Page 95 of Heart of the Deep

Larkin drew in a deep breath, and once again blinked away moisture from her eyes. “He’s assured me he’s fine with it, but part of me still grieves because I’ll never be able to give him that.” She turned her head toward Ikaros as he returned. “He left me after I told him.”

“That son of a—”

“I understand why he did. Not going to lie, it hurt, but I kind of laid it on him. It’s…not an easy thing to accept, especially for his kind, when they already have so much trouble reproducing. But…Dracchus chose me. He came back, and chose me, and as dedicated as he’d been before that, he was ten times more devoted afterward.”

“And then you got sick.” Randall took the harpoon from Ikaros this time, handing a free one to Larkin.

“Yeah,” she said, reloading the gun. “I know that hit him hard. It hit everyone hard, but I’m not dead.”

“No, you’re not, and you’re the one who had to suffer through the pain. But we both know him, Elle, pretty damn well. Think about how that affected him.”

“He’s so damn noble,” she said affectionately.

“And he hates being idle. The whole time you were sick, he was kicking his own ass because heneededto do something to help you, and he couldn’t. He tried to hide it, but he was too much of a wreck to pull it off. You almost died, and he was powerless to influence it one way or another.”

Larkin looked up at Dracchus again. He swam over the swaying seaweed, his form cast in shadow by the rays of sunlight streaming through the surface. “I love him, Randall.”

He sighed. “Shit.”

She turned her head to stare at her brother. “That’s not helpful.”

“Okay, okay. You want some real advice?” His gaze flicked toward Dracchus. “Things have been off-kilter lately with all the stuff that’s gone on, but normally, the kraken are all about challenges. Most of them happen between males, but sometimes, when a female is really interested, they’ll dance for the male.”

“You’re telling me to dance?” she asked lamely. “That’s your sage advice?”

“Trust me on this one, okay? That’s the way his people have done things. Itwillget his attention.”

“So, like, in the water?”

“Well…that’s how they usually do it.”

Larkin lined up her shot, focusing on another gulper. “I’m a damn ranger. What do I know about dancing?” She pulled the trigger.

And missed.

Ikaros chirruped questioningly.

“Fuck,” she growled.

Randall whistled. “Little dancing got you that scared, huh?”

“Oh, shut up, Randall.”

He passed her the other harpoon. She loaded it and skewered another gulper without a word.

“Done!”

Ikaros bolted toward the fish.

“What, you imagine my face on that one?” Randall asked.

Larkin rolled her eyes and stood up to survey their surroundings. The rocks upon which they’d positioned themselves were slightly elevated over the rest of the terrain. Straight ahead were stalks of seaweed, as thick as the jungle. Behind and to her right, the rock fell away in step-like formations, with various sea creatures scuttling in the crevices. To the left was a steep drop-off of almost thirty meters. The sandy seafloor at its base was lost in darkness from her vantage.

“What are we going to do, Randall?” she asked, frowning.

“Eat some fish tonight?”

“I mean about the rangers. About Dad.”

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