Page 38 of The Kraken Bride

My fire needed air to catch, and I had none. The sea had drowned the ember before it could spark. And now, for the first time in my immortal life, my dragon was as helpless as I was.

Nein, nein, nein. Not helpless. This couldn’t be my end. I fought as though my life depended on my success. Because it did.

Suddenly Sebastian was there, chaos bending to his will. One heartbeat, I was drowning. The next, I was free from the coil with his arms locked around my waist, iron and heat and unyielding force, his berserkerage banked. He hauled me against him and claimed my mouth with brutal precision, sealing his lips over mine as if he meant to steal something back that belonged to him.

I opened for him, greedy for oxygen. Air surged into my lungs in a violent rush, hot, sharp, and unmistakably his.

My chest burned as breath after breath was dragged into me. He didn’t let go. Around us, his tentacles lashed and tore, slaughtering mers with ruthless efficiency, even as he held me suspended between life and death, his mouth still locked to mine. The contrast was terrifying. Devastation and salvation bound together in one being.

Strength slammed back into me. My dragon roared. Agony ripped between my shoulder blades as the skin finally split, and my smokewings burst free. This was no release of tendrils but a violent unfurling of ash and fire.

The water hissed and boiled around us, unable to snuff out my wings as they swept outward, disintegrating everything they touched. The force of them hurled us upward. Up, up, through darkness, pressure, and chaos. But the higher we went, the more the wings faded until they were no more.

Sebastian’s grip never loosened as the sea screamed past us and the surface rushed closer. Finally, we breached the waterline. I inhaled, gobbling air as if it were my last meal. Fading sunlight bathed my face, warm and welcome.

He maintained his tight hold and swam us toward a shore that loomed in the distance. Glittering blue liquid leaked from his wounds. I frowned. Blue blood? That wasn’t a kraken thing. Not even an immortal thing.

“Listen to me,” he grated, his fury laced with concern. The dome-rune blazed, the one that bound him to the realm. “It’s going to take me.”

It? “What?” I cried, kicking harder to keep us moving. The rune?

“Listen!” he bellowed. Light glowed brighter and brighter from the runes in his skin, visible even beneath layers of soaked clothing. “I can’t stop it. Whatever you must do to survive, do it. Do you understand? I’ll find you as soon as I’m able.”

“Nein, I don’t understand.” Panic returned, and this time, there was no stopping it. Still swimming forward, I darted my gaze to him, then did a double-take. He was fading, disappearing. Even his grip on me lightened.

“Survive, Brona,” he commanded, our eyes meeting for a split second. He continued projecting fury, ja, but his concern had deepened into something I’d never seen in him. Panic of his own. “That is your only mission now.”

I reached for him, sinking my claws into his shoulders to anchor him here, with me, but in seconds, he vanished. The water turned cold without him.

“Sebastian,” I shouted. “Sebastian!”

No response. No ripple in the water. I tread in place, craning my neck in every direction. No sign he’d ever been here. If he didn’t come back… nein. I wouldn’t finish that thought. He would. He’d promised.

As the weight of my dress threatened to pull me under, I had no other option but to get to land. Maybe he’d materialized there?

I started forward again. The shore rose from the sea, a narrow strip of pale sand curved inward, hemmed in by jagged black rock that looked more torn than shaped. One of the islands Sebastian mentioned when he shared our entwined histories? Beyond it stood a dense cluster of trees, their trunks twisted and leaning, roots exposed as if clawing at the earth. Their leaves were thick and waxy, too dark a green, and they whispered against one another despite the lack of wind.

As soon as my feet brushed the ocean floor, I straightened. Panting, stumbling, I tripped my way to the sand, where I collapsed. What remained of my adrenaline fizzled, making my limbs feel heavy and useless.

“Sebastian,” I cried with all my being, hoping he heard me, desperate I would see him somewhere. Anywhere. Wanting him, needing him to be all right.

I’d always thought I should end up with a soft, gentle man. A poet, perhaps. But here, now, without Sebastian at my side, I realized I craved someone downright menacing to our enemies.

Him. I craved him and no other. I admitted it. But where was he? What had taken him?

Noises reached my ears. Snapping branches, birds taking flight. Apprehension crawled up my spine, sharp and immediate. The kind that usually preceded bloodshed. Someone approached. But were they friend or foe?

Sebastian’s command filled my head. Survive!

I lumbered to my feet and shed my gown as swiftly as possible, leaving me clad in azure lace undergarments. Not ideal, but better than doing battle in a hundred pounds of sodden silk, tulle, and hand-sewn crystals.

I knew what my sisters would do next if in my predicament. Shake off the fatigue, berserker-out and fry anyone they deemed a threat. Exactly what I should do. What I longed to do. Despite the molten heat in my veins, I remained me. The Pirouette Princess, trained to endure. To balance. To survive precisely as Sebastian demanded.

Thinking to hide, I ran for the—nope. I skidded to a halt. Merkind. A horde of them emerged from the bushes, wearing armor fashioned from the ocean itself. Breastplates of layered shell and coral hugged their torsos, slick with moisture and etched with runes. Nets of tightly woven silvered kelp wrapped their shoulders and waists. Bone charms and teeth dangled from leather cords at their throats, clicking softly as they advanced. What remained of their tails sloughed off as they moved, revealing legs.

Each creature carried a spear or trident, with other weapons strapped over its body. Daggers, whips, and even handguns.

I wheeled around, intending to what? Dive back into the water?