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“You’re his bonded. You’ll never be a bother.” The woman smiles. “It’s my pleasure to serve.”
This is super weird. “Okay. Well, the thing is, I went to a nearby volcano—Eyjafjallajökull—I know I’m pronouncing that all wrong, but anyway, I went, and something really strange happened.”
She steps toward me, her eyes widening. “What? Tell me.”
“I saw these, like, lava creatures swimming in the volcano.” I wait for her to laugh. She doesn’t. I wait for her to arch one eyebrow and tell me I’m insane. “And apparently that’s not so weird to you.”
“You’re not the first to see the cursed.”
“The—the what?”
We’re the blessed. They’re. . .the cursed?
The woman’s eyes widen dramatically and her mouth drops open. “He spoke to me.”
“I mean, I could hear him too, but yeah. He can talk.”
She drops down on her knees and falls flat on her face, her hands extended up over her head, her palms also flat on the ground. She doesn’t move, breathe, or talk.
She just lies there.
It’s annoying.
“Alright, so yeah, Azar’s pretty great. But the thing is, they were talking to me.”
She sits up abruptly—pretty fast for such an old lady. “They could see you?”
“Wait, so people around here just know about the burning people and the dragons in the lava?”
She frowns. “Dragons?”
“Alright.” I start from the beginning, and it turns out some people have reported hearing or even seeing the people who chant “the heart” in the lava, but no one has ever seen dragons in there.
“The legends have been passed down for some time. The humans who displeased god, through cowardice, betrayal, or treachery, were trapped in the volcano, doomed to burn until someone comes to restore their hearts to god’s good grace.”
It explains why they chant ‘the heart’ over and over. “But which god are they being held hostage for?” I ask. “Aren’t there a bunch of them?”
“The Allfather, of course,” she says.
“Right.” I nod. “Odin.”
What did you say? Azar asks.
“Odin—also called the Allfather sometimes—is a Viking god,” I explain. “I think he’s had a lot of names, but those are the two most common these days. He’s just a myth, though. Don’t worry.”
He may be a myth, but my father’s name is Odinn, Azar says. He’s definitely very, very real, and that’s a bizarre coincidence, don’t you think?
15
Axel
From almost the moment I was large enough to leave the hatching caverns, I’ve been surrounded by my siblings, but not at all in the same way that Liz watches over hers.
No, mine wanted to eat me.
All save Hyperion.
My father had read the prophecy about the last egg and believed it. He thought, as the last hatched, I would be the key to restoring the future of the blessed. Yet, even his decree pertaining to my safety didn’t keep me safe. Had Hyperion not followed me around so dutifully, even Euphrasia could not have kept me alive. The blessed may not feel the same range of emotions as humans, but we know desire.
