault, and then he was dead. Anyway he looked at it, he was dead. Anyway, that was, except one.
He cleared his throat. “Do you know how successful Ian has been with Svena so far?”
“I have it on good authority they slept together last night,” she said, too smug to take offense at the tactless question. “Though I’d rather you didn’t poke your snout into Ian’s business. He’s fighting an uphill battle with the Three Sisters pride as it is. The last thing he needs is you mucking it up in some misguided attempt to save your life. Really, Julius, I’d think the fact that your ultimate survival is in Ian’s hands would be a relief. He’s a much better dragon than you are.”
That went without saying, but Julius wasn’t about to sit back and wait while his brother, who also considered him disposable, played dice with his life. But while it was far too late to wiggle out of his mother’s trap, that didn’t mean there was nothing he could do. If he couldn’t avoid being Ian’s fall guy, then he’d just have to make sure there was no fall to take.
“Well, Mother,” he said stiffly. “Not that this hasn’t been a delightful call, but I’m afraid I have to get moving if I’m going to get Katya back before your deadline.”
“See that you do,” Bethesda said. “I’ll be expecting a full report. Oh, and Julius?”
He fought the urge to sigh. “Yes?”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she said, her voice curling into a deadly whisper. “You’ve had years to prove you were more than a pawn. You didn’t, which means you’ve surrendered your right to balk when I use you as one. I’ve spent a great deal of time and effort getting my pieces in line for this. It would be very bad sport of you to try and buck the system this late in the game just because you’re upset you didn’t do more with your life here at the end, don’t you think?”