Page 43 of Entwined

“Not only me,” she says. “No matter how stunning you are, no matter how powerful, no matter how much you may try to understand us—though I doubt most of you are trying very hard—as long as you’re forcing us to serve you. . .as long as you are giving us no choice, you’re evil. At least, by a human way of reckoning.”

And as their leader, if I allow them to behave as they have been, I’m condoning it, and she blames me. It’s something to think about. “But there’s nothing I can do about the bonds now that they’ve been made.”

“You can allow the humans to walk away,” she says. “Unlike entwined bonds, they won’t have any ill effects from being separated.”

“That we know of.”

She shrugs.

“We need the humans to tend to the other humans, and they help expand the search for us as well.”

“For the heart you’ll steal, destroying Earth as we know it.”

“What would you have me do?”

She frowns. “Can I think about it?”

“Could I stop you if I tried?”

She laughs then.

While I shift into Azar, and while we collect her siblings and travel to the center of the George R. Brown Convention Center—which truly has been flayed open in the center so that several hundred blessed will fit beside the gathered humans—she appears almost happy. The bond practically thrums with an effervescent sensation I quite enjoy.

It lightens my heart as well.

You look strong today, Asteria says. It’s quite a compliment, coming from her. She makes you strong. Now she looks. . .well, blessed don’t get jealous like humans do, but she appears to be irritated in some way.

Our bond makes us both stronger, I say. It’s new yet, but we’re learning how to navigate it. Don’t worry. It won’t delay our mating much longer.

Are you sure you still want to mate? She’s looking at Liz with narrowed eyes and sparking talons. I don’t like it. Before I can say a word, her head snaps back toward me. Don’t worry. I’m not my sister. I don’t destroy what I fear.

Where is Ocharta?

This Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude for them, Asteria says. As a boon for your bonded, I brought her mother, but I ordered my sister to remain at the edge of the festivities.

Ordered? I can’t help the amused tone of my question.

While you deepened your bond, or whatever you do up in your tower with your human, Ocharta challenged me.

You didn’t kill her?

Asteria’s half-smile is attractive. Not many blessed are more beautiful. My future mate doesn’t kill when he defeats an opponent. I’m trying to make him proud.

Well done. I don’t tell her that the reason I don’t want her dead is to keep Liz’s mother alive. She probably already knows, but with the females, it’s never wise to draw attention to anything that makes them irritable.

And I’ve been thinking. I’m sure you’d like someone more powerful than an earth blessed caring for your bonded’s family. It didn’t work for me to take her mother’s bond, but I can bond one of the sisters when she’s old enough and find strong but competent strike blessed for the others.

For some reason, the offer makes me vaguely uncomfortable.

In the meantime, I can transport all three to Iceland. It’s not as if their weight is substantial.

Liz has stopped talking to the ensnared who are preparing the feast and has circled back around to where I’m standing. “My siblings really, really love Gordon and Rufus. I think riding on anyone else would stress them out, and I suspect the relocation will be stressful enough already, but if you could kind of watch over them, I would really appreciate it.”

Asteria’s lips compress, but I’m guessing it’s imperceptible to a human. Of course.

But she’s displeased. I’m going to watch that closely. I want the two of them to get along, but in my limited experience, two very strong, very powerful females often do not.

Did you see that your mother is here? Asteria asks. I made sure that her bonded will not be.

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