Every blessed and human in the entire area turns to look at us in alarm.I should probably be embarrassed, but I’m not.I can’t kill someone, but it occurs to me that Icanfly.Flying will be less distressing to the others, but maybe it’ll help.
I turn toward Coral.“If you bond a dragon tonight, I will kill you.”I spin around and face Rufus.“And if you bond her, I will cut your scales off, one swath at a time, until you’re writhing in agony.And if you regrow them, I’ll just start over.”
Rufus just stares at me.
I sheathe my swords, and round on Coral again.“No.Bonding.Not any dragon, not any time, not anything at all.Got it?”
She drops her hands on her hips.“It’s hardly fair since the other two both bonded one, but whatever.Weallheard you.”As I launch into the sky, I hear her mutter, “Drama queen.”
That actually makes me smile, but the desire fades quickly, replaced again with a helpless rage.
It’s my fault.
My siblings are now inextricably connected to this mess.Mother, if she were here, would be absolutely disgusted.Sure, Sammy and Jade did it themselves, and sure, Gordon and Asteria are the best of the blessed.But Iletit happen.If I’d kept them at home—I know better than anyone how you can get swept up in the excitement of it.I’ve watched several rounds of this now—humans getting their life’s dream, and dragons finding the joy of bonding with a human whowantsto be their partner.
I should’ve kept them back at the hotel Selfoss.I could have just stayed there too.
Part of the reason Ididn’tis that Gordon and Rufus would have insisted on staying with them, forgoing their chance to bond a human.Now Rufus, who totally should have found someone, still hasn’t, and Gordon bondedSammy!
Ugh.
I’m sorry.
With the wind in my face and the sound of my wings, I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was going or who might be close.Azar followed me, which he really shouldn’t have done.I turn and glare over my shoulder.“You need to go back,” I shout.“There weren’t many humans left.If you’re not careful, my little sister will be your only option.”
I don’t think I can handle Coral.His smirk is so familiar.She’d flay me alive.
“I pity the dragon who bonds her,” I say.“She’s a hurricane in a bottle.”
Asteria’s sorry too,he says.
And for some reason, that pisses me off.“Why didn’t she tell me herself?Are you her messenger boy, now?”I pump my wings faster, irrationally angry.Why would stupid Freya give me wings that aren’t even fast enough for me to escape from the one person I want to ditch?They’re useless, like everything that I manage to get or do or be.
Are you angry?Or are you feeling sorry for yourself?
I extend my right wing, filling it with air, and pivot around to face him.“Can you hear what I’m thinking?”It feels...invasive and also, I find that I’m hopeful.How could he hear what I’m thinking if we’re not bonded?Could some part of our bond still remain?
Of course not, he says.But your sister Coral told me that for humans, anger is usually something called a masking emotion.It covers for something else.
I’m going to kill her.“Sorry to disappoint.Right now, I’m just angry.I’m not covering anything else up.”I spin back around, getting better at the flying thing, and start away from him again as fast as I can move, the frost-flecked wind accosting my face brutally.
I hate Iceland.
Where are you going?He sounds genuinely curious.
“Nowhere,” I say.“Just...away.”
Away from me?
“Well, it’s been an utter failure if that was my plan, hasn’t it?”
He laughs.
“But seriously, I have wings and swords, and all the blessed know who I am.I’m fine out here.You don’t need to follow me around.”
I wanted to follow you.
That hits me like an arrow to the heart, and I drop from the sky, plummeting downward.The frigid air and the tiny snow flurries pull greedily at my face and hair, and the temperatures freeze the tears escaping onto my cheeks.I hit the ground hard, snow flying in every direction.Without my wings, I’d skid and fall flat on my face, but tilting them allows me to stabilize what was an irresponsibly stupid landing.
