Page 47 of Ensnared (The Dragon Captured #1)

T he day of the Boo Bash, Gideon called me. “You trained early today?”

“I promised Sammy that I’d come to his Halloween carnival,” I said.

“But you promised me you’d train here every day so I’d be able to see you.”

That made my breaths come a little faster. “I did no such thing.”

His voice dropped. “In my head, you did.”

Oh. “I guess I should’ve told you I’d be coming in earlier.”

“I could skip out early—go with you to the carnival.”

“But you’re still at my gym.” I was nervous, even then, at the prospect of Gideon, whom I had known for my entire life almost, flirting.

“Does that mean we can’t go anywhere together?” His voice was light, but I could tell he was really, really serious. “And if two friends held hands, who would know?”

My breath caught.

“And if I were to bob for apples with you, and wipe the water from your face, or if I smashed the base of the strongman game with a hammer and rang the bell. . .or if I shot the most balloons with the dart gun and won you a stuffed animal. . .”

“It’s not a real carnival,” I said. “It’s a fundraiser for the school.”

“Is that a no? You don’t want me to crash this party?”

I did. I really, really did. But I was also going for Sammy, not to spend time with a boyfriend I wasn’t supposed to have yet. “I need my little brother to be my actual focus,” I said, regretting the words as they emerged. “But at the next carnival. . .”

“Maybe I’ll propose at the next one, with a ring in one of those dumb balloons.”

My heart stops.

“Or would that be too corny?”

“You’re thinking about proposing?” I can’t even swallow.

“I’ve been thinking about proposing for years, Liz. I’m finally talking about it.”

When I hung up the phone that day, I spent the next few hours floating around on a cloud. And then on the day of the carnival, that cloud burst and released a torrent of rain, drowning the world.

I have a track record now, of feeling joyful, of feeling hopeful , and then the world beneath my feet just collapses.

After Axel heard about my dream, he started making plans to leave Houston.

On the one hand, I was giddy. On the other.

. .it felt ominous for some reason. All the dragons just arrived in a flurry, and then after one horrible memory from my brain was dislodged, they’re just magically pulling up the anchor?

“It’s not only you,” Axel says. “We’ve thoroughly searched this area. It felt like as good a place as any to start, but we’ve found no evidence of the heart, so it’s past time to move on.”

But that leaves us dealing with some tricky loose ends.

“She has to come with us,” I say. “We can’t leave Ocharta here, stuck in a red bubble.”

“She’s regenerated,” Axel says. “If we take her, she’ll be able to do whatever she wants.”

“But if you leave her, the humans will kill her, and my mom will die.” Which is the whole reason we didn’t kill her in the first place.

“We’d have to free her for her to follow us, and the risk to you will continue, unresolved.”

“I’m not bonded to an earth dragon she despises anymore,” I say. “Now I’m Azar’s entwined. Do you really think she’ll do anything to me?”

He fumes. “I don’t like the idea of letting someone who defied me free.”

I hate the idea of her being free as well.

My own mother begged me to let her die, but I can’t live with that being my last memory of my mother.

Hard things always seem the worst in the middle—we just haven’t figured out a solution yet.

I’m working on it, though, learning about the bonds and trying to figure out how to transfer or dissolve hers.

Without more time, I’m doomed. But with a little more study, I’m confident there will be something we can do.

I drop one hand on his arm. “Can you let it go anyway? For me?”

Axel pauses, and then he exhales slowly. “Fine. Fine .”

It may not always have been easy, but since that strange night when our bond shifted, things have steadily improved with Axel.

Er, Azar. Whoever he is. Deciding which name to use is complicated.

If I stick to just one in my head, I’m more likely to spill his secret, so I call him Axel when he’s in earth dragon or human form, and Azar when he’s red.

It’s. . .bizarre, and I’m still wrapping my head around it.

It’s been almost a week since my dream, and the dragons are wrapping things up in Houston. Azar wanted to just fly to Iceland straight away, but I convinced him that we should pull up stakes and move along.

I may have partially defected, but I’m still a Houstonian. If I can clear the dragons out of my town and let people move back in, I’m going to do it.

“The blessed are still insisting that we should take some of the humans with us,” he says. “Even the ensnared agreed that starting over with all new humans?—”

“But we agreed that I’m in charge of the humans and that includes the ensnared,” I say.

“Taking humans from Houston who speak English and understand how the world works in Houston to Iceland is a bad plan. We can subjugate new humans there.” That phrase doesn’t sit well with me, but what choice do I have?

