Page 74 of The Kraken Games

“So those males get to decide what happens next?”

“That is the way in Thedaka.”

“But… what about women?”

“What about us?”

“Don’t females have a say?”

“Yes, behind the scenes. The way I influenced Shen. If I had not spoken reason to him, quietly, within the privacy of our relationship, you would not be here now. Our feminine power takes place in private.”

“That’s about as antiquated as this mask.” Luna sniffed. “Isn’t it time female kraken had a public voice?” But then, what did she know? Sure, she had grown up and found her way in Motham as a female. But as one of a few outcast humans, she had no community, no roots, no history. All she knew, she’d taught herself out of necessity.

So how could she criticize the kraken culture? But still, she couldn’t let it rest. “What did you say that persuaded Shen to go to the elders?”

Hana didn’t speak, just shifted on her tentacles.

“When I mentioned Tomas, your whole demeanor changed. I saw it in your eyes.” Still, Hana did not speak. Luna turned impetuously, then winced as the heaviness of the helmet made her neck twinge. “Why will you not tell me?”

“I have nothing to tell,” Hana said quietly. But Luna noticed that the tentacles in her lap twitched sharply.

“I know that’s not true. Please, you know something about Tomas. Or does being female give away your right to speak with me too?”

Hana’s face tightened; she wrapped her tentacles around herself.

Luna pressed on. “You met him, didn’t you?”

Hana huffed a sigh. “Yes,” she said softly. “And the last I saw of him, Luna, he was alive.”

“And then?—”

“And then he disappeared from Thedaka.”

Luna buried her head in her hands, or at least tried to, but for this damn contraption. This was unbearably hard, all of it.

Suddenly Hana said, “My mother was a nurse. She adapted the unit you are wearing to help your brother breathe.”

“W-what?” Luna turned her head and blinked at the blurry image of Hana behind the glass. This old helmet… it had saved her brother. Suddenly Luna was no longer angry with the contraption.

“Surely it would have been too big?”

“We made a smaller-fitting piece around his face and hung the body of the mask on the side of his cot.”

“How did you feed him?”

Hana laughed softly. “Mom made a separate tube, and we fed him dolphin milk, because they are warm-blooded like humans. But he was not with us long.”

“Where did he go?”

“He was taken away—elsewhere. That is all I know, Luna. I promise. And I shouldn’t even have told you that. This is why you are here. Because I knew that much of your story was the truth.”

The sound of a heavy gong echoed up from the water.

“They are calling us back now,” Hana explained. “Come, my dear.”

When they entered the court cave, Razad took to the podium.

And beside him was Kai, beautiful, and somehow more powerful than an hour ago. He stood proud, shoulders back, spine erect.

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