Page 39 of Ensnared (The Dragon Captured #1)

He, helpfully, shrugs.

Rule from here. Or waste away. Maybe your ensnared can free herself when you’re at the lowest ebb. Azar tosses his head at me.

“Meet me at home?” I whisper.

Gordon frowns. You’re traveling with Azar?

I can’t believe his two lieutenants don’t even know his secret, but Azar seemingly has no plans to change that.

Axel wants you and Rufus to redirect the earth blessed.

They’re to search any humans along the perimeter for Sammy, Coral, Jade, and the other one.

Azar tosses his head again, clearly impatient with me holding him up.

I finally walk away from the red-bubble-caught electro dragon. “You’re sure she can’t get out of that?”

Azar’s laughing when I climb up on his shoulders. He doesn’t wait for me to get a good hold before launching into the sky. I lose my grip and have to scrabble forward, one tightly gripped handhold at a time.

Once I pry my heart out of my throat, I’m pretty annoyed. “You know, Gordon made me a saddle.”

Azar’s laughter is deep and full as he redoubles his speed.

“Ash brain.”

It takes me a moment to realize what we’re doing, but once I realize we’re rocketing past the earthen walls the dragons created, I settle in and try to enjoy the ride. I keep my eyes open, of course, searching for sweet little Sammy, darling Jade, and tough Coral.

The wind beats my hair into tangles I’ll likely never undo, but I become a little more accustomed to the dips, drops, and direction changes, only nearly falling off once.

Eventually, though, the terrain starts to look a little familiar.

“I think we’ve flown over this already,” I say. “I remember that weird purple trailer.”

Azar ignores me.

But eventually, he decides it’s a waste of time, and he flies me home. When we get closer, I can sense the humans—my humans—who live across from me. When Azar lands, it’s almost a mile away, behind an uninhabited section of smaller homes.

Instead of changing into his human form after I slide off his back, he changes into his earth dragon shape.

It’s interesting, looking at the two of them, one immediately after the other.

They’re clearly the same dragon. They have the same elegant, intelligent head shape, the same curvature to the brow, and the same toothline.

And the same golden eyes.

Once I know, it’s obvious.

It’s funny how many things we blindly miss because the world tells us a lie.

Climb back on.

“Still no saddle?” I ask. “Really?”

Axel rolls his eyes.

It doesn’t stop me from grumbling as I scramble up, my hands now scraped, sore, and straining.

You’re injured?

“Hardly,” I say. “But your scales are hard, and holding on isn’t easy for a puny human like me.”

I’m sorry.

I didn’t expect to hear that from a dragon in my lifetime. It’s a little gratifying. “Don’t worry. It’s no big deal. Thanks for spending so long looking for them.”

We’re nearly back when Rufus shouts a message. Found them in a boat. Nearly drowned.

I can barely breathe while we wait for Rufus. “Maybe we should go to them,” I say for the third time.

“They’re almost back,” Axel says.

I’m pacing in the kitchen and have been for nearly twenty minutes now.

“Rufus says they’re alright.”

“That doesn’t mean the same thing to him as it does to me,” I mutter.

“It’s strange that you care so deeply for your siblings.” Axel looks as if he’s studying me.

I stop and pivot to face him. “Is it? I think most people do.”

“We don’t,” he says simply, as if that makes sense.

“Dragons, you mean?”

“Why do you persist in calling us dragons?” He frowns. “It’s rude.”

“Maybe I want it to be,” I say. “You did take over our world. The least we can do is call you what we want.”

Axel stands up and walks toward me. “I would not risk my life for any of my siblings.”

“No?” I sit on the edge of the table. This way, even though I’m markedly lower than he is, it’s for a reason. When we’re both standing up straight, I’m so much shorter that I feel. . .small. I don’t like it.

Axel stops a step away from me. He sighs. “I’d kill most of them if given the chance.”

“Really?” That I can’t understand.

“They’ve all tried to kill me, and they will again.”

That thought is a horrifying one. “Your brothers and sisters tried to kill you?”

He shrugs. “Only one of us can replace my father. It’s natural.”

“But you don’t need to rule, right? So why do you need to kill each other over it? Just live your life.” I think about how upset Ocharta was that he didn’t just kill her. I clearly do not understand the dragons at all.

“I find it fascinating, the affection you share.” He’s studying my face as if it’s a Sanskrit scroll when I hear Rufus arrive outside.

I shove my way around Axel and sprint for the door. Somehow he gets there the same time as me. He waits while I exit.

