Page 15 of Heart of the Deep

For all its fury, its struggles quickly weakened, and its head finally lolled back as it sagged in its cuffs. Its skin faded to brown, and its chest heaved with short, shallow breaths.

Despite her startlement, Larkin’s heart ached for the creature. She looked between the two kraken. It was easy to imagine them as humans in those cells, with their heads bowed and their tentacles bound. Her stomach clenched; her father had done this.

Something released a low growl behind her.

Larkin moved away from the cell at her back and turned, holding up the lantern.

The largest of the three kraken was inside, the one with the black skin and pale stripes. Though its amber eyes were narrowed, they glowed with reflected light, and its intense gaze was directed at her.

Notit; him.

His coloring made it difficult to assess his condition, but the glistening patches on his cheeks and lips indicated open wounds. She leaned closer, and as the light shifted the shadows over him, she realized that parts of his face were swollen.

“You have come to relish your victory?” His voice was a deep rumble that raised gooseflesh on her skin, but his words were slightly slurred.

“My victory?”

“Your shots brought me down.”

She pushed away her pang of guilt. The kraken were the only lead, the only hope of locating Randall and the others. The tranquilizers had ensured these creatures survived capture.

“They did,” she agreed, “and both your companions.”

He closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists, but seemed otherwise relaxed. His position couldn’t be comfortable. She suspected that all three kraken had been hit with lower doses of tranquilizer in an attempt to keep them docile.

“Leave,” he grumbled. “Enjoy your victory while it lasts. The next will be mine.”

Larkin ran her gaze over him. She didn’t doubt that men would die if he broke free. She’d seen him leap onto the other boat and pluck four men over the railing with little effort, had witnessed the ferocity of his charge despite having been hit with two tranquilizers.

Powerfulwasn’t an adequate description of this kraken.

“Did you tell the commander where the rangers were?” she asked, refusing to back down.

“Leave,” he repeated.

She stepped closer to his cell, gripping the bottom of the lantern to hide the trembling in her arms. “Did you tell him where Randall is? Is he alive?”

The tube-like protrusions on the sides of his head opened wide as he released a long, slow breath.

“Is Randall alive?” she asked again, trying to keep the desperation from her voice.

“Leave me!” he roared, opening his eyes as crimson flared over his skin. His huge muscles flexed, and veins bulged; the whole ship seemed to groan.

Larkin stumbled back. Without another word, she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and slamming the wooden bar into place. She leaned back against the door and closed her eyes, chest heaving with rapid breaths.

She couldn’t deny her fear, though that wasn’t what had made her run. Her exit had been fueled by guilt and grief. Randall was still missing, they weren’t any closer to finding him, and a year of that uncertainty, thatneedto know, had taken its toll.

That familiar pain had paired well with the new —Larkinhad put the kraken in those cages. They weren’t mindless beasts, they weren’t sources of food. The kraken werepeople. And the big one blamed her, acted as though she relished her actions.

Her father had told her they would be hunting monsters. These were not monsters. Though they were clearly capable of viciousness, these were not the ferocious, unreasoning creatures Cyrus’s report had depicted.

This was no different than hunting, caging, and beating humans from any village on Halora.

The krakens’ blood was on her hands just as much as it was on her father’s.

Chapter 5

Ranger Dane swung his bucket, splashing its contents through the bars and into Dracchus’ face. The water was cold, refreshingly so, but the kraken would not express gratitude. The humans were not doing this out of kindness; it was a simple matter of preserving Dracchus and his companions until they gave up the information the commander was after.

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