“Don’t be mad, Liz,” Sammy says.“Okay?Promise?”I see him, then.He’s standing near Rufus, his arms around his neck.
“Don’t be mad about what?”
But before I can even try to stop him, Sammy’s entire face squints up tightly, and all the blessed around me gasp.
Rufus shudders once, and then twice, and then he shakes himself off and stands.When he turns toward me, he’s smiling.
“What just happened?”I ask.“What’s going on?”
Your little brother has bonded asecondblessed.Azar looks perversely pleased.
“But he can’t...”I shake my head.“That can’t be done.Right?”
“Why not?”Sammy shrugs.“Rufus needed me, too.”
The Prime Minister’s watching us carefully, which means this isn’t the best time for me to freak out.
“We’re still learning how to navigate some parts of the human-dragon bond,” I say.“Clearly.”
“It’s an exciting thing to be a part of,” he says.“I look forward to many discussions with you about it.”
“What exactly do you want from us?”I arch one eyebrow.
“We didn’t leave ourselves a lot of negotiating room, for sure,” the Prime Minister says.“But I think you’ll find we’re not really asking for much.We can get into all that later.For now, we have plans set in motion to see that you have what you need while you’re getting established.”He leans toward me a bit and drops to a whisper.“What exactly do all the dragons eat?”
“Actually, about that,” I say.“Many of the dragons won’t be able to eat at all, not until they bond a human.”
He blinks.“So that’s what that one needed?”He swallows.“He needed to be bonded to a human?”
I nod slowly.
“And how do humans know whether they’re...”He clears his throat.“Eligible for a bond like that?”
I smile.“I’m guessing you’d like to give it a go?”
He blushes a bit.“I really, really like the flame blessed.”He glances at Hyperion.“But this little girl, your sister, if I understand it, says she’s just bonded the only other one on Earth.”
I chuckle.“That’s true.As you know, I’ve bonded Azar.”
“The electro dragons—the strike blessed, that’s what they call themselves, isn’t it?”He glances back at Asteria.“They’re also very stunning.”
Can you hear me?Azar asks.
His eyes widen, and he adjusts his glasses before nodding slightly.“That was quite strange.”
“You’re a very lucky man, Mr.Albanese,” I say.“I think we may be able to work something out that benefits all of us.”
“I do think very few countries will be keen on fighting with us in the future.”His smile widens, and he glances back at the strike blessed like Christmas has come early.
Since it’s December fourteenth, or maybe the fifteenth?
I think he may be right.
25
Liz
Even with Azar’s magic to pull on, and the heartstone, it takes severaldaysfor my disgusting arm and hand to heal.Every time I moved and saw the gleaming white bones from my arm poking through the charred tissue, I almost threw up.