It’s either snatch thousands of humans from their homes here and take them with us, or have the ensnared free them and find new recruits in Iceland. That felt like the better way to go.

If we could have left the ensnared here, I’d have pushed for that, too.

“The humans who aren’t ensnared all stay,” I insist. “And about the government in Iceland?—”

“How we handle interactions with the local government falls to me. I’ve attempted to talk things through dozens of times now.” Axel shakes his head. “It always leads to more jets and bombs, and then more humans will die, and I can’t have you all agitated.”

“I don’t get agitated,” I say. “That makes me sound like a Karen, complaining about my cheesecake being too dry.”

“A Karen?” He frowns. “I don’t understand.”

I roll my eyes. “Never mind. It’s a stupid name anyway, and some of the nicest people I know are named Karen.”

“But you said?—”

“Forget it.”

Sammy pokes his head through the crack in my door. “Are you guys fighting about cheesecake?”

“We aren’t fighting,” I say.

Axel says, “What’s cheesecake?”

Sammy’s eyes widen. “We have to eat cheesecake before we leave.”

“I’m sure they have cheesecake in Iceland,” I say. “And I told you that we have to leave today.”

“But what if their cheesecake is gross?” Sammy’s bottom lip juts out. “What if all the cheesecake factories get blowed up when they try to attack us?”

Good heavens. “Sammy, I told you already?—”

“And I don’t want to ride underwater to get there. Jade says Iceland’s an island, and that it’s so cold that you turn into ice the second you land.”

“Jade said that?” It really feels more like a Coral thing to say. “But I told you that?—”

“She said Coral saw it in her school book, and they have huge fish underwater, with teeth that have rows and rows and never stop growing.”

“I have teeth in rows and rows,” Axel says. “And so does Azar. How’d you like to ride with him?”

Sammy’s eyes light up, but then he frowns. “But what about Gordon? He might be sad if I ride with you. I usually ride with him.”

I throw my hands up in the air. “Are you at least done packing?”

“Actually, I didn’t pack at all.” Sammy leans closer, putting one hand by my ear, and cupping it.

His whisper’s so loud that I doubt it would do any good if there was someone we didn’t want to hear.

“Did you know that Gordon can make me clothes? He uses magic to do it, just like he makes his clothes when he changes shape.”

“Have you asked him for a light saber yet?” Axel asks. “You should tell him that you need one, and then when he’s not paying attention, hit him with it as hard as you can.”

“Axel Earth Blessed, how dare you?” I slap his shoulder. “Are you trying to get my little brother eaten?”

“Gordon wouldn’t dare.”

“So I shouldn’t ask for a light saber?” Sammy looks disappointed.

“You can ask for whatever you want, as long as you don’t get upset if he can’t make you one,” I say. “And do not, under any circumstance, hit Gordon with anything.”

“He says you stabbed him,” Sammy says.

“She did,” Coral says, skipping through the door. “With an umbrella.”

“No,” I say. “With a stick.” I poke Axel in the chest. “I stabbed him with an umbrella.”

“But not here.” He catches my hand and drags it up, pressing my fingers against his throat.

That makes my heart race. I drag my fingers down, but they slide across the ridge of his chest in the process, the pronounced muscles a stark contrast to the soft skin of his throat.

I swallow and force my eyes upward toward his.

His eyes are light, almost dancing. “Today, we’re all moving to Iceland, and once we get settled there, your sister and I have some training to do.” Axel’s grin is practically evil.

“About what?” Coral asks.

“The nature of our bond and how it works,” he says, his eyes still not leaving mine.

“But you’re not bonded anymore,” Coral says. “Actually, we’ve been talking and we aren’t sure why you still come around all the time.”

Axel’s eyes whip toward mine with mild concern.

“It’s because we were bonded,” I say. “And now we’re not, and so he’s the perfect person to study it with.” Please, please buy that super lame explanation.

“But what could Liz teach you?” Coral asks, her tone a little terse. “No offense, Liz, but you aren’t really good at anything but fighting, and I think he’s better than you at that.”

“As a sister, I feel like I should teach you this. If you have to say ‘no offense,’ then you’re probably saying something offensive.

You’d be better off keeping your mouth shut,” I say.

“And as a matter of fact, I did teach him something already.” But then I realize what it was—kissing—and I clam up.

“What was it you taught me again?” Axel asks. “I must have forgotten.” He taps his mouth with his finger. “Why don’t you remind me?”