Page 79 of Ensnared

Gideon’s eyes widen. “This isn’t your room.”

Axel shifts and eases the rest of my body back down against him. “I was here all night with Liz, helping her to recover. I think that makes it mine.” He’s smiling a lazy, possessive smile that I’ve never seen before. At least, not on him.

“She looks fine,” Gideon says. “You should get out.”

“She was nearly dead yesterday when I reached her,” Axel says.

“From what?” Gideon’s scanning the room now, as if the threat might still be lurking here.

“Nothing you could have helped her with.”

“If she was almost dead, you didn’t do much either.”

“So much for stretching, yawning, and getting up peacefully.” I shove away from Axel, who doesn’t try to stop me this time. “Both of you should get out.”

“It’s good you’re awake.” Axel looks utterly unconcerned that he’s lying back in the middle of my bed, naked other than his black pants. “Azar called a convocation today. I’ll need to get going pretty soon.”

That drags my attention away from his bare belly. “A convocation? Is he graduating?”

Axel frowns. “He’s summoned all the blessed. He has an announcement to make.”

That sounds ominous. I touch Axel’s hand. “Will you be alright? Is it something bad?”

He glances down at our hands and smiles, and I can’t tell whether it’s to reassure me that he’s going to be fine, or whether he’s pleased that I touched him. The bond shows that he’s happy—it’s a light green. “I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“I want to come,” I whisper. “Can I?”

He shakes his head. “It won’t be a safe place for humans.”

“What’s this convocation about?” Gideon asks.

Axel’s nostrils flare like he’d forgotten Gideon was at the door. “None of your business.”

“If it’s Elizabeth’s business, then it’s mine too.”

Axel purses his lips as his gaze shifts to Gideon. “Nothing in Houston is your business, human. And nothing that concerns Liz is your business, either.”

“He’s just trying to help,” I say. “But what’s it for? Do you know?”

Axel shrugs. “No one ever really knows what to expect with Azar—he’s a bit unpredictable, like most flame blessed—but I suspect he’s going to kill Ocharta.”

Kill Ocharta? That name sounds familiar to me. I rack my brain to try and figure out why, and it finally hits me.

I am Ocharta, strike blessed. I have need of you. That’s what she said, when she called my mother to her side and changed her hair to silver. I had been calling her Princess Petunia in my head, but I already knew her name.

I bolt upright in the bed, the covers sliding down around my waist. “Axel, he can’t kill her.”

He frowns. “But she tried to kill you. I thought you’d want her dead.”

“What happens if she dies?”

Axel shrugs. “Not much, I should think. The strike blessed will choose another to lead their group here. When Azar returns, if he hasn’t found the heart, her family could retaliate, but it’s risky, retaliating against a Prince of the Flame. They probably won’t dare to do anything.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I mean, what happens to a dragon’s ensnared if the dragon dies?”

“Oh.” Axel frowns. “They die, too.”

“That’s awful.” Gideon looks even more distressed than I am.