Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill Read Free Book Online Page A

reached into the pocket of his furry brown coat and pulled out a pipe. He gripped it thoughtfully in his teeth. “Go get Auntie,” he said. “And tell her I was right.”



CHAPTER TWELVE
    After the runty god’s unintended creation of three whole and distinct universes, and after the inevitable grumbling that followed, the Old Gods discovered that the new worlds were stable and
whole
. They didn’t wobble. They didn’t jitter or bend. And so twelve of the Old Gods set about making universes of their own. They built universes based on mathematics and universes based on magic and universes based entirely on whimsy. They built worlds clustered together and worlds scattered apart and worlds
within
worlds, fitting inside one another like nesting dolls. Each world shimmeredlike bubbles in a surging sea. And they were beautiful and unique and
loved
. The gods loved their worlds and they were loved in return.
    However, while the twelve Old Gods were creating the many worlds of the multiverse, the thirteenth god—the Nybbas—made nothing. It couldn’t be bothered. It pursued its own pleasures instead. It spread malaise, division, mistrust, and despair. It fed on unhappiness and pain.
    But soon it longed for more. Power. Control. It saw how the other gods were venerated in the universes they made. Cherished. Adored.
Loved.
The Nybbas was loved by no one.
    And it seethed and seethed.
    And in its seething, it concocted a plan: The Nybbas began to follow the dragons.
    Long ago, you see, dragons were the only creatures of the multiverse who were able to travel from world to world. They could press themselves against the skin of one universe and pass into another as easily as through water. They were bold fighters, long-lived and resilient, but they lived in fear of one another. Indeed, their fear was so great that even their own reflections terrified them. And so they spent their lives alone.
    Fully grown dragons, you see, do not have hearts intheir bodies. How could they? Hearts are tender, breakable things and would be burned to cinders in the terrible fires blazing inside the dragons’ chests. When dragons reach adolescence, they remove their hearts, encase them in scales and dragon tears—a substance that when dry is as luminous as pearls and as hard as diamonds—and cleverly hide them away. They must keep the location of their hearts a secret, lest they be found and stolen. Whoever controls the heart controls the dragon.
    The Nybbas knew this, of course. It also knew of my world—its mirrored sky was the perfect prison for the fearful creatures. And so the Nybbas, using trickery and cunning, stole the heart of every dragon in the multiverse. It brought the hearts to my world and waited for the dragons to come looking. Once they arrived, the dragons were unable to face their own reflections, and could not leave. And so it was fear, their own debilitating fear, that gave the Nybbas the key to their enslavement.
    AN ARMY OF DRAGONS , the Nybbas whispered.
    THE MOST POWERFUL SLAVES IN THE MULTIVERSE , the Nybbas crooned and crooned.
    AND SOON I SHALL BE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO INVADE WORLD AFTER WORLD AFTER WORLD. EACH SHINING UNIVERSESTRUNG AROUND MY NECK LIKE BEADS ON A STRING. AND EVEN THEIR GODS SHALL LOOK UPON ME AND TREMBLE!
    The rule of the Nybbas was short by a god’s standards, but for us it was many generations of slavery and misery and subjugation. It was a dark time for my world, a miserable time, until one day the groans and pleading of my world were noticed by the stubby, runty god.
    And he roused his brothers and sisters from their godly dreaming and prepared for war.
    Now, I don’t suppose that you have ever seen an attack led by an army of gods. I myself have not, but there are surviving accounts of what happened that day. The seams along the western edge of the mirrored world stretched, then bulged, then split like a melon, and the gods rained down.
    The Nybbas fought but lost. A god cannot kill another god and