Page 88 of Entwined

But if he’s still alive?

We’re coming back here, and we’re going to destroy every single soldier in this military encampment.

Okay, maybe not all of them. They have families, and they didn’t do this. But Gideon and the tall man are both going down. I’m delusionally wondering whether Hyperion might bond me and help me reach my goals of justice and revenge, if Azar really is dead, when the door opens.

It’s the last person I expect to see, to be honest: my dad. His silver hair’s neatly combed, as always, and he’s wearing a black pinstripe suit, like it’s just another day in the office. His wry smile is the same one he gave me when I told him I wasn’t going to college.

“Button,” he says.

I completely descend once again into tears.

He sits next to me on the bed and pulls me against him. “It’s been a very hard two months.”

Something about that understatement makes me laugh, uproariously. “You think?” Tears are still leaking down my face, and I feel entirely unhinged. “I alternate between wanting to kill Gideon and all the generals and just wanting to kill myself.”

Dad’s sigh fills the tiny room, even more than the light coming from the open door. “You kept your siblings alive, and you freed your mother.”

“They might be dead now, thanks to Gideon, and he’s the one who freed Mom, not me.”

“He freed you too, even if you don’t see it yet.”

“Dad, I know they sent you to calm me down, but?—”

Dad drags me against him for a hug, and then whispers against my ear. “If you don’t calm down soon, they’ll kill you.”

Gideon doesn’t have as much power as he thinks. I’m sure he thought that he could protect me, but my dad knows. The powers that be won’t allow me to leave here, not ever. Not if they think I’m a risk to them or of telling the public the truth of what’s happening and what they’ve done.

If I’m not on their side, I’m a traitor, and that’s enough for them to kill me out of hand. I wonder what they’re telling the world about Reykjavik. But I know that if I want to make it back to Selfoss, I need to convince them that I’m on their side. I’m not a very good liar. But I wasn’t very good at a lot of things. . .until I had to be.

“Thanks,” I say. “I needed that hug. I think it’s hard for me to accept that the shackles bonding me to that creature are really gone. You know?”

“Do you mean that?” Dad asks.

“Of course,” I say. “Doesn’t Mom say the same kind of thing?”

Dad nods slowly. “She does, but when her dragon died, she didn’t try to kill the one who orchestrated it. She kissed him.”

Mom kissed Gideon? That’s a strange image. “Well, I’m not sure that I’ll be kissing anyone any time soon, but I have realized that he’s not the bad guy.” I nearly choke on those words, but the sooner I come around, the more believable it will be.

“You’re probably still a little groggy from that stuff they gave you to stop your heart.”

“I hear I was out for a long time,” I say.

“They couldn’t revive you until they were sure that Azar was dead—they couldn’t risk your bond surging back into place. And then they had to get you away from the mess before they could do much, too.” Dad chuckles, and it sounds so forced, I can’t imagine that anyone would buy it. “They brought you here in a refrigerated cabin on a plane, you know.”

“They did?” I ask. “Where are we, anyway?”

“You know, there aren’t many hospitals in Iceland, so they didn’t have many options, but thanks to that other red dragon taking out Reykjavik, they were stuck bringing you to Njarðvik.”

A man in a uniform bursts through the doorway. “Alright, that’s all the time we have.” He’s scowling. I’m guessing Dad wasn’t supposed to tell me that we’re still in Iceland. I wonder how far Njarðvik is from Selfoss. . .

I leap up to hug him—even if they’re using him to try and manipulate me, he passed me a message to be careful, he clearly still loves me, and most of all, I’m happy to see him.

“I was so scared when it all happened,” he whispers. “Thank you for keeping your siblings safe, and for everything else.” He has tears in his eyes when he releases me, and I wonder whether Mom really did survive. If so, he’s probably thanking me for that, for keeping her alive when she wanted to die.

But when Dad leaves, it’s back to a dark room and no company.

That’s fine, because I start working on a plan in earnest. My swords are somewhere close, and if I can recover them and get free, all I need to do is find an earth dragon and. . .

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