Page 32 of An Inheritance of Monsters

Brilliant blue curiosity trailed through her human hair, fading into the light peach tones of yearning.

She desired me, though the color wasn’t yet as strong as her curiosity. I allowed my photophores, flashing blue with curiosity and excitement, to send out glints of pink as well, reflecting her feelings, letting her know her desire was reciprocated.

Verystrongly, although I didn’t wish to frighten her away.

Juno was a beautiful human, soft in my hands and tentacles, reaching out to touch me with the same eagerness I felt. It was impossible to stop the sensations from spilling into my photophores, different shades of pink flashing, even as I scooped more air for her.

She touched my arm, letting her fingers trace the rings pulsing with color—my blue was giving way to pink and scarlet.

I glanced up at her hair, wondering why her colors hadn’t changed.

Her hand tightened on my arm, and I realized Juno was looking down.

Into the abyss far beneath us, where one of the Elder Ones rested in a light slumber.

Her colors didn’t change, but her limbs tightened. She’d seen the ancient Elder One stir before, and her terror had allowed her to rip herself right out of the Void.

I would bring her somewhere safe, somewhere she didn’t need to fear.

Will you come with me?I asked.To my home?

She looked back up at me, her smile gone, and nodded. I held out a hand, expecting she would be nervous—

But she kicked, swimming a little closer, and hesitantly wrapped her arms around my neck. The warmth of her body pressed against me sent all my blood flowing downwards, and vivid scarlet flashed from my photophores before I got control of myself.

Juno looked at the photophores on my shoulders with curiosity, her hair brighter than ever, and squeezed me tight.

“We can go,” she mouthed, sending more bubbles spiraling upwards.

Gripping Juno tightly, I propelled us beneath the waves, skimming under the luminescence on the surface.

She let one hand rise, her splayed fingers breaking the surface and cutting a swathe through the gleaming blue and green light. When she brought it back down, her entire hand glowed.

A wide smile spread across her face again.

Below us, the dark, open sea gave way to shallow waters. She stared at the fish with wide eyes, clutching me a little tighter.

They were not like the fish of the bay around Duskwood Island. These ones glowed, spangled, their bones visible through transparent bodies.

I stroked her hair, comforting her as the black sand of the seafloor rose.

She had never seen the islands of the Void. I rose, our heads breaching the surface, and Juno took a deep gulp of air. Luminescence streamed over her face, highlighting her nose and full lips.

“Where are we?” she asked. “What is this place?”

Her human voice was lovely, warm and bursting with suppressed excitement. Just the hint of it in her tone brought yellow flaring to life in my photophores.

The Void. I met her eyes, cutting around the black sand island. It rose into a hill and flatlands, but that was not my territory. Voraal and Rask had staked their claims there.We who are born from shadows live here.

Halfway around the island, the sand gave way to a mountain outcropping. A mouth of stone welcomed the sea, and we flooded into the grotto with the gleaming current.

Juno gasped, looking up at the ceiling high overhead. Glowing moss and tendrils of cobalt and emerald grew over the walls of the grotto, and had extended to the coral shelves beneath us.

They were flat and coarse, but none of it was sharp enough to break Juno’s skin. I pulled her in further towards the spongier, softer coral beds, releasing her enough to allow her to swim in on her own. The water was barely deep enough to drown in here.

Now that she was in my territory, she would not be swept out to sea or brought below to the Elder One by a supplicant.

Juno finally stood up on one of the sheets of coral, her legs gleaming as the water licked at her thighs.

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