Page 22 of Rising from the Depths

“Why are you here, then?” she asked softly.

“Because most people would find the company of these animals preferable to mine.”

“I mean why do you stay in The Watch? Why not go…home?” Eva’s question seemed to strike her harder than it did him; was that what awaited her? A long, painful recovery culminating in a tearful journey back to Emmiton, undoubtedly made more difficult by her injury?

He drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “I am no longer worthy of my home.”

Eva’s brows lowered.

A krull — a long-necked, four-legged beast covered in violet fur with a splash of red beneath its jaw, and long, slender horns — raised its narrow head and looked their way. Its jaw worked in a steady rhythm as it chewed grass.

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

“For reasons that do not concern you.”

“Then why bring it up?” she asked, her frown turning into a scowl.

“You asked me.”

She glared back at him. “And you started the conversation.”

He returned the glare, undeterred by her expression. “I amtryingto benice.”

“Well firstly, you’re doing a terrible job, and secondly, I didn’t ask for you to. I didn’t ask for this at all!” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and facing forward.

He drew in another deep breath. Tension radiated from him as he turned the chair and wheeled her farther down the dirt road, away from town. “What we want and what we need are rarely the same,” he said in a low voice.

“Then why are you bothering? It’s clear you don’t want to help me.”

He stopped abruptly enough that Eva’s hands reflexively grasped the armrests, and if it were not for the strap holding her in, she might have fallen to the ground. The blanket slid off her lap, catching on her foot.

“I would not be here if I did not wish to be,” he said. “I…do not know how to deal with your kind.”

Eva frowned. “Wouldn’t it be the same way you deal with your own kind?”

“Kraken think differently. We largely prefer solitude.”

“Why would you prefer that?”

Something brushed against her right leg; startled, Eva glanced down to see one of his tentacles stretching forward to clasp the blanket. He lifted the blanket and leaned over her, taking it in his hands to drape over her lap. His scent hit her then, a blend of land and sea — the salt of the ocean mingling with earth and stone, wholly masculine. It was surprisingly pleasant.

“It is our way,” he said.

Eva tilted her face up toward his, and he looked down to meet her gaze. “That’s a lonely way to live.”

His eyes shifted to the top of her head, and before she realized what he meant to do, he raised a hand and brushed his fingertips over her hair. After only a moment, he withdrew his hand and straightened his torso. Grasping the chair’s handles, he turned Eva back toward town.

He didn’t reply to her, and Eva said nothing more. She sensed there were many things Kronus didn’t want to talk about, though she also had the impression that he didn’t talk much to begin with. He seemed so…withdrawn. Was that simply his personality or had something happened to make him that way?

Their return to town was unhurried and quiet. Strangely, Eva felt little discomfort despite the silence between them, despite his standoffishness. When he pushed her back onto the paved road, he continued straight, along the street that ran behind the town hall. It was busier now as the midday