Page 81 of Ensnared

For a split second, Axel looks nervous. But then he shrugs. “Azar took complete reports from people who were there, of course,” he says. “And they said that Ocharta’s ensnared was attacking you.”

“Well, she was, because Ocharta ordered it,” I say. “But she’s still my mom. I know she wouldn’t have done that if she had a choice.”

Axel steps closer still, his eyes on mine. “You humans—your emotions are complicated. If someone was trying to kill me, I wouldn’t step in to protect them.”

“She spent the past twenty years protecting me,” I say. “And now, because of circumstances outside of her control, she’s being forced to harm me. You’d do the same.”

He inhales slowly and then exhales again. “I’d still focus on the situation at hand. How she treated you before is admirable, but if she’s your enemy now. . .” He throws his hands up in the air. “You can’t keep yourself safe by ignoring those who would harm you.”

“You won’t do it?” My heart feels like it’s splitting in two.

Axel’s jaw tightens, and he looks at the doorway. “I didn’t say that.”

I reach for his face to smooth away the frown lines without thinking, but when his eyes cut back toward me, my hand freezes, inches from his face.

“I can ask Azar, but I don’t know what he’ll say.”

“You’re his best friend, right?”

Axel’s eyes flash. “He was very upset yesterday.” He turns away from me and begins to pace. “You were injured—badly—because of your connection to me. They resent me for my connection to him. Azar, rightfully, feels like this was all his fault. He wants to fix it.” His head, from across the room, snaps toward mine. “He wants to keep you safe.” He swallows. “I agree with him.”

“Are you saying that if someone touches me, you want them dead?” I can’t keep my lip from twitching. “That’s pretty corny.”

He crosses the room in three steps. “It’s not corny, Liz. It’s the world I live in. You eliminate threats, or they eliminate you.”

“You didn’t kill me when we met, and I stabbed you.”

He’s right in front of me, shirtless, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling, and I think about that first moment we met. I wanted to kill him. I tried. But instead of killing me, he agreed to help my siblings.

“You didn’t kill me, even when I was threatening you and your friends.”

“You were never a threat to me.” His hand lifts, his index finger brushing against my temple. “At least, nothing to the risk you pose now.”

I can’t breathe. What’s he saying? “I’m not a risk,” I whisper.

He drags his finger down the side of my face, and then runs it slowly down the side of my neck. It stops on the spot where my shoulder joins my neck. His eyes are staring at that point like they could bore through it. “When I thought—when I realized who took you.” He shakes his head, his hand dropping back to his side. “I’ve never been more full of rage.”

Anger’s a masking emotion. That’s what my mother always said. “You were angry because you were scared.”

He doesn’t nod, or say yes, or agree in any way, but he doesn’t disagree or call me a liar either. He doesn’t shake his head. He just stares into my eyes. His burnished gold eyes, eyes that don’t feel like a human’s do, eyes that don’t connect to a human soul, stare into mine with what looks and feels a lot like longing.

“Maybe you do feel some emotion after all.” I shrug. “Or maybe you were just worried about how you’d feel if I died.”

“Ocharta.” He chokes. “I can’t spare her life, Liz.”

“Please,” I say. “I’m begging you. If you have any regard for me at all—” My voice breaks. I’m his property. I’m nothing to him—a liability. Ocharta’s death helps mitigate the risk I pose to his life. Nothing I say is going to change what he does. “If I matter to you at all, please ask Azar to spare her.” I’ve just set myself up to be disappointed. I know I don’t matter to him, not in that way, but now I’m hoping that I do.

Axel nods, and then he heads down the stairs and disappears without another word. That’s not the action of someone who’s going to modify his behavior for me.

“What’s this convocation?” Gideon asks.

“It’s a big dragon meeting,” I say. “I guess they’re all gathering so Azar can yell at them.”

“Where?” Gideon’s eyes light up.

I shrug. “Probably the George R. Brown Convention Center. That’s where the electro dragons have taken up residence, anyway.”

Gideon glances left, and then he glances right. Sammy, Coral, and Jade are all playing some kind of card game in the family room. He drops his voice. “There were flares just before dawn,” he says. “They’re going to deploy the nukes at noon today.”