by Linsey Hall
“I love all kinds of monsters,” I said. “They’re so scary.”
My friends would have laughed if they’d heard me say it, but Fabien ate it up.
“There’s no need to be afraid,” he said. “Of course there are dangerous things in the sea—in the Coral Palace, even—but stay by me and you’ll be just fine.”
“Really?” I lowered my voice, subtly nudging his wine glass toward him.
Fortunately for me, Fabien was a big fan of the wine and not as much of his dinner. I snuck some food while he was sipping, then made sure to distract him every time his hand went to his fork, going as far as to spill some of my own wine in my lap and let him help me clean it up.
Sorry, Syrea.
She’d clearly taken great pride in the dress, but she seemed like the sort to understand.
As Fabien copped a feel through the napkin that he pressed to my lap, I met Iain’s gaze across the table. The queen was nearly draped around him, but his eyes burned with heat in my direction. Desire, maybe. But also anger.
He did not like seeing Fabien putting the moves on me.
Fortunately, most of his ire seemed directed at the drunk man hanging onto me. Every time Iain looked at me, the heat turned to a different sort. Tension tightened the air between us, and I was shocked that neither the queen nor Fabien seemed to notice.
I turned back to my target and pressed a hand to his, which was still clutched around my thigh. His pupils were slightly dilated and his expression a bit softer from the wine.
I giggled as I whispered to him. “You’re getting a bit handsy, Fabien. Touching everywhere. Feels like you have eight hands. I’d swear you were an octopus.”
It was an awkward segue, but he took the bait.
His voice was slightly slurred as he spoke, and I counted myself lucky that my seat partner liked a drink.
“An octopus, you say?” he lowered his voice a bit. “There is a Kraken here. They’re so much more virile, don’t you think? I believe I would be a Kraken.”
I tried to keep my expression straight as I said, “I don’t think I’ve ever considered the virility of sea monsters.” This guy was a weirdo. “But they’re so fascinating. So powerful.”
I hoped he’d like that, since he’d compared himself to one.
“Indeed, they are. There’s one living on the other side of the Coral Palace, in fact.”
“Here?” The shock wasn’t faked. A freaking Kraken was living in the palace?
But it made sense. The tracking potion that I’d drunk made it clear the stone was somewhere nearby, and if the Kraken had it, everything lined up. The stone felt like it was fairly far away, and the Kraken lived on the other side of the palace.
“It doesn’t live in the inhabited part, of course,” Fabien said. “It’s far too dangerous. But the queen considers it something of a pet.”
“A pet? I would think you’d kill something so dangerous if it lived in your palace.” I actually wasn’t keen on the idea of killing such a magnificent—if terrifying—creature. But I wanted to get a feel for how big and therefore dangerous it was.
“Never! It is sacred to her Royal Highness. To kill the Kraken would be tantamount to a personal offense. A Primordial One would be put to death for that.”
Or a war started, if we killed the Kraken.
“Could we go see it?” I imbued my whisper with excitement.
He shook his head, seeming genuinely disappointed. “Would that I could take you, kitten. But the Kraken lives on the far side of the palace, through some passages that are reserved for its use only. If we were to approach through them, it would surely sense us and attack. And the queen would know, as the Royal Guard can sense when anyone enters them. It’s a vital safety measure.”
“Oh no, it sounds like someone has been attacked before.”
He nodded gravely. “Two young Fae, almost adults in body yet not in wisdom, approached several years ago on a dare. The Kraken sensed their incursion and took them for his own.”
“So he can move through the tunnels, even though they are not flooded?” I thought Kraken only swam.
“Like us, he can breathe air. He’s a special sort, an ancient hybrid like we are. He can move from the ocean to his lair, which is a bit like this—” he gestured to the interior of the room, which had been built out of the natural coral “—except not so fine. Though he does cherish gems and other strong magical items. A greedy Kraken, he is.” To emphasize his point, he squeezed my thigh.
I giggled and swatted lightly at his shoulder, catching Iain’s eyes as I did so.
He couldn’t keep them off me, and he looked pissed. A thunderous expression competed with the heat in his eyes, then he turned back to the queen. His face shifted, going stormy with desire as he looked at her.
The bastard.
I turned back to Fabien, determined to get more information out of him. But his head was nodding on his neck, and he looked about ready to fall asleep.
Crap. I’d given him too much wine.
But at least I’d gotten some really good intel out of him.
“Fabien?” I whispered sweetly, hoping I could sneak a bit more info about the Kraken out of him. “Surely there has to be a way to sneak through the tunnels so that we could go visit the Kraken? It would make me so… hot.”
It was over the top, but I had a feeling Fabien would like that kind of thing. And he probably would have, if he hadn’t fallen dead asleep.
Damn.
I eased him back so that he could lean against his chair. The woman to my right was glaring at me, disapproval in her eyes.
I shrugged. “Too much wine.”
She just scowled harder.
Since no information was coming from her quarter and the people across from me were too far away to speak quietly to, the dinner party was over for me. It was time to sneak away. Maybe I could find Syrea and sweet-talk some info out of her.