The sun has set, but I can still see outlines well enough. Sammy’s asleep in Gideon’s arms. He’s clearly just dismounted from Rufus’ back. Jade and Coral are huddled together on the ground by Rufus’ leg.

“Everyone’s alright?” My eyes scan them all frantically.

Gideon’s expression is tight, but he nods.

I hover, but I don’t take Sammy from him, nervous it’ll wake him up. Jade and Coral both look too tired to stand, so I offer my arms to Jade, who lets me lift her.

To my shock, Axel leans toward Coral.

She stares at him for a moment, unsure of his intentions, but as he stays steady, she nods.

Axel, secretly Azar the Prince of Flame, picks up my ten-year-old sister Coral and carries her inside the house and up the stairs.

I drop Jade on the thick mattress next to her sister, and I tuck Sammy in, and then I back out of the room.

“What happened?” I practically round on Gideon the second the door closes.

“The hovercraft should have worked,” he says. “In the past, the water dragons didn’t notice them. The land dragons don’t worry about the water. The water dragons don’t pay attention to the air above the water.”

I close my eyes. It was a strange day. Any other day, he might have been right. When I reopen them, Gideon’s right in front of me. “You’re alright too?” His eyes search my body for signs of injury.

“The bombs didn’t detonate,” I whisper.

Has it really only been fourteen hours since Gideon and I parted paths? I’m bone-weary. Gideon must feel just as drained, but he also looks desperate. “You’re really alright?”

“Axel was right,” I say. “Azar handled it.” It’s strange, talking about Axel.

. .Azar. I don’t know what to call him, even in my head.

I know it’s one person, but I can’t let anyone else know.

It’s a heavy secret, and that’s taking a toll on me, too.

“I’m just so glad you’re alright.” If something had happened to Sammy or Coral or Jade, I’d have died.

His fingers brush the side of my face. “Liz.” The intensity of that one word shocks me. I’ve been sinking deep into equal parts relief and exhaustion, but his touch is like an electric wire.

“Gideon, I?—”

Do not kiss him. Axel doesn’t usually speak to me telepathically when he’s in human form, and he’s only a few feet away, waiting at the top of the stairs.

I look past Gideon’s intense face at Axel. His eyes are stormy and bright, like a fire burning in spite of a rainstorm.

I’m caught between a hammer and an anvil, doomed to shatter.

“Liz, all I could think about the whole way back was how happy I was not to leave you.” He swears. “I know that’s horrible. I tried to escape, I really did, but if it meant losing you.” He swears again. “I can’t do it again. Please don’t ask me to do it ever again. I’m not strong enough.”

“Actually.” Axel’s voice is steady. “Just today Azar offered to escort Sammy, Coral, and Jade to the barricade, safely freeing the four of you, if you swear to care for them.”

Gideon freezes. “Why would he do that?”

“As a favor to me, of course,” Axel says.

When my oldest friend turns around, he’s stiff. He’s angry. He’s like a gasoline-soaked woodpile, ready to explode in a shower of sparks. “Why would you ask him to do that?”

“For Liz,” Axel says. “Why else?”

Gideon grinds his teeth.

“Did you think you were the only one who could do anything for her?” Axel arches his eyebrow. “I feel like her loved ones would be safer with me, but for some reason, she trusts you.”

The muscles in Gideon’s arm, an arm that has knocked out countless numbers of America’s top fighters, are bunched and ready. “Stop talking.”

“Gideon,” I say. “He’s trying to help.”

“He’s one of them, Liz. He may look human, but he’s not. Don’t forget that.”

Gideon doesn’t know the half of it. “Will you do it?” I ask softly.

His nostrils flare. “What if I say no?”

“We’ll all live here,” Axel says. “Like one big, happy family.” He lifts one hand and beckons me with two fingers. “Come, Liz. We have some things to discuss.”

“Like what? What’s going on?” Gideon’s brows furrow as he glances from Axel to me and back again. “What would you have to talk about?”

Axel shrugs. “We’re bonded, or didn’t you hear that?”

There’s a vein in the side of Gideon’s jaw that always pops when he’s angry. It’s beating a staccato rhythm on the side of his face right now.

“He saved my life today,” I say, “in more ways than one. We do have things to discuss.” I hate breaking Gideon’s heart, but I’m not sure what else to do.

I watch as he walks down the stairs, one agonizing step at a time. He stops at the landing and looks back, and I almost jog down to him. But I have too many people to protect and too many secrets.

Once Gideon’s gone, I round on Axel. “What do you want?”

“I require your assistance,” he says.

“Fine.” I drop my hands on my hips. “With what?”

“I want you to teach me how to kiss.”