He’s forgotten me entirely.
And we’re no longer bonded.
He could squash me like a bug and never regret it.And what’s worse, he could do the same thing to my siblings.The secrets hiding in my head are probably the only leverage I have.
I’m not sure why I could enter the volcano and talk to Freya, and I’m definitely not sure why she mademedecide the fate of the earth dragons, but she did.I chose to make them much more powerful, but now they’ll join the other dragons in being unable to lay eggs.Right now, all the earth dragons are figuring out that they’ve been upgraded, but no one knows it’s my fault.Or, I really hope they don’t.
Because the massive red dragon holding me like a squeaky toy looks angry enough to incinerate me if he had the slightest provocation.
Who are you, Liz?
Who am I?
How does he expect me to answer that question?My full name and address?My occupation?What my hopes and dreams are?That I think I’m in love with him, or I was, back when he could turn into the hottest man I’d ever seen who also made me laugh?
None of that feels...appropriate.
Although, what would feel right to me in this circumstance?
I’m currently dangling in mid-air, his mighty, scarlet claws clamped around my midsection.He’s thankfully giving my wings space, but he’s also smashing my right boob.It’s not comfortable, and we’re flying low enough that the ground’s racing past at a nauseating speed.I’m a little worried I might puke.
He must be getting impatient, because his claws are tightening.I decide to answer his question with a question of my own.“Do you remember me at all?”I hate how much I’m hoping he’ll recall something—anything at all.
Perhaps, like me, he has no idea what to say.We just keep gliding along, and my stomach is liking it all less and less by the second.I close my eyes tightly, hoping he’ll either land or let me go.
I remember you shooting out from the lava while horned creatures chanted Gullveig.Nothing before that.
“You were with me in the lava—in the same place,” I say.“Though you exited a little before me, apparently.”
Along with Gordon and Rufus.
“I’m so glad they’re alright.”I shift a little, trying to find a more comfortable spot to be pinned inside his massive claws.
Are you in pain?
It doesn’t sound like he really cares, so I just grunt.
He shakes me.How wonderful.Answer my questions, winged human.
“The name is Liz, you stupid red bully, which you know, because you said that earlier.”
Bully?
“And I’m not in pain,” I lie.Because there’s no way I’m about to tell him how much it hurts that he’sright here,after all that we’ve been through, and that he has no idea who I am.Instead of crying, I lean in to the fury flooding my body.“How am I supposed to answer questions like ‘who are you?’”I twist around so that I can at least see his massive head where it’s looming above me, clouds whipping past.I ignore how painfully cold the air around us is.
You didn’t answer.
“Because apparently, along with your memory, you lost every scrap of intelligence.I’m clearly a human female, and I used to be bonded to you, and I just shot out of lava with a new set of wings I never had before, and now you’re toting me around like I’m your enemy or my life is some kind of game to you.”
I realize that I still have one of my swords—it’s in some kind of leather thong that’s helpfully running through the space between my two wings on my back.I reach back and yank it free, waving it back and forth with numb fingers.“Now release me before I’m forced to cut your toe off.”
I expect him to squeeze me tighter, hiss, or roar in my face.
It wouldn’t have shocked me if he flew me straight up toward the sun until I couldn’t breathe.
I didnotexpect him to simply drop me.
I probably should have been better prepared.