Quickly, I pushed my chair back and stood.
Iain’s eyes moved right to me.
“I’m feeling a bit tired,” I said. “I’ll retire to my chamber, if that is all right?”
The queen nodded absently. She couldn’t have cared less where I went. She had eyes only for Iain, and those eyes were ravenous. I wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t enjoying the attention anyway.
I swept away from the table, hearing a slight commotion as I did so. Had they noticed that my tablemate was passed out? Did the queen even care?
“Don’t leave!” her voice reached my ears, and I glanced backward.
Iain had stood.
He was coming after me.
Well, he could chase me.
A perverse part of me was happy that he was jealous. We were still mates, after all. I couldn’t help how I felt about him. It was like this animal connection that was impossible to ignore.
I reached the doors and moved out to the corridor, picking up the pace. I could feel him behind me, his attention like a silken ribbon wrapping around me to pull me toward him. But I didn’t dare look back.
My breathing quickened as I strode through the corridors, headed to the bedchamber that had been assigned to me.
I reached the door just as he caught me, his hand gripping mine and spinning me around to face him.
“Don’t run from me.” Heat blazed in his eyes.
It called to something in me, lighting a bonfire of lust and jealousy. “I don’t run. I ignore.”
He growled low in his throat.
I pressed myself closer to him, unable to stop the desire that surged through me. “I don’t see why you’re so annoyed. You were flirting plenty yourself.”
“Trying to get information.” His hands caged me in against the door.
“Same.” My breaths came more quickly, every one filling me with more of his scent.
It wrapped around me, making my head spin. The desire sparked like magic in the air, but it didn’t have the strange feeling that it had when we’d been in the chariot.
N
o, this was all us.
His head dipped toward mine as if he couldn’t help himself. I tilted my head back, raising my lips toward his.
His mouth dropped to mine, and the warmth of his breath sent a shiver through me. A half second later, his lips pressed hard and I gasped.
His tongue slipped inside and he kissed me as if he’d die otherwise. I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him, pressing my entire body against his. He surrounded me, making every inch of me light on fire.
“More,” I gasped.
He groaned and opened the door behind me, sweeping me up into his arms before I could fall. In six long strides, he was at the bed.
The world spun as he laid me down, and a half second later he was on top of me. I pulled him closer, wrapping my legs around his waist. Every rational thought faded as he kissed me.
His skillful lips moved from my lips to my neck, and his voice whispered roughly in my ear, “Caera. I can’t get enough of you.”
I arched against him, unable to speak but feeling the same.
How could I ever break the mating bond? Why would I want to?
Desire raged through me, and I struggled with his cloak, tearing it off him. I went for his shirt next, desperate to feel his skin against mine.
He tore his lips from my neck and rose high above me, tearing the shirt off to reveal heavy muscles and smooth skin. His dark eyes burned down at me, and I reached for him.
He grinned, and his hands went to my dress to lift it over my head. I obliged, arching so that he could pull it up. It was nearly to my hips when the room shuddered around us. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn’t us or a hallucination caused by desire.
The room was actually shaking.
I tore away from Iain, gasping. “What is that?”
Concern flashed across his face. “Earthquake.”
“What? Down here?”
He nodded, pulling me upright.
Suddenly, the room stopped moving. I adjusted my dress and glanced around, frantic. “Is it coming back?”
Would the water rush in on us?
The very idea made fear chill me to the bone.
“It’s over.” Iain dragged a hand over his face. “We don’t have time for this.”
I didn’t know if he was talking about the earthquake or the almost-sex, but I had to agree with both points. We were hundreds of feet underwater, at risk of dying any moment, and my people were losing control of their power.
We needed to get it together.
Anyway, if we were going to break this mating bond, I could not sleep with him.
Shaking, I turned to him. “You’re sure water isn’t flooding down the corridor now, as we speak?”
He nodded. “The queen mentioned these. We are near a small fault. The earthquakes are fairly regular, and the palace is warded against them.”
The words only made me feel marginally better, so I tried to shove the thoughts from my mind. He was so big and nearly naked next to me that I couldn’t possibly focus. I reached for his shirt and handed it to him. “Put this on.”
He dragged it over his head, and I tried to force the lingering desire from my body. “We need to get the SoulStone away from the Kraken.”
“I know. I tried to find more details about it—weakness, etcetera—but the queen wouldn’t share.”
I gave him a satisfied smile. “Fortunately, my seatmate at dinner was more obliging.” His eyes turned dark, and I scoffed. “You don’t get to be annoyed that I was flirting. You were flirting, too.”
“To get information.”
“Yeah. Same. And even if I was flirting because I wanted to, that’s my prerogative. We’re breaking the mating bond, remember? As soon as this is done.”
“Right.” His voice was rough. “We are.”
I knew he didn’t want to. It was hard enough for me, but even more so for male Fae. His natural compulsion to protect me would make it nearly impossible for him to let me go.
