Page 34 of The Kraken Bride

Bile rushed up my throat the second I spied the primordial’s victim. Fresh from battle, mouth open in a silent scream. Broken limbs. A gaping chest with missing organs. One hand—missing its pinky—rested over his brow. Along that arm were symbols drawn in blood I couldn’t decipher. Not runes but words, perhaps. I thought I detected ancient Galdrastafir.

Sebastian’s nostrils flared. “The message says, I remember how good you taste.”

My dragon roared. “I will roast him alive, I swear it,” I announced before I even realized the words were brewing. The most startling fact? I meant them.

He petted my side, an act that soothed me and my dragon.

Jon smacked Sebastian’s shoulder. “Gotta admire the man’s style. It’s memorable. But no roasting is required, princess. I want to wear Jokull’s skull as a helmet and his ribs as a vest while I rip out the hearts of everyone who aided him.”

I mean, it wasn’t the worst visual. I’d heard more violent descriptions from Olyssa.

“Give me the rune now then,” Sebastian said.

“So you can break our truce and come after me before Jokull?” Jon scowled. “Not happening.”

“I’ll end him when the rune transfers. You will give me that rune the day before convergence, as agreed.” A tempest raged in his irises. “If you betray me, Jon, I will make what the primordial did look like the best days of your life.”

Having said his piece, he shifted me toward the exit.

And here was another reason he’d formed an alliance with Jon. The shifter king had possession of the stone. A little fact the kraken king left out when he explained the situation to me. But I understood. I’d been an unknown then, and he was as strategic as his grandmother.

“Your woman better complete her part at convergence.” Fury coated the shifter’s words. “Jokull is recruiting merkind, and their numbers grow daily. If you can’t kill the primordial, I’ll have no choice but to join him and end you.”

Sebastian’s arm tightened around me. He guided me from the area, through the warehouse.

I pressed my hands over my stomach. Everything hinged on me.

Chapter

Ten

A kraken is only dangerous three days a week. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

–An Incomplete Guide to Kraken Survival

Another car ride, this one accomplished in total silence as Sebastian typed furiously on his phone.

I let him work, though I didn’t know who he communicated with or what he ordered. From my angle, the screen appeared blank. I didn’t mind. I used the opportunity to sit with my thoughts, going over everything I’d learned.

In four days—closer to three, really, with the day nearly spent—the outer sea tide, the inner dome tide, and the moon’s pull would fall into perfect sync, awakening the rune. For a short window, I must listen to its whisper and respond. Somehow, this rune would imbue him with enough power to defeat the first-ever kraken berserker. A monster who’d eaten his finger and taunted him about it.

“Are you ready for our date, Brona?”

His low, smoky voice snapped my gaze up. He’d stored his phone. Had emerged from the car and even filled the open doorway, peering down at me. Amusement curved the corners of his mouth.

“Ja. And nein. I’m worrying about the runes again,” I muttered in Japanese, lest any listening ears were hanging around. “Three open-ended details remain. The price for using it. What it actually does. How you used it to drive out the primordial the first time.”

As I spoke, he removed his glove. After pocketing the leather, he cupped the side of my throat. Skin to skin. I gasped as the pad of his thumb drew circles around my hammering pulse, reminding me of a predator closing in on prey. Slow, measured, intent.

“Jokull cannot be killed. Even when he loses his head, he regenerates. But the rune will stop all regeneration.”

He used his native tongue.

“Come.” He offered me that same hand, and I accepted, reeling. “I will tell you the story about driving him out when we are inside.”

Goose bumps broke out as I rose. Cool, salty air tried to kiss me, but his sizzling heat chased it away. Only a whisper of space between us as he led me forward.

A colossal building towered before us. A monument that could have been dredged from the ocean floor, fashioned from black stone shot through with veins of deep blue crystal, the surface carved in sweeping, wavelike patterns that seemed to move. Tall columns flanked the entrance, their bases resembling coiled tentacles that disappeared into shadow.