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)
“When it broke, it called him back. He had no choice.”
“Is he safe?” Should I rally and find him?
“He is fine.” A pause laden with uncertainty. “He’s a good man, princess,” the bodyguard continued for my ears alone. “I’ve known and admired him since I was a boy. He protects those he loves with his very life.”
Ja, and that was the problem. The cost to him… perhaps being drained to death as his mother had been, and I was supposed to help him do it.
We reached the beach, where a large watercraft waited. Having never been on a boat, ship, or submarine, I tried to examine it, curious and a little concerned. But darkness had begun weaving through my vision.
I fought it, mind churning. I’d just burned an army alive and frightened myself doing it. I’d been marked by the same monster who’d marked Sebastian. And still—still—the last thought before the dark took me, ending my efforts, was of him. Maybe that was the firebrand bond. Maybe that was just me. Either way, I wondered if I could make him love me before the cost came due.
Chapter
Thirteen
They do not chase. They wait.
–An Incomplete Guide to Kraken Survival
Three Days Until Convergence
Tiny pinpricks of light flickered across my sea of nothingness. A pulse here. A falling star there. So pretty. I reached out, stretching my arm toward a glittering cluster of illumination. As my fingers brushed it, collecting the warmth, tingles rushed over my whole body. Fire-hot, familiar.
Those tingles intensified until they stung. The nothingness disintegrated at the edges, revealing chaos. Danger!
With a gasp, I jolted upright. Heart pounding, lungs dragging in air.
“Easy, Brona.” A welcome voice. Soothing, controlled, and absolute. “You’re safe now.”
My gaze jerked to him, my mind scrambling to make sense of what I saw. Not a battlefield but a bedchamber, Sebastian seated beside me, a picture of simmering intensity. Dark hair disordered, as if he’d stabbed his fingers through the strands too many times to count. Fine lines branching from tempest-glazed eyes. Chiseled jaw set hard with restraint.
“Safe,” I echoed, hollow. I wouldn’t feel safe until I watched the primordial burn to ash.
Sebastian looked away from me, as if he couldn’t bear to see the vengeance filling my eyes. “I let myself forget the circumstances. I won’t again.” His tone hardened. “You have my word.”
I might not be at full operating capacity yet, still shedding sleep and memories, but I understood this. Fear of losing someone else important to him had sunk its claws deeper. “You aren’t responsible, Sebastian. I don’t blame you.”
“I blame myself.” His hands tightened on his knees, knuckles whitening. An action meant to stop him from reaching for me? “I did not account for my reaction to you. But I am accounting for it now.”
I knew enough about warriors to know they couldn’t be talked around when they’d decided. They required showing, not telling. So I just breathed there beside him, luxuriating in the scent of amber, driftwood and spiced wine. All Sebastian. And all mine.
I examined the bed we occupied. Not one in the watercraft, and not the one in my suite. An enormous antique framed in blackened coral and etched with swirling kraken motifs, its rising posts reminding me of anchored pylons. Sapphire and midnight-blue linens lay smooth and perfectly ordered, heavy enough to feel protective as much as indulgent.
My shirt matched—wait. My shirt. Not Gunnar’s. Someone had replaced it with a slightly smaller tunic bearing the kraken royal crest.
My heart gave a stupid little kick. “You changed me?”
“I did. No one else will ever be allowed to do that.” A muscle jumped beneath Sebastian’s eye. “Not while you’re here. You were covered in blood, and I wanted it off you.”
A practical reason. Totally necessary. And very much something a firebrand would say. Which reminded of me what Jokull implied.
I could have set the suggestion aside again, but I didn’t. I’d just survived war with the primordial and an army of mers. No more backing down from tough questions. “Jokull implied I am your firebrand.”
Sebastian stiffened the slightest bit. “You are my consort. As we agreed.”
Okay, so, I’d asked. He’d dodged. Moving on. “Where are we?”
He didn’t answer right away. “Welcome to my room, princess.”
I took a second look. Walls of carved dark stone glistened faintly, as if centuries of tides had polished them. Above, veins of deep blue and silver threaded a tiered ceiling, catching the light to resemble moonlit currents. Windows intersected the stone, tall and arched apertures sealed with thick crystal panes. Shelves overflowing with ancient texts and framed maps marked with careful, strategic precision. The sitting area where we’d once eaten together what seemed a lifetime ago.
A multitude of weapons rested within easy reach. Swords mounted on the walls. A trident-shaped spear secured near the bed. Daggers waiting on the nightstand.