You? Father’s face contorts with rage. How are you still alive? It’s been thousands of years.
“I’m not Gullveig,” Liz says. “When you knew me I was, but I’ve been reborn. I’m only twenty-three years old now.”
You poisoned Freya’s mind. Father launches into the sky, aiming at Liz. I couldn’t attack you then without harming her, but I can now. He arrows downward, toward her.
I vault upward, blocking him with my body. No, I say. Mine.
When Father’s enormous form collides with mine, we both careen sideways, neither of us able to recover before slamming into the ground. The earth around us shakes, but I recover faster than Father.
And I blast him with the hottest flame I can manage.
Of course, my flames do nothing but irritate him. You would attack your own father for one earth child?
She’s my earth child, I say. I would attack anyone for her. You will not harm her.
You’re just like your mother. He has never mentioned her to me before. To my surprise, he laughs. Alright, who told you that bringing your earth child, whatever her name is now, back home would kill her?
I glance at Liz. She looks as confused as I am.
I’m sure Euphrasia told him, Thunar says. Even though you forbade it.
“She told us nothing,” Liz says. “We were pretty frustrated about her failure to tell us about the past with the vanir and the æsir. I’ve been relying on regaining my memories to figure it out.”
Father lands, but he peers up at Liz. Frustrated about what?
Liz flies in a slow circle. She knows how to draw and keep attention, I’ll give her that. She said she’d show up if I was in trouble, and here she is. “You knew that when you were here before, the blessed needed to be bonded to humans to consume earth’s food and to process it. You knew that the heart was a stone. You knew a great deal of things you didn’t share with the recovery leader or the earth blessed who came with him.”
And he never confessed to me that he was also earth blessed. Father crosses his front legs and drops his head to rest on top of them. He narrows his eyes. Apparently we all had our secrets.
You knew? I don’t understand. I took great pains to keep that a secret.
Euphrasia wanted to show me that you could keep it from the others. She was right. You did. It was impressive for a hatchling.
But. . . If you knew, why did it need to be kept secret?
Father sits up again and looks around slowly. The earth blessed are large now, strong, and they can fly. He arches one eyebrow. That was not the case then. Others would have seen your second affinity as a liability, not an asset. You made it public when it could no longer harm you. It was well played.
It wasn’t a play—I apparently shared that information in an attempt to keep Hyperion from throwing Liz into the volcano. It failed, but still. I don’t share my reasons.
You didn’t bring the heart back, because you were worried I’d slice open your human to recover it? Father tilts his head. Was that the only reason?
“It wasn’t always in my chest,” Liz says. “That was more recent. Using the stone’s tricky.”
That has always been the case, Father says. But why else didn’t you return?
In order to recover the heart stone, we had to release the vanir. I can’t help cringing a little. We stayed to help the humans they’re killing.
Father looks unimpressed. That’s not your problem. Gather up the blessed. They can leave their bonded earth children here, or they can bring them. Perhaps they won’t die this time.
What about Liz? I ask. Do you think the heart will protect her?
Father scoffs. No, I just don’t care whether she survives as long as we have the heart.
Chapter 22
Liz
We may not have recovered Azar’s memories yet, but I know he cares. He won’t let his father drag me away to a place I’ll die. I’m sure he’ll fight him over that.
