“Excuse me,” she said, quite politely, she thought, given the circumstances. “What are you doing on my car?”
“I couldn’t possibly explain,” the man replied, never looking away from the diner window where Julius and the dragoness were still deep in conversation. “But don’t worry. I’ll only be a moment.”
Marci bristled at the curt dismissal, but she didn’t yell at the crazy man to get off her hood. Rude as he was being, this was the DFZ. For all she knew, he was a spirit of some sort, and it never paid to insult spirits. “Can you tell me who you are, at least?”
She’d barely finished before the man spun around to face her, and Marci stifled her gasp just in time. And here she’d thought Julius and Justin were handsome. This man was something else entirely. He was so good-looking it was actually off-putting. Even in the dark, it was impossible not to see that his skin was bronzed and flawless. This, combined with his ruler-straight black hair, high cheekbones, and sharply beautiful face, made him look too perfect to be real. He reminded Marci more of an ancient artifact than a living thing, something sacred and powerful preserved from a more mysterious, magical time. After all that, the familiarity of his impossibly green eyes was almost a relief.
“You’re Julius’s brother.”
The dragon flashed her a brilliantly white smile. “I’m Julius’s favorite brother,” he corrected, his deep voice rich with humor and secrets. “But he won’t realize that until next year, so don’t spoil the surprise.”
He winked and turned back to the window, humming to himself as he resumed watching Julius like nothing had happened. Marci, however, was not so easily put off.
“What happens next year?” she asked, stepping around the car door to stand right behind him. “And why would it be a surprise?”
The dragon growled, making her shiver. Apparently, she was asking too many questions, but it wasn’t every day a dragon landed on the hood of her car. Once Julius left, it would probably never happen again, and she was determined to make the most of the opportunity. “If Julius is your favorite brother, does that mean you’re here to help him?”
“You’ve got that backward,” the dragon said without turning around. “I’m his favorite brother, and helping him would defeat the point entirely. This is a test, you see.”
Marci frowned. “A test for what?”
The dragon arched his shoulders in an elegant shrug, forcing his pigeon to flap in order to stay on. “That depends on Julius. The poor boy was going nowhere. I had to do something, so I gave him a little shove, just to shake things up.”
She arched her eyebrow. “A shove?”
“You know,” he said. “Trial by fire, adversity as crucible, et cetera, et cetera. He’s in the middle of a make it work moment, and between you and me, I hope he pulls it off. I need him for a project I’ve been working on, and it’s a little late in the game for me to start over if he flubs things and gets himself eaten.”
The dragon rattled all of this off so quickly, Marci had trouble keeping up. What she did catch, though, she didn’t like at all. “Does this trial by fire have to do with the seal that’s on him?”
“That was Mother’s idea,” he said. “Though I will admit, the seal has made things easier. Put his back against the wall quite nicely, which always leads to results. And trauma. But really, what’s a dragon without a little trauma?”
He laughed like this was hilarious, turning back to flash Marci what would have been a devastatingly charming smile if she hadn’t been too angry to notice.
“Hold up,” she said. “You’re the one who did this to him?”
The dragon sighed. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific. I’ve got a lot of pots on the stove.”
Marci began to sputter. “This!” she cried, flinging her hands out at the dark buildings. “Shoving him into Detroit! Leaving him alone with no money, no power, and no support in a city where he can be shot just for being what he is!”
“Oh, that. Yes, that was me. Mother needed someone to throw at this Ian nonsense, and I thought Julius would be just the ticket. All it took was a few oblique suggestions at the right time, and Mother thought the whole thing was all her idea.” He beamed at her. “Isn’t that brilliant?”
“It’s terrible!” Marci said. “What kind of brother are you?”
The dragon looked confused by her outburst, and then he spun all the way around again to face her head on. “Why, little human,” he said softly, resting his long arms on his raised knees. “Are you attempting to call me out for being cruel to baby Julius?”
The soft mockery in his voice sent Marci’s fists clenching so tight, the spellmarked bracelets on her wrists began to glow. The dragon’s green eyes glittered in the light, but she didn’t let the magic fade. She wanted to slam a spell into his smug, beautiful face. She had no idea what game this dragon was playing, but Marci knew exactly what it felt like to be kicked out of your home, and the thought of Julius—sweet, kind, thoughtful Julius who’d never had a harsh word for anybody—being dumped into this crisis by his own brother was more than she could stand.
“I’m not attempting,” she said, stabbing her finger at the dragon’s perfect nose. “I am calling you out. I’m sure you’re powerful and ancient and could probably eat me in one bite, but I’ve had a terrible week, and what little I have left to lose, I owe to Julius. He’s the best thing that’s happened to me since I came to this city, and I am not going to stand here and listen to you brag about making his life miserable!”
The dragon’s eyes flashed as she finished, and Marci felt a strange, sharp magic building in the air. She drew her own power in as well, filling the small circles of her bracelets and wishing she’d thought to draw a proper-sized one on the street before she’d started this, but she didn’t try to backpedal. Her father might have had the business sense of a piggy bank with a hole in the bottom, but he’d loved her and supported her in every way he knew how. That was family to Marci, and she didn’t care if it was her business or not. She was not going to stand silently by while this dragon made a mockery of it.
Almost as though he could hear her thoughts, the dragon chose that moment to slide off the hood of her car. Sinuous as a cat, he landed in front of her without a sound, straightening to his full height with a lazy roll of his shoulders.
Now that he was on his feet, Marci saw his remarkable height was no illusion. He was so tall, she had to crane her neck back just to look him in the face. His striking green eyes were waiting when she got there, staring down at her like he was trying to look straight through to her feet, and for a breathless moment, Marci could actually feel the presence of something larger looming over her. Something much, much larger.
“You’re a presumptuous little creature,” the dragon said, the words coming out in a deep, cruel rumble that was decidedly not human. “You really think you could attack me, don’t you?”