Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
His hair hung loose, dark and wavy while his ash and melted gold eyes fixed on me with unmistakable appraisal. As if I were a long-anticipated meal.
Power rolled off him in heavy waves, pressing against my skin, my bones, my dragon. The air itself seemed to recoil.
This was no king. This was a predator, and I’d just become his prey.
“You are the primordial,” I stated, certain. I pretended my voice hadn’t trembled.
He smiled, revealing red blood on his teeth. Red. It wasn’t Sebastian’s. But whose was it? “I am indeed the monster you speak of.”
Run. But I couldn’t. The mers had hemmed me in, forming a circle around me and the first kraken berserker.
My stomach turned inside out.
His gaze roved over me. “I hear Sebastian is quite taken with you, the little lizard ballerina. That he is reacting to you in ways he hasn’t with any other woman.”
I didn’t let myself get snared by his implication. Not here, not now. “What I am is your worst nightmare.” I fought to draw fire into my throat. Come on, come on.
Buy time. I ran through my mental list of Adelaide’s advice… oh, forget it. Today, I would trust in myself, and myself believed I should throw him off the scent. “And for your information, Sebastian’s grandmother assured me I can’t win his heart, and he’ll never keep me.”
As I heard my own words, heat filled my throat, my jaw, my mouth. Weakened but there. Hot enough to burn, but not hot enough to ash. Should be the perfect temperature in just another minute or two…
To my surprise, Jokull’s features softened at the mention of Lady Harpa. “Now there’s a woman worthy of being queen of the kraken.”
Well, well. He admired Sebastian’s grandmother. If he considered her his own firebrand, even better. He might pull his punches.
Hotter and hotter. “Mind if I inquire about your plan today? Every villain has one.”
He smiled and stepped closer. I stepped back, aware of the warriors behind me. Almost hot enough.
“I do have one,” he began.
Now! I unleashed my fire. His flesh melted in an instant. His bones charred. Then everything reformed in seconds. Muscle, skin, hair. He continued on as if nothing had happened.
“I’d hoped to speak with Sebastian personally. However, I’m here only to send him a message.” With no more warning, a shadowy tentacle sprang from his body, snaking around my wrist and yanking my arm in his direction.
He brought my captured wrist to his mouth. Before I could process what was happening, he bit off my pinky.
Searing agony. Stars winking before my eyes. Laughter erupting all around. The smiling primordial crunched on the bone.
A scream burst from me, and somewhere far away, in the depths of my mind I’d never dared venture, I thought of Sebastian’s missing finger, and understood the primordial’s message perfectly.
I didn’t think, just unleashed another stream of fire upon the mers.
As their pained cries rang out, I ran. Just ran.
Chapter
Twelve
Leave before you think you should. Even then, it’s probably too late.
–An Incomplete Guide to Kraken Survival
Pain plagued me. I pushed past tree limbs, stumbled over fallen branches, and stepped on sharp rocks. But I didn’t slow. I navigated the forest, cradling my injured hand to my chest as it throbbed fast and furious, matching the erratic beat of my heart.
Trees towered in every direction, camouflaging what lurked ahead. My anxiety grew with each step. There could be traps. Mers could be hiding, watching me, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Either way, danger tracked my every move.
Once the primordial and his army healed—and they would heal—they’d hunt me if only to use me against Sebastian. So I sought shelter first.
If I could recover my strength, I could fly.
If I could fly, I could escape this land.
If I could escape this land, I could burn it and my pursuers to ash.
A manic laugh bubbled from my dragon. Ja. Kill—them—all.
The forest thinned, opening into a hollow I hadn’t sensed until I stood at its edge, nearly falling in. Stone all around. Not the jagged, torn rock of the shore, but something older. Ancient masonry that had endured time, wars and tide. Heavy with the weight of the ages.
Amber-veined boulders rose from the earth, forming a series of towering circles with razored points. The last rays of sunlight struck the rocks, seeming to ignite them from within.
I whimpered with relief. So did the dragon. Gold. Not polished, but alive. The kind only created by dragon fire and the passing of centuries.
Nests, accessible only by air. This place had once known a dragon’s hottest flame. This must be one of the islands Sebastian had mentioned.
Someone, perhaps the mers, had attempted to extract the gold. Score marks abounded.
Didn’t matter. Safety.
I used the last of my strength to unleash my smokewings, the appendages a tangle of heat and ash. The current dragged the weight of my body high, higher, every flap a new lesson in agony. Reaching the jagged upper points, I noticed abrasions. Courtesy of grappling hooks, I’d bet.