Page 56 of The Kraken Games

Afterward, he found her in the kitchen, putting the whisky into the cupboard. He noticed that apart from a can of baked beans, it was bare. “I need a way to contact you,” he said.

She nodded. “I’ll give you my phone number. How do you make contact from down there?”

“We have a sonar system under water, but I can engage with a phone on land using a special app. We use it to correspond with Thedaka during the games.”

“Cool, I’ll go grab my cell.” She disappeared into another room, was gone an inordinately long time.

When she came back her face was pinched, worried.

“My phone’s disappeared. I can’t find it anywhere.”

“When did you last have it?”

“It was in my belongings. Maybe I left it in the water taxi coming home. Guess I’ll have to go back and check.”

He wrote a code. “When you find it, punch in this number. It will allow you to access the app. Keep it to yourself, it is strictly for kraken folks on land. That code relays messages to my personal number. Use that, and I’ll be able to message you back.”

He hesitated at the door. “But don’t expect an answer for a week at least. I will be put in isolation.”

Her eyes widened. “They’ll isolate you? Why?”

“To contemplate my folly in letting a human win,” he said with a grim smile.

For a moment emotion flared in her golden eyes. Was it sympathy? Regret? But then it was gone, and again she was hugging her arms tight, her knuckles white, her mouth a thin line in her pale face.

Ice maiden Luna was back.

Maybe he’d dreamed the way she broke apart in his arms.

Kai hauled in a deep breath as he turned to leave.

No, it hadn’t been a dream. It had been magical. For him at least.

He was going to hold onto the memory of tonight in the difficult days ahead.

Kai sat on his folded tentacles on the Rock of Penance, his head bowed low in front of the elders.

He felt Razad’s eyes boring into the top of his head. With him were Kai’s father and the other powerful kraken from professional roles in Thedaka—lawyers, doctors, academics—all with their gazes trained on him.

He set his jaw. He would not repent. This wasn’t just about his feelings for Luna. This was about uncovering secrets from the past. It was about acknowledging that krakens broke the Treaty and dishonored their people. And that they tore a beautiful brave woman’s family apart when she was an innocent child.

The idea that these gnarled and barnacled krakens could have done this disgusted him. His people. Whom he’d loved and trusted. How could they?

He lifted his chin, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he awaited their questioning.

“What happened, boy?” Razad said quietly, too quietly.

“You saw what happened, sir. You have cameras down in the dungeon.”

“We saw that you saved the human. Laid your mouth on hers, gave her your air, then helped her to the surface.”

“I had reasons, sir; ones I will divulge to the assembled elders if you’ll permit me.”

Razad’s face darkened into a scowl. “We already know all the sordid details.”

“W-what?”

“You lay with this human. Succumbed to her insidious charms.”

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