I moved farther away from him and leaned back against the headboard. “The Kraken lives in this same coral formation as the Primordial Ones, but on the other side, away from the official palace. There are tunnels to reach it, but once we enter them, the Kraken will know we’re coming and so will the queen.”
“And both will attack.”
I nodded. “It’s enormous, I think. And sacred to the queen. We can’t kill it.”
“Or we’ll incite war.”
“Yep.” He was good at figuring out where I was going with a thought. “I wouldn’t want to anyway. But I don’t know how to get to the creature without using the tunnels that will alert it and the queen to our presence.”
He frowned. “We need to approach from another angle. From the sea.”
“But how? We can’t swim like they can.”
“The queen has a submersible that she’s very proud of. We could steal it and approach the Kraken that way—you could use the tracking potion to find it. Do you know if there is an entrance to its domain from that side of the coral structure?”
“Should be. It needs to get out to the sea somehow.”
He nodded. “Then we’ll go get the submersible at dawn. I overheard the guards. There’s a shift change then. It’ll be easiest to steal the vessel then.”
“How can you tell when dawn is?”
“The lights.” He pointed to the blue crystals in the ceiling. They’d grown far dimmer, going almost dark. “They’re connected to the sun via magic. Their light changes with it.”
“Wow. No wonder it doesn’t feel that claustrophobic down here.”
He nodded. “And I noticed a strange clock in my chambers.” He got up and strode around the room, searching for something. Near the dressing table, he stopped. “You have one, too.”
I joined him, inspecting the strange little device made of shells. It had one hand that rotated between day, night, dawn, and dusk. “It looks like there are at least four hours left.”
“We need to rest, anyway,” he said. “I used a lot of magic to get us down here, and I need to recoup it. Fighting a Kraken while weakened is a quick way to end up dead.”
“We can’t fight it, remember?”
“Tricking a Kraken then. Which isn’t any easier with less magic.”
“Fair enough.” Especially since I didn’t have any magic, we needed everything he had. And there was a possibility we’d do a little bit of fighting anyway. Just enough to keep from being killed. “I’m going to get some sleep.”
“I’ll stay with you.”
I turned to him, brows raised. “I hardly think that’s a good idea if we’re going to break this mate bond.”
“Just sleeping. We shouldn’t separate in an enemy territory.”
I hated that he was right, and also that my heart leapt at the idea of sleeping next to him. “Fine. But stay on your side of the bed.”
He lay down next to me, as far away as he could get. It didn’t matter, though. I could feel the shift in the mattress when he moved, imagine every inch of his body.
This was going to be a long night.
9
Terror drove me from sleep. The nightmare echoed in my head as I jerked upright, gasping. Tears streamed down my face.
“Caera!” Iain clutched me to him, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against him as I tried to catch my breath. “What’s wrong?”
“Nightmare.” I took the briefest moment to absorb his heat and strength, grateful for his touch as I pulled myself back together. It grounded me, feeling as natural and as good as anything I’d ever felt.
We never touched unless it was with raging desire or violence, and it was startlingly good. It made me want more of it.
No.
Memories of the dream—of my people burning, dying—flew through my mind’s eye. I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
“What was it?” he asked. “Do you have them often?”
“All the time.” I should be used to them by now, but sometimes they were particu
larly vibrant and horrifying.
After last week, when I’d found the SoulStone and seen the vision of my past self burning the moor, the dreams had become worse. Guilt, probably. It sucked me in, threatening to trap me.
“What is it?” he asked.
Something made me say it—maybe it was the mate bond, maybe it was the darkness or the fear. But I said it. “I think I burn them all.”
“What?” Confusion sounded in his voice.
“The Great Burning. I caused the first one thousands of years ago. And I’m going to cause this one, too—the SoulStone showed me that.”
“That’s not possible.”
“It is if I’m reincarnated.”
“You aren’t to blame for the past.”
“Of course I am.”
He growled low in his throat, a sound of pure frustration. “Of course you’re not. And that kind of thinking will make you afraid of your magic. You’ll never get it back. And you’ll never master it fully even if you do. The fear will prevent it.”
The fear will prevent it.
It was like a light going on in my head.
I’d always felt that my magic was strangely weak for a Fire Fae. Was that why? Had I held this fear in me since I’d been born, my soul remembering the past in a way that my mind did not?
But if that was the case, how did I fight it?
“It doesn’t matter now,” I said bitterly. “I don’t have any magic at all, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
He pulled back from me, keeping a strong grip on my arms as he searched my face. “We’ll fix that.”
“Yeah, eventually.” I hoped.
“Now. Temporarily, at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can give you some of my power. Once you use it up, you won’t be able to recoup it through sleep like I do, but you may need it in this fight.”
Shock raced through me. Some supernaturals could transfer power to another, but I hadn’t realized he could do it. “Why? Are you feeling bad for me?”
“I don’t pity you.”
“Good.”
“But I do feel like shit that you lost your power while trying to save my people. And this is just part of me paying you back. Anyway, it’s just good planning. Your fire power may come in handy.”
