Page 52 of Entwined

When we reach Iceland, the remaining bonded humans will be forced to manage the local population all alone. Hyperion looks even more amused. I don’t really care—they don’t do much for me. But I imagine it won’t make your followers very pleased.

They shouldn’t have acted as they did, I say. And once they did bond another living being, they should have treated them with more respect and less force. They should have made the bonded humans like them, or at the very least, respect them.

Why does the ability to force the humans’ behaviors exist, if we’re not supposed to use it? Asteria asks. We’re the dominant beings. Why must we earn their respect?

My future mate’s asking, but she’s clearly asking because of the feelings and thoughts of the other strike blessed. If I want to keep things under control, which I must as Recovery Leader, I don’t have a lot of options. I pull on my bond, drawing Liz to me.

Like it or not, this is the way of the blessed. If I want them to accept an authoritarian command, even one that forces them to rectify a prior misdeed, I must have the strength to back it up.

Miracle of miracles, Liz responds to my tug. Get on.

She does, without argument or complaint.

The second I sense her gripping the saddle, I burst upward, winging up as high and as fast as I can. And then I wheel around, the rage inside of me building. The blessed want to be ruled by force? They don’t want to grant others’ choices? Fine. I’ll show them what that feels like.

Liz presses a hand against my side. “You can’t kill them.”

They’re defying me—questioning my authority.

“But you just told them that they can’t keep their bonded humans—I’m sure that stings. And you’re telling them they just have to agree with you. That’s exactly what you’re telling them is wrong.”

Someone has to lead.

“But if you lead with reason, you won’t have to fear their actions when you aren’t close.”

She’s such a brilliant, blinding light that sometimes I wonder how I lucked into bonding her. What do you suggest I do instead of roasting them into submission?

“Show them how you could behave, but how you choose not to behave and then ask them to do the right thing. Ask them to release their bonded of their own will, because the humans don’t want to stay with them. Ask them to make the right decision.”

Then I can incinerate anyone who doesn’t choose correctly?

Liz’s laughter is like a gorgeous sunrise, brightening even a dark and irritating day. “No, you mustn’t do that. You must lead them and hope they follow.”

This plan is doomed to failure.

“I thought the same thing about us, Azar.” She pats my side, and with that one line, she wins, because she’s implying that we aren’t doomed. I want—very much—for that to be true.

Even so, I’m angry enough at the blessed for challenging me that I can’t simply land again. Instead, I swoop overhead and release all the rage that’s pent up inside. As ever, it comes out in the form of molten heat. It would hit the people below like a wave, probably killing most of the humans, so I use my power to negate it just before it does.

Even so, it makes a decent show of strength as I land.

I could incinerate anyone who disagrees. I could force you to heed my orders. But I’m not going to do that. Just because we can do something, that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. So I’m going to apologize to my bonded.

Liz slides down my back.

I turn to face her. I’m sorry. I should not have bonded you without asking. I should not have threatened you, or used your siblings’ safety as a bargaining chip to secure the behavior I wanted.

“A lot of the other bonded have asked me how we entwined, and I think the answer is mutual trust. In order to entwine, the bonded human and their blessed must begin to trust each other.”

It’s not lost on me that my bonded is trying to say blessed instead of her favored term—dragons. She’s really trying not to be outrageous in this charged situation. They may not notice the small things, but the blessed are murmuring, and not in the same way as before. They sound less angry and more contemplative.

My job as your leader isn’t just to order you to do something. It’s to show you the better way to behave and trust you to do it. So today, I’m asking you all to do the very thing we should have done from the beginning. Ask your bonded if they will stay with you. Entreat them to work toward a partnership, instead of being your slaves. If they refuse, if they can’t ever see a way to trust you, then let them stay. And in the future, should you want to bond a human, don’t force them into it. You should be entering into the bond with a desire to entwine, not just ensnare.

“Will you bond me?” Sammy asks, loud and clear. “Please?”

When I turn, he’s looking at Gordon, his hand outstretched. Even with my blessed heart of stone, I’m moved.

I’m sorry, Gordon says. I would, but I can’t. Earth blessed can’t bond humans.

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