Page 23 of Entwined

I wonder what it cost her to ask me that, and how much hope she’s been shoving down, along with all the other things she wants and can’t bring herself to dream about anymore. I may hate the dragons for this more than anything else.

The powerlessness.

The decimation of our future plans.

The ruin of my own, force-of-nature mother.

“No word yet,” I say. “But I imagine he’s alright, wherever he is.” Or at least, I really, really hope he is.

It strengthens my resolve to follow through on our plan to drive some space between Axel and me. The last thing I need is to be obsessing over a dragon and always needing to be near him. Blech. Getting close to him to discover information is one thing, but believing that I was actually getting close to him was delusion.

When we walk through the door, Coral’s the first to notice us, and when she does, she smiles and stands. The second she realizes it’s Mom, her entire face freezes, and then she’s sprinting this way.

I hadn’t given it a lot of thought, how my siblings would be doing without knowing much about Mom’s fate. I thought I was helping them by not telling them about the ugly reality of the bond with Ocharta. I’ve been doing my utmost to keep them safe in any way I can, but maybe I was wrong.

They’re younger than I am, and they need her in a way I don’t any more. That’s clear from the moment they’re in the same room.

Ocharta must not be paying much attention to her right now or something, because Mom almost seems like herself. She doesn’t look nearly as broken in this moment as she has every single time I’ve seen her since the dragons came.

Unless.

“Did Asteria—are you?—”

Mom turns abruptly, my siblings freezing. Her head shake’s small, but it’s firm.

Nothing has changed.

But how can she be here, now that Ocharta’s free?

“What’s going on?” Coral asks, intuiting the same questions as me. “Why are you here now? Have you been with the other dragons all along?” She glances between Mom and me. “That silver dragon—she bonded you, right?”

Mom nods slowly.

“Then why didn’t you visit before?” Jade’s voice is trembling.

“Ocharta bonded me.” Mom’s voice is small. “The strike blessed who fried most of your friends at the Boo Bash.”

Axel’s feeling uneasy about this conversation—the bond’s a tumultuous yellow. Gideon’s leaning against the wall, and he looks just as unhappy as Axel. Maybe more.

“Until now, Ocharta’s been monitoring me closely, and lately, she’s been trapped in a bubble by Azar, which left her. . .irritable. Angry.” Mom shudders. “But earlier today, her sister came to visit.” Mom swallows. “And a moment ago, she came back again. In fact, they’re busy right now.”

“Doing what?” Axel’s voice is deceptively mild. Mom’s explanation of her freedom worries him for some reason.

Mom shrugs. “They don’t appear to like one another very well.”

“They’ve never gotten along very well,” Axel says. “But I heard Asteria tried to take your bond earlier.”

“Tried and failed,” Mom mutters.

“Asteria’s presence here throws Ocharta’s leadership of the strike blessed into question,” Axel says.

Gideon launches for the wall, heading toward me. “Who’s stronger?” His eyes are flashing. “Will Asteria kill Ocharta?”

Axel shrugs. “I’m not sure. At home, their parents never let it come to that. They’re one of the rare families that didn’t encourage such in-fighting.”

“Fabulous,” I mutter. “That means Ocharta could kill Asteria, too.”

“Good riddance,” Gideon says. “One less dragon’s always a good thing.”