Page 78 of Ensnared
Oddly, at that moment, I can almost hear my mother’s voice.
You should never run with a pencil, darling. You could poke your eye out.
I can’t stop laughing the whole way down the mountain. Somewhere along the way, I fall and drop the dagger. I don’t stop to look for it. I just keep running. One of my shoes gets caught between rocks and I can’t pry it loose. I leave it and run the rest of the way with just one shoe.
By the time I reach the bottom and I’m looking around for the car, I realize that my sock gave out long ago. Every step behind me is marked by a bloody footprint. The strange thing is that my foot doesn’t even hurt. By the time I finally find the van, other vehicles are pulling up next to it. They’re white, and they have a blue stripe. The word Lögreglan is written on them, but I have no idea what it means.
When someone spots me, they turn on flashing lights.
It should scare me, but it makes me feel better. Police have flashing lights, right? Police, firefighters, and ambulances. But it’s not a police officer who climbs out of the car. It’s my mom. Her hair’s a mess, tumbling down her back. Her mascara has smeared and made raccoon circles under her eyes. Her floral caftan’s skewed so badly that I can see her hot pink bra.
I run on my bloody foot until I can leap into her arms.
“Oh, my darling Liz. Are you alright?”
I lie and nod.
“Your father and I were so worried,” she says.
I see Dad then, too, standing right behind her. “You’re going to be alright, darling. We’re here.”
But just when I should feel better, I hear the chanting again.
Hjartanu. Hjartanu. Hjartanu.
I open my eyes with a whimper and realize that I’m not back in Iceland. I’m not seven years old. No one’s chanting. I’m warm, and I’m not in pain. That’s when something clicks for me—I should be in pain. I was mauled by not one, not even two, but three different electro dragons.
Or was it four?
My brain is definitely still fuzzy.
But one of the reasons I’m warm is that I’m lying on a bed. And the other reason. . .someone’s arms are wrapped around me tightly. Someone strong. Someone large.
I lean back enough to see a familiar face.
Axel’s looking down at me with concern. “Are you alright? You sounded scared.”
I close my eyes again and collapse against him. “You’re alright.”
“Of course I am.” His breath warms my face, and my eyes finally stop burning.
“I’m still tired.”
His left arm releases me and his hand moves up to stroke my hair. “Go back to sleep. Your brother and sisters are fine. You’re safe. I healed you, and no one can hurt you with me right here.”
I know the world’s full of monsters—even before the dragons came, that was true. I know that no one can really ever keep me safe. But in this moment, I gladly believe his lie. My heart seems to buy it, too.
And this time, when the darkness beckons, I embrace it and let it drag me back under. After all, why should darkness scare me when I’m under the protection of my dragon prince?
17
I’ve always been a light sleeper. Most of my life, I didn’t even need an alarm clock. If I knew what time I needed to wake up, I’d usually wake up a few minutes before my alarm was set to go off.
After spending quite a few tournaments in the same hotel, Gideon surely knows that.
When he taps on the door, the noise startles me and I open my eyes. He doesn’t wait before coming inside, which is why he finds me with my head on Axel’s chest. His bare chest. My cheek’s pressed against it, all smooth, golden-brown skin and nearly rock-hard muscle. I try to sit up, but Axel’s arm wraps more tightly around me, his bicep bunching to hold me in place.
“So you just barge into people’s rooms?” Axel asks.
