Page 20 of Rising from the Depths

Who is here?

“I didn’t expect to see you back after last time,” Aymee continued.

For a moment, Eva wondered if Blake had come back to apologize for all the hurtful things he’d said, for all that he’d done.

“What isthat?” Kronus asked.

“It’s a wheelchair. I was trying to coax Eva outside for some fresh air.”

“Will fresh air help her?”

“Yes. She’s been in that bed since she was brought here. She refuses to leave it.”

In the brief silence that followed Aymee’s words, Eva heard that light, raspy sound on the floor again, softer than before.

Tentacles.

Oddly, the realization wasn’t followed with a wave of revulsion.

“I will take her,” Kronus said without a shred of doubt in his voice.

Like hell you will.

“Are you sure?” Aymee hesitantly asked.

“Yes.”

“Be careful with my patient, Kronus.”

He made a deep grunt that offered no reassurance whatsoever.

Eva opened her eyes and listened to Aymee’s retreating footsteps in disbelief. Aymee was just leaving her tohim? To this creature?

Kronus moved slowly around the bed to insert himself between Eva’s eyes and the wall. She rolled onto her left side, giving him her back. Not having to look at him was worth the discomfort in her leg.

“Aymee says you need fresh air, female.”

Eva pressed her lips together. She felt him lingering behind her, his presence a well of heat that made her skin tingle, and she scooted herself a little closer to the edge of the bed to get as far away from him as possible.

It didn’t help when he suddenly leaned forward and slipped his arms beneath her body, lifting her off the bed as though she weighed no more than a feather.

She tensed for a moment before trying to jerk away from him. “Don’t touch me!”

“You need fresh air,” he replied, his hold unbroken despite her struggles. He pulled her against his chest and moved around the bed toward an odd-looking chair with wheels attached to it.

The blanket slid off her and she twisted in his arms and kicked her legs. She shoved against his shoulders and struck him with her fists, but he shrugged off the blows like she was a cranky infant throwing a tantrum.

“Put me down,” she demanded, panting, body already weakening from the exertion. Her left leg throbbed; fiery pain burned from her stump to her hip.

She knew she should’ve been more specific when he sat her in the wheelchair. Eva tried to rise, but Kronus grasped the armrests and leaned over her, caging her in with his body.

“You are going outside, Eva. You can give in and relax, or you can keep fighting until one of us is too tired to continue.” He dipped his head a little closer. “AndIwill not tire first.”

Eva leaned back in the chair, putting as much distance between them as she could, but there was no escape. She looked up at him, her eyes widening in startlement. This was her first true, up-close look at a kraken.

The humanity in his face was made more alien by his inhuman features. He had tube-like growths where his ears should’ve been, and his nose was wide and flat. There was no hair anywhere on his ochre skin, which had a bumpy texture she’d never noticed from afar — though her brief brushes with it had been like velvety caresses. His jaw was well-defined, his full lips set in determination, and his brow was low over his eyes.

It was those eyes that arrested her attention beyond all else, that caught her and refused to let her go; she feared she’d never be free of them no matter how hard she fought. There were swirls of molten gold, bisected by pupils that were narrowed into horizontal slits. His gaze was heavy, heated, and intense.

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