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Sammy’s face falls. “I hate all your stupid rules.”
You can’t fly, Gordon says. Neither can I. I hate that too, but I can’t change it. This is like that. If it was a rule I could break, I’d do it for you.
A tear rolls down Sammy’s cheek as he nods. “Alright. If I find a four-leaf clover, I was going to wish you could bond me, but instead I’m wishing for you to have wings instead.”
I’d give you the best rides through the clouds. Gordon and Rufus are the fiercest and the strongest of my earth blessed. Even the strike blessed wouldn’t attack them without a large group. To see him being so gentle with a human. . .it’s shocking.
I’m not the only one affected.
All around me, blessed begin to ask their bonded for their permission to work toward better bonds.
“Ocharta’s not even here,” Liz says. “Should we let her land?”
I notice her circling overhead. She could probably hear everything said, even watching as she was from afar.
Liz’s mother shakes her head. “Nothing she says will change my decision.”
She will not be allowed to disagree with me. I can give Liz and her mother that much. Liz may trust the others to follow my lead, but Ocharta would never voluntarily agree to relinquish her control over anything or anyone.
Liz doesn’t argue, thankfully.
In the end, only forty-nine humans opt to stay in Houston. Their blessed agree that they may remain while we travel to Iceland. The other humans agree to go voluntarily with their blessed, many in the hopes that the bond may be improved.
Two of the pairs are at an impasse—one strike blessed, one water blessed. Neither blessed is willing to relinquish their human, but the humans are also not willing to voluntarily relocate.
You will both stay here in Houston, then, I say. In a week or two, I’ll send Hyperion to collect you, either with or without your humans. I pause, looking at them both in turn. You disappoint me.
The humans could kill us when you leave. Trillius snorts, the tiny fins alongside his body rippling slightly. He’s such a light blue that he could almost disappear if he flew instead of swimming.
Petrine tosses her head, her silver eyes flashing. You’re sentencing us to death.
No more than you sentenced them to the same when you bonded them. You can choose to release them and come with us. Or you could try to convince them that you’ll change, that you’ll listen to them, and not simply force them to do things against their will.
Trillius gnashes his teeth. The lion will never lie with the lamb. They have this analogy here on Earth. We will never be sheep, no matter how much you try to scare us into bleating.
“Even lions follow the pack order,” Liz says. “And your leader’s asking you to make better choices. Every decision we make has consequences.”
“Are we ever going to eat?” Coral asks. “The food’s getting cold.”
“Yes,” Liz says. “Sit. Azar will work all of that out, but we should eat. Cold or not, this is quite the feast.” I can tell she’s trying not to think about all the humans they forced to make it for them. At least she’s planning to free them soon.
“Why aren’t the blessed eating?” Coral asks. “We made a lot of food.”
“Here.” Sammy hands a whole turkey leg to Gordon, who snaps it up without issue.
I don’t tell them that most of the blessed are having a pre-departure feast behind the building from our gathering—several earth blessed were sacrificed for it. I have trouble talking about it. I know it’s our way. Either the earth blessed die or they all will, and at least the earth blessed are able to procreate, but it’s not a very reassuring thought as their prince.
Coral and Jade are feeding Rufus, too, and he’s eating, in spite of sideways glances from the gathered blessed. I wonder whether the other humans know what the water and strike blessed eat. Clearly Liz’s mother does. She looks almost as sick as Liz looked when I told her. You’d think the humans who hate us would be fine with our winnowing down our own population.
Deciding there are unlikely to be many altercations from this point forward, Hyperion launches into the sky, heading for the blessed feast. It’s exhausting to open up portals, even relatively short hops from here to Selfoss, Iceland, and he’s offered to help me.
Once Liz finishes eating, she circles back around. Thankfully, the two remaining idiots, Trillius and Petrine, have decided to leave their humans here and travel with us to Selfoss. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than forcing them to stay, knowing they’ll be attacked upon our departure. It was too much to hope that all the blessed would be able to convince the humans they’ll change their ways.
Liz looks calmer now, which is probably the result of the progress we’ve made today with healing the bonds of the other human-blessed pairs. Maybe it really is a special day. Thanksgiving. It sounds special.
“Hey.” Liz leans against my front leg. “How are we getting there, exactly? You said you can move us all, but what are you going to do? It’s not like the earth blessed can fly there, and it’s a long way to swim.”
You’ve seen my red energy domes, I say. I’ll create a portal using the same energy, but instead of a dome to hold something in or keep things out, I rip the fabric of our current location, punching a hole through to the place we want to go.
