Nineteen earth blessed.
Ten water blessed.
It’s a start, Hyperion says.But you only have two more days, and we have thousands and thousands of blessed to save.Unless you were thinking most of us could just die.
I don’t even bother answering that.
As I wing my way back to the Hotel Selfoss where my siblings are probably getting ready for bed with Gordon, Asteria, and Rufus, I call with my satellite phone and start coordinating plans.I hope, as I get closer, that the kids aren’t already asleep.It’s nearly ten o’clock, but I want to see them before I collapse.
Two days without sleep is not good for Liz.Instead of becoming dull, when I’m all work and no play, I get ragey.When I reach the hotel, Sammy’s asleep, but Coral and Jade are still awake.They’re all fine—none of them were forcibly bonded.
Though a few blessed had stupid ideas,Asteria says.So it’s good we were here.
“I’m very grateful,” I say.“Thank you for being willing to watch them while I went to look for humans who wanted to be ensnared.”
You’re hard to hate,Asteria says.I’ve tried—even without his memories, even without being able to take a human form, he still chooses you.
“I’m so sorry your wedding was ruined,” I lie.
The only good thing about Gaia’s death, and I feelhorriblethinking this, is that it ruined the mating plans.Standing there, pretending I was fine with it, felt like someone was carving out my heart and dicing it into little pieces to be thrown into a bowl of citric acid.
Their mating ritual was turning my heart into ceviche.
You aren’t sorry.Asteria doesn’t even sound angry—she sounds resigned.Sometimes I think Asteria understands humans better than any other blessed.She seems to share almost all our good and bad traits.“I wasn’t sorry, but I wanted to be sorry.”
Her laugh’s a little bitter, but also real.Yes, just as I wanted to be sorry when Azar returned...and didn’t remember you.But I also was not.
At least we understand one another.
I really do love him, Asteria says.
That’s what makes it hard.She’s a good—person isn’t the right word—but she’s got a good soul.Like me, she’s fierce.Like me, she cares for him.Like me, they feel cosmically love-crossed.
His soul yearns for yours, but your bodies are wrong,she says.
“And he’s perfect for you,” I say.“In virtually every way.”
Except that even without his memories, he’s pining for you without even realizing it.
I wish that was true.He mostly just seems to despise me.“That must be why he tossed me in that cage and shot out of the volcano like a bat?—”
Sometimes I wish we could cry, you know.It looks like it makes you hurt less.
Maybe it does.I’m not sure.“I try to avoid it whenever I can, but it’s probably cathartic.”
I’ll let you spend time with the small ones, but I’ll return early tomorrow so you can leave with Azar to try again.She pauses before launching from the giant hole Azar created.Back when he cared about us, he’d placed a large red bubble over it, but it’s gone now, probably just another casualty of his death.I hope you succeed, but I fear you’re just wasting precious time.
I’m afraid of the very same thing.
She’s like the silver-scaled sister I love to hate.
I finally walk through the door into the next room, the frozen air gusting around me as I close it.The kids are bundled up in the same bed, extra blankets piled on top, even though the hotel generator has blessedly kept working.Having one not-very-well-insulated wall that’s shared with the blasted-open area hasn’t been great.I might need to move them further inside the poor hotel.
“I can’t sleep,” Coral says.“Can you tell us a story?”
“Yeah.”Jade shivers.“Please?”
Mom used to tell them stories every night.
