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She fell asleep moments after her daily cleansing ritual, just after dropping onto a bed with wet hair. She used to insist on sleeping downstairs, near her siblings.
Now she doesn’t even ask to leave.
It fills me with a sense of satisfaction, having her near me, in my lair, prone and vulnerable without fear. She knows I’ll protect her. I immediately shift into my flame blessed form. I’m always the most comfortable in my strongest iteration, especially when Liz is around. She feels safe—I want to keep her that way.
Azar has a lot to do, and so does Axel for that matter. It was always hard enough playing two leadership roles, but it’s harder still now that I must always be by Liz’s side. I should be directing the blessed to prepare for our looming departure. I also have directions to give in order to prepare for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving celebration.
But instead of sneaking out to work, I curl up beside Liz’s sleeping form and watch her breathe. Just for a moment.
Her small chest rises and falls—in my shirt. She asked to wear it to sleep in, and it made me feel strange inside. Seeing her in it—the shirt she was just grabbing with her small, delicate hands—makes me want to curl all the way around her and roar.
Which is idiotic.
I’m not idiotic, so I don’t do that.
But I am still here, watching.
The bond feels bright now, like a beacon in a dark night. I could always use it to locate her, but now she practically pulses with the same light from the bond.
My refusal to eat other blessed always felt like a deep, dark, embarrassing secret. Why have I always been so different? Why can’t I do the things that others of my kind do? Why haven’t I killed those who challenge me immediately?
It’s not that I’ve never killed any blessed.
Of course I have.
We’re a savage race, and when forced, I’ve dispatched my enemies whenever necessary. But to engage in a battle and instead of striving to incapacitate my opponent, plan to kill and consume them? It has never been something I could bring myself to do.
Perhaps because I’m earth blessed.
Or maybe because I’m weak.
That has always been my fear.
But Liz—the expression on her face when I told her. . . She’s a warrior. I expected her disdain. But she looked relieved. She looked. . .impressed.
In all my life, I’ve only desired the admiration of two blessed: my father and Euphrasia. But now, I desire above all things to win the high regard of a tiny human woman.
Who hates me.
At least it’s not personal. She hates us all. I can’t even blame her. If my father’s right, our removal of the heart may spell the humans’ eventual doom. I shouldn’t have told her my suspicions, but I couldn’t keep it from her anymore. It was eating at me.
That’s not a feeling I’ve experienced before, either.
Being bonded to a human is not for the faint of heart. They’re like little tempests in bottles, walking around feeling things all day long. But after over an hour, I finally force myself to my feet. I project a bright red flame shield around her, and then I finally drag myself away.
Unlike the other times I’ve tried to leave, this time, it doesn’t wake her. It could be that she’s more exhausted, but I think it may be that the bond has actually relaxed. I’ll test it more soon. For now, I’m just grateful I can fly far enough away not to bother her or allow others to see her themselves without causing her pain.
By dawn, I’ve met with the earth blessed, as Axel, and everyone else, as Azar, and plans are well under way for this Thanksgiving thing the humans do. Or at least, the humans are making plans for it. From the grumblings I heard, most of them are not keen on leaving all their subordinates they’ve trained here when we depart, but Liz is adamant that only the bonded humans will come with us.
I shift just after my arrival, so when Liz’s eyes open, I’m sitting in a chair next to the bed with my feet propped on the small table beside her. I’ve learned that when I’m lying next to her, she becomes agitated. Maybe I should have done that for precisely that reason. An angry Liz is a fun Liz, but with the day we have ahead of us, it felt smart not to work her up right away.
When she meets my eyes, she smiles.
I made the right call.
Nothing I’ve ever seen, no sunset, no mountain peak, no chemical reaction in the sky or algae bloom underwater, has ever been as beautiful as her smile.
“Axel?”
