“I wish. No, we have a new group of ‘blessed’ who have come to earth, and it looks like another even larger force is currently en route. Thunar’s the older, nastier brother. Hyperion’s actually kind of a baby doll, it turns out.”
A baby doll. If I tried to call him that three weeks ago, I’d have choked. I’m sure Gideon’s at least as confused as I would have been.
“Hyperion’s also now bonded to Coral, so I won’t be sending them into any insane battles anytime soon.”
“He’s—how could you have let that happen?”
“Yes,” I say. “You know, in this epic battle of titans and thieves, I’m the power player who dictates all the terms. I just sat down and thought, maybe now, I should bond my tiny little sister to the biggest, baddest dragon on earth.” I want to throw the phone across the room, or better yet, at his smug face. “I didn’t want her to bond him, but here we are, okay?”
He grunts. “I guess the Chadwick girls don’t always do as they’re told.”
“An understatement,” I say. “But in this case, why did you call?”
“I called as soon as I heard the dragons we were fighting might not have been yours.”
“And what exactly are you telling me to do this time?”
“I’m not telling you anything.” Gideon sounds. . .almost broken. “I’m. . .” He clears his throat. “I’m begging here, Liz. If you and your dragon posse don’t fly out here and help us, I think these vanir you released are going to destroy us all.”
I’m afraid he might be right. But when I turn toward Azar, he does not look inclined to help the very country and people who tried to—wait, who actually did kill us. “I’ll talk to Azar,” I say. “But I can’t promise anything. I’m not the boss of much over here.”
“I don’t believe that for a moment,” Gideon says. “But I do understand. We haven’t exactly earned a right to your help.”
“I’ll have George reach out.”
“Whatever you decide, let me know as soon as possible,” Gideon says. “They’ve already wiped out the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and they’re moving south into Alberta and British Columbia now.”
It’s the invasion we thought was happening the first time, and technically, it is the blessed’s fault. If we hadn’t taken the heart, they’d never be free.
So, in a weird way, Gideon was right all along.
Chapter 10
Azar
There are many things Liz doesn’t share with her siblings because they’re hatchlings. They’re young. I understand—it was the same for me. Euphrasia couldn’t tell me everything until I was no longer small, vulnerable, and weak.
She protected me when no one else did.
The risk to her was great, and I’ve always been tremendously grateful. But she never told me she was my mother’s best friend. She never told me about Hyperion’s egg being burned or the circumstances surrounding the prophecy about me. It makes me wonder what else she’s concealed.
And why she really did it.
I’m not small now and haven’t been for quite some time.
I’m the recovery leader, and I came to earth armed with almost no knowledge whatsoever of the task set before me. Further, when she arrived with Hyperion, I was struggling. Father was threatening to come to earth himself, even then, and she didn’t tell me about the vanir, that my mother was one, or that my mother had trapped the vanir before we left.
She didn’t tell me that all the blessed—the æsir—needed to be bonded to a human in order to survive, or that there were no earth blessed when they trapped the vanir and left earth. She must know where they came from, or at least have a hunch. She’s still told me nothing about any of that.
As soon as Liz goes to sleep, I’m going to interrogate my old nanny. She owes me some answers, and it’s time I get them. If I can’t leave Liz now we’re entwined, then Euphrasia can come to me. Right now, though, Liz is in the middle of a press conference where she’s announcing to all the humans of earth that there are more of us, and probably even more incoming, and she explains that we require their help.
We need more humans to bond.
She explains the bond and how it works. She tells them that while the blessed have the upper hand in terms of theoretically being able to force us, that we have vowed to try and do better. We’re also going to listen to our bonded and try to form healthy relationships.
I’m not sure all the blessed are as committed to that as she is, but they’re at least listening.
Then she tells them about the vanir. She explains they’ve always been here, but they were trapped. She tells them that the blessed trapped them thousands of years ago to keep humanity safe, but that the lock to their prison was the very thing we needed to survive. It was a difficult puzzle to unlock, and in the process of saving the blessed, we released the vanir. She apologizes.
