Page 62 of Ensnared

“I’m the Prince of the Earth Blessed. My primary job in the Return is to secure our settlements to keep the blessed safe while we’re here, and to search any earthen locations for the heart. Of course that’s what I’ve been doing.”

“And you’ve been killing humans.”

“Only when they attack us.”

“And are they?” I ask. “Attacking you, I mean.”

“Almost constantly,” he says. “What shocks me is that they keep using the same methods, more or less, over and over. You’d think that they’d have realized that they won’t work by the third or fourth failure.”

“What do you mean?”

“They can’t tunnel under us. Earth blessed feel that. They can’t prevail by attacking on water. The water blessed sense them and they dominate. And the strike blessed make sure they can’t defeat us in the sky.”

“How many humans have you killed?”

He shrugs.

Shrugs.

“You don’t even care?”

“I keep track of our dead, and I’m assuming the humans do the same.” He sighs. “Liz, you’re angry about this, but you shouldn’t be. We haven’t been the aggressors.”

“You invaded us.”

“Only because we had no choice. We had to start somewhere. When we made landing here, they immediately tried to eliminate us.”

“So, now what? You just roll over the whole earth like a steam roller, enslaving humans to do things for you and searching every nook and cranny until you find this thing, whatever or wherever it is, no matter how many of us you kill?”

Axel looks baffled. “Of course.”

“I’m going to bed.” I head for the stairs.

“See you tomorrow.”

I freeze on the second step. “Why? You’re not leaving to slay more humans?”

“I told you, they pulled back.”

“For now.” Then I remember what the men said. “Gideon came with a group tasked to deliver a message. The humans are going to hit this area with a nuclear weapon in less than three days.”

“Nuclear?” His eyebrows rise. “The bombs they make from either a decaying atomic reaction or a hydrogen bomb? Is that what you mean?”

I nod slowly. “It’ll kill everyone who’s living here.”

Axel laughs.

“It’s not funny,” I say. “They may not kill you, I don’t know, but you’re forcing them to play their last card. The humans who are living here will all die, including me. I imagine all of you will be having some very bad days, then.”

“Not the earth blessed,” Axel says. “And that’s most of us.”

“Lovely,” I say.

“But Liz, don’t worry. Azar can swallow that bomb and metabolize it just like all the other missiles he’s rendered ineffective. This is what I mean. They keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome. It’s madness.”

“He can’t swallow an atom bomb,” I say. “Trust me.”

“Oh, I think he can,” Axel says. “What mechanism do you think powers his fire?”