“What the fuck, Bash?” I screamed, not daring to pull my attention away from the hideous monster.
“Shit!” My Mage scrambled to his feet, eyes wide. “That wasn’t supposed to happen!”
“No shit!”
I grabbed a second arrow and placed it in my bow, pulling the string back. The second I would’ve let it loose, I felt something slimy wrap around my feet. I only had a second to scream before I was dragged off the edge of the boat and into the water.
My ears rang, head reverberating with pain from where it had bounced off the railing.
And then, I was submerged completely in water.
The change was so sudden, so abrupt, that I didn’t have time to inhale before I was pulled beneath the freezing water. Panic clawed up my chest as I desperately twisted my body. The Kraken’s tentacle still held my leg in an iron vise.
I was going to die, I realized with a vivid clarity. And my death wouldn’t be from assassins or from Kings.
But a damn sea creature.
I was going to drown.
Black spots penetrated my vision, and I desperately wanted to gasp for air. The need was so strong, and my lungs were burning. One tiny inhale...
I was yanked from the water abruptly. Coughing, I only had a second to see that I was dozens of feet away from the boat and still clutched in the Kraken’s grasp before I was pulled back under.
Like the others, the Kraken didn’t seem to want me dead. Instead, he was taking me somewhere.
No, not somewhere, but to someone.
Aaliyah.
The she-bitch had some explaining to do.
Strong hands wrapped around my arm, tugging. I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know that it was Dair. Relief filled me instantly.
I wished I could open my eyes, could see, but I had to rely on sound and touch instead. The guttural roar of the Kraken. The release of the tentacle around my leg.
The sweet, sweet air as I was pulled out of the water.
I gasped, coughing wildly, and Dair patted my back.
The Kraken continued to roar, and it was only then that I noticed one of his tentacles was shorter than the others. Dair must’ve cut it off to save me.
“Are you okay?” Dair yelled. Even treading water inches from me, he was difficult to hear over the Kraken’s bellow and the rippling waves.
I nodded to tell him I was, though my throat burned and my body felt leaden. Still, I couldn’t focus on the many aches and pains vibrating down my body.
He cupped the back of my head and brought me into a quick, desperate kiss. His hands rested on the back of my thighs as he lifted me.
And then I was flying, flying, flying through the air, landing sharply on the nearest landmass. I screamed as pain radiated up my now broken leg.
“Fuck,” I cried. Unbidden, my eyes traveled to the skin. From the Kraken’s tentacles, black and blue bruises covered the pasty skin of my leg. Red welts, like ones you would get from too tight rope, intermingled. And from Dair’s throw...
My leg was twisted backwards, the brittle bone peeking through.
The pain was immediate and intense, unlike anything I had ever felt before. A strangled sob got caught in my throat.
Still, I tried to amble to my feet, using a nearby tree as leverage. The shooting pain clambered up my leg, and I immediately fell back down with a cry and curse.
In the water, Dair still fought the Kraken. Or, at the very least, attempted to fight. It was apparent to me that it was a losing battle.
He dodged and parried, sword stabbing any expanse of skin it could find. The Kraken cried, obviously in pain, but did not relent its ruthless assault.
I watched in horror as the Kraken batted Dair away as if he was nothing more than a pesky bug. My Mermaid mate went flying, blond hair disappearing into the thicket of trees.
He didn’t return.
I waited, breath held.
Please, Dair. Please. Please be okay.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the Kraken turned his face towards me. I didn’t know how he knew where I was, how he sensed me, but the single eye in his head seemed to narrow into a thin slit. I remained frozen on the ground, shivering.
Dair, please. Please.
The Kraken, oblivious to my desperate pleas, unfurled another long tentacle. It slithered through the water and onto the grassy shoreline that I was lying on.
The monster suddenly released a wailing sound, head canting backwards, before it began to shrink.
And shrink.
And shrink.
Soon, it was the size of a large fish bobbing inside the water, single eye wide and fearful.
I whipped my head in the direction of the now sinking boat. Bash stood on the railing, one hand tightly gripping the white sail and the other raised.
“That,” Bash called, breathing heavy, “was what I meant to do the first time.”
All I managed to do was release a giddy, dazed laugh/cry mixture before darkness consumed me.
THIRTY
DAIR
I shook my head rapidly from side to side, but it did little to clear the fogginess in my brain.
My body ached, pain radiating down my sides and to my legs.
I tried to recall what had happened, how I had ended up here, but the memory eluded me. I squeezed my eyelids shut, waiting.
Something had happened...
Water…
Monster…
Z...
I scrambled upright, wincing at the initial stab of pain in my stomach, before running through the trees.
Memories bombarded me with a dizzying clarity. The Kraken. Z. The fight. The asshole monster tossing me through a forest and into a tree.
Z.
Her name echoed in my head, giving me the strength to run through the pain. What felt like hours later but was probably nothing more than a few minutes, I broke through the treeline and landed waist deep in water.
Immediately, I felt my body change. The stretching sensation wasn’t uncomfortable, just strange. My tail emerged, and I kicked it out wildly, splashing up water.
Holding my breath, I surveyed my surroundings.
The
