Page 2 of Entwined

How to fix it wasn’t.

The only girls in my life I’ve been close to are my mother and my sisters, Jade and Coral. My mom’s a hippy, my sister Jade is a girly-girl, and my youngest sister Coral’s just like me. Thirty pounds of angry in a two-pound bag. No matter how different they all are from one another, they all like me just fine, because that’s what family does. They take you as you are, and they appreciate the things about you that make you unique.

I wasn’t surprised when Ocharta, the electro dragon who bonded my mother, hated me. She is a female, dragon or not. On top of that, she hated Axel for being Azar’s weakness, and I was bonded to Axel—despised by extension.

The real surprise is how much I like Asteria, Ocharta’s sister.

When Azar’s brother Hyperion showed up, she came along with him, like a miserable two for one deal. She’s the electro dragon who’s supposed to marry and mate with my bonded dragon, Azar, and I do hate her on principle. But she started our acquaintance by acknowledging how awful her sister is, and while Hyperion and Azar are arguing, she’s been chatting with me, even though I’m human. Most of the dragons aren’t too impressed by us, seeing us as nothing more than useful tools in subjugating the other humans on earth.

But now, it appears she’s ready to move on from the mundane topics of climate and resources in Houston. What do you think of Axel?

“I like him,” I say. “As much as I like any dragon.”

She half-smiles. A dragon’s half-smiling about my distaste for dragons. I imagine our return hasn’t been easy for you.

“You can say that a dozen more times,” I say, “and not even begin to cover it. Three and a half million.” I shake my head. “That was the humans’ estimate of how many humans you’d killed when last I checked.”

You liked Axel, and yet, you let Azar take your bond.

Like everyone else, she sees Azar and Axel as completely different dragons—the red fire dragon prince who can eat nukes, and the golden, wingless earth dragon prince. “Right.” To all of them, it’s a big deal that my bond ‘transferred’ from Axel to Azar, when in fact all that happened was I discovered Axel’s secret and started guarding it along with him.

Did it upset you? Was it hard?

“Actually, I just wish I could replicate it,” I say.

Her eyes widen.

“Not for me,” I clarify. “I’m happy to be bonded to Azar, but not every Ensnared is bonded to a dragon they like.”

So you do like Azar, too.

“We’re entwined,” I say. “I don’t think that happens when you hate each other.”

She looks. . .contemplative. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a dragon look contemplative, not in the month they’ve been here.

“More specifically, your sister’s bonded to my mother.” I’m not sure why I told her that, except that she almost seems to be reasonable, and I’m guessing she’ll find out soon enough on her own. It’s not a secret.

You wish she wasn’t.

“Azar was going to kill your sister,” I whisper. “The only reason he didn’t?—”

Was because you entreated him not to, so your mother’s life would be spared.

I nod.

But you wish he could kill her.

I could lie, but I don’t bother. Instead, I shrug. “My mom does, too.”

Tell me how you passed your bond, and I’ll attempt to take your mother’s from my sister.

Her offer floors me. “You. . . You’ll what?”

She’d still be bonded against her will to a strike blessed, but I vow to try and make amends for my sister’s actions.

She’s trying to win me over, because I’m bonded to Azar and she’s his fiancée. Of course she wants me to like her, because he might listen to what I say.

Actually, I reinforced her suspicion that he might like me by telling her I’m the reason he spared Ocharta. “He only wanted to kill your sister because she kept challenging him.” I sigh. “It’s not because?—”