The thought of some other blessed bonding Liz...It fills me with an inexplicable rage.I don’t wait to talk or try to reason with anyone.I launch into the air, sailing over the heads of the gathered blessed, and I punch a hole through the part of the cave roof that blocks my entrance, raining chunks of rock down on the blessed below.
My eyes are trained on the cage in the corner—but it’s empty.
The wind from my wings is battering every blessed in the room as I hover, casting around for the missing humans.Before I can ask about them, Liz flies across the room, zips through a wide spot in the bars of the cage, and dumps her siblings.They scurry to the back of the cage, leaving her at the front.
Liz stands there, acting like the cage was nothing to her.
I charge, furious.
Just before I reach her, my former-bonded grabs the iron bars and flexes, dragging them closed again right in front of my face.“So sorry, Your Majesty.”She bobs her head and sinks down a few inches in a strange movement I don’t understand.The expression on her face, however, Idounderstand.
She’s mocking me.
When I land on the ground in front of the cage, I’m still eye level with her.I notice the blessed in front of the cage have scrambled back to clear a space, not that I care.They deserve to be smashed—rushing in here like scavengers trying to take what’s mine.I spin around, and this time, it’s not Hyperion bellowing.It’s me.
This human’s mine.Is that clear?
From the masses of blessed pressed back in the corner of the cave, a silver dragon emerges, her regal head held high.It’s Asteria, again.I’m surprised she’s even here.When we left, her parents were adamant that only one of their precious daughters could come.
But you aren’t bonded, not anymore, so she most certainlyisn’tyours.Asteria never argued with me.Not once.In fact, Liz and I talked about me bonding her long ago, when you still held her bond.
Between Asteria and Plumeria, did my former bonded talk to every blessed she met about bonding them?She doesn’t want to bond any of you,I practically roar.Heat’s rising inside of me, and it’s only a matter of time before it explodes.In this contained space, with the lava popping and bubbling and those creatures chanting incessantly, I’m not sure what would happen.
“Actually, I was just talking to the blessed who came,” Liz says.“I’m not your human anymore, and I think being bonded again might help me succeed in finding the heart.”
I forbid it,I snap.
“Yeah,” a small voice says from the cage.“Liz isn’t bonded to Azar right now, but she will be again soon.”
I turn around, leaning closer to the cage.Who’s speaking?
The tiny human smiles.“My name’s Sammy.I’m Gordon’s best friend.”
You aren’t scared of me?
His teensy head’s barely two feet away, but he doesn’t look frightened at all.In fact, he laughs.“You’d never hurt me.”
No?When I snort, smoke billows out.Why not?
“You like me best of all, other than Liz.”
I do?I shake my head.I don’t like you—I don’t even know you.
“I’m Sammy.”He tilts his head.“You’ll remember me soon, but even if you don’t.”He shrugs.“You’ll remember Liz for sure.”
Why?He’s either delusional or very stupid.
“You love her,” Sammy says.
Liz claps a hand over his mouth and drags him backward.“Alright, that’s more than enough of that.”
Love?When I glance around the room, almost all the blessed have evacuated.I don’t blame them.Only Asteria’s still waiting, her expression utterly unreadable.What?I snap.
You really don’t remember her at all.
I don’t, I say.I wish people would stop acting surprised by that.
Why haven’t you killed her, then?Asteria steps closer.She causes all kinds of problems.She argues with everyone, she breaks out of her cage, and?—
