One Good Dragon Deserves Another (Heartstrikers, #2)

by Rachel Aaron

It’s like whoever did it went all the way around the circle of incompetence and ended up at accidental brilliance.” “I keep telling you, it’s

“It’s a love spell.” A love spell that attracted male tank badgers looking to mate sounded like a curse to Julius, but he kept his mouth shut.

Schemes to foil, plots to thwart, naps to resume, you know how it is.

It said something about your state of mind when discovering a ghost cat sleeping on your couch was the high point of your evening.

“You really don’t have to.” Katya laughed. “And you really have to learn to stop throwing away people’s gratitude.”

“Dragon mage?” Amelia smiled. “Didn’t he tell you? I’m kind of a big deal.”

“But guilt is such a waste of time. I’d have thought you’d be more interested in working on keeping

“Because you are an enigma, Julius Heartstriker,” Bob said solemnly. “And that is your strength. Anyone who challenges you expecting a dragon will get something else entirely, something they are completely unprepared to fight. Something they do not, and most likely cannot, understand. So when I say, ‘be yourself,’ I’m telling you to use the advantage no other dragon in the world possesses.” He stepped back, looking Julius up and down. “You.”

The only thing Estella—who knows me better than anyone—wouldn’t see coming. You.” He grabbed Julius’s hands, clutching them together. “Help us, Juli-wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.” For a moment, that almost, almost made Julius feel like a hero. And then he remembered. “Doesn’t Obi-Wan die in that movie?”

“You’re always going on about how you’re our mother and you know best, but what kind of mother bargains one child’s life for another?” “An effective one,” Bethesda snarled. “Did I accidentally seal your brain when I sealed your magic, or do you truly believe a clan like ours can be ruled with kindness?” “I do,” Julius snapped. “Because kindness and weakness are not the same thing.

Amelia shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. Bethesda deserves whatever I can give her, but if I do it, I’d have to be the Heartstriker, and eff that.” “Why?” Julius asked, genuinely curious. “Uh, because running a dragon clan is like trying to ride herd on hundreds of fire-breathing, sociopathic cats who all want to murder me?”

“Oh good,” she said, beaming at the two of them. “You’re up.” Amelia nodded, but her eyes were locked on the milk jugs. “Are those…?” Marci held them up with a grin. “Margaritas.” And that was when Julius learned frozen drinks really could raise people from the dead.

He shook his head. “But I don’t want—” “Then act like a real dragon and change the situation!” she yelled. “Do whatever you have to do. Take over the clan and rebuild it from scratch if that’s what it takes. Just find some way you can live with being a Heartstriker, because so long as Bethesda rules this family, the only way out is at the tip of this sword.” She reached down to clutch the Fang at her side. “Don’t make me kill you just when I’ve started to like you.”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt.” “Hey, you run with dragons, you’ve got to be willing to take your lumps,” she said, reaching up to touch his feathers again.