Page 69 of The Kraken Bride

She struck him with a shadow-tentacle across the throat, right from her seat, never pausing while nibbling on her cupcake. His head slid from his body, hit the table, then plopped on the floor. He smiled the whole way down.

“I never intended on asking permission,” she announced.

I lurched back as blood sprayed in a straight arc. Shock and horror fed off each other when his head dissolved on the floor.

Only for a new one to grow from his open wound.

He resumed eating without missing a beat. At least his food wasn’t swimming in the crimson spray. “I have burned to ash, been sawed in half, had every organ removed, and endless other deaths you cannot even fathom. Nothing took.”

Harpa selected a second (blood-free) cupcake. “I simply love when someone gets their just desserts. Don’t you, princess?”

Jokull chuckled. “Nice play on words, little pearl.” Then he focused on me. “I’m sure Sebastian explained how he’s working to acquire the power to slay the unslayable. I don’t believe it, of course, but the legend has given the kraken king hope all these centuries. I admit, I’m a bit excited to dash them.”

And the hits kept coming. I’d known Jokull couldn’t be killed any other way but the path my husband had chosen. Sebastian had told me. But the truth of it hadn’t registered until this dinner, when a severed head lay at my feet.

The niggle I’d entertained finally revealed itself, taking center stage as a curtain peeled back. I could rack my brain all I wanted, read a thousand books, and interview ten thousand runestone experts, and I would not discover another path.

Sebastian had done all of that. The convergence stone must be utilized.

But I couldn’t sacrifice Sebastian’s heart. I just couldn’t. If pressed, he would have to surrender mine.

The moisture in my mouth dried. I could refuse to release his heart and force him to relinquish mine. To save his kingdom, he would have to.

My chest squeezed. I would gain the power to kill Jokull, and Sebastian could live a long, happy life.

Jokull folded his napkin on the table and sat back, turning his wine glass by the stem. “I remember the night Birta became the rune.” His features softened. “It could not take her love for her husband because he was already dead. So it took her love for the boy. I recognized something in her that day, and I think, nei, I am certain I will recognize the same in Sebastian.”

Harpa enjoyed another cupcake.

I sat frozen, trying to breathe. “And what is that?”

Jokull propped his elbows on the tabletop and smiled, and it wasn’t comforting. “A friend.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. “She drove you from the kingdom.”

He tsked at me. “She killed me, just for a moment, and tossed me beyond the dome. But as always, I revived. I would’ve come back immediately, but a goddess used the opportunity to oversee my capture. I spent centuries in her dungeon, being killed again and again, and I thought of nothing but that fateful night every day. How I had recognized myself in her. How Sebastian will change and become like me. I’ll invite him to kill me and get it out of his system, then I’ll revive, and I’ll claim Harpa. Cheers.” He saluted me and drained another glass of wine.

Nein. Just nein. He was lying. He must be lying. An attempt to prevent us from utilizing the rune.

Except he now had the very power we needed in his possession. Why give it to us if he truly feared someone could use it to end him forever? Because he didn’t.

I needed to speak to Sebastian.

“Do you know what it’s like to be the only one of your kind with a heart of stone?” He leaned forward as if sharing a secret. “It’s lonely. So. I will let Sebastian hollow himself out. And you, too, will let him.” His smile flashed again. “If you want to leave this manor.”

Well, well. Here was his trap. He hadn’t stolen the rune to keep it from Sebastian or stop us. He’d stolen it to make Sebastian come for it, and for me. To force him to use it while locked in this prison, under the primordial’s control.

“Actually,” Harpa said pleasantly, mimicking him, “you’ll be sending us on our way with what we came for.”

“I did swear you would leave this manor alive, whole, with the rune in your possession. And that is true. You will.” Jokull spread his arms, all generosity. Somewhere below us, water churned. “But I never said when I’d release you. Or that the weapon would not already be inside Sebastian.”

The doors sealed. I refused to give in to panic and tap my brand. I didn’t want Sebastian to risk his life getting here. Instead, I considered my options, and there was indeed a good one: using my connection to the dome.

Harpa might have a plan with an eighty-seven percent success rate, but mine clocked in at ninety-five.

“There,” Jokull said, satisfied. “Now we wait for the king.”

“Actually,” I replied in a mimic of him as well, “we do not have to wait.” I stood and strode to the prize of prizes.