Her laughter sounds strange, almost like she’s crying.“You’re right, Axel.It is.”
She says Axel, not Azar.Maybe that’s because I’m in my golden form.Or maybe...Did you care about Axel?Or Azar?
“I would have been a complete and utter moron to care for either of your forms.Can you even imagine?A human being caring about the leader of the dragons who came to destroy us?”
The more time I spend with her, the more confused I become.You didn’t love me, then?
She turns so fast that it takes me off guard.“I’m your wedding gift to Asteria now, right?”
Will you come easily?
“Why not?”Her face is blank.“You’ll bring my siblings with us?”
She wanted all of you.
“Of course she did.”
You don’t like Asteria?
“She’s much better than her sister Ocharta,” Liz says.“I actually don’t hate her.”She mutters something else so quietly I can’t make out the words, except for the wordmating.
Are you upset I’m mating with her?
“If we were still bonded,” she whispers, “you wouldn’t be stupid enough to ask me that.”
Which doesn’t answer my question at all.Would I not ask because I’d already know?Or had we spoken about it?Do you miss the bond?
“I miss the Axel who bonded me.”She sighs.
I am still me.You can’t miss someone who’s here.
“I miss you wanting me to say your name.I miss you doing nine hundred sit-ups.”She sniffs and lifts her chin.“I miss you flying me places at one million miles per hour.”
I can’t fly that fast.
“I miss your painfully literal interpretation of everything.I miss you always being there to watch over me while I slept.”The feathers of her wings tremble.
Have you remembered anything about what happened in that volcano?
“The demon creatures tried to eat us.”She glances behind me.
They’re there still, milling, chanting.‘Gullveig,’ mostly.
“We didn’t get the heart,” she says.“Clearly something went wrong.”
Asteria believes she can help you recover the memories.
She walks toward me, quickly.“Fine.Let’s go, then.”She crouches down and gently shakes the small humans who are sleeping.“Hey, guys.Rufus and Gordon are here.We’re going to live with Asteria.”
The small one with the shortest hair sits up.Sammy, I think.He rubs his eyes and throws his arms over his head, making a strange keening sound.“We can leave the cage?”His eyes light up.“I like Asteria.”
“She’s marrying Azar, right?”the one with medium length hair asks.
“This is Coral,” Liz says.“Sammy’s my youngest brother.Coral’s the next oldest—five years older.And then barely a year older than her is Jade.”
“Hi.”The one with the longest hair shakes her hand at me.
“I hate the new Azar.”Coral folds her arms.“He’s a jerk.”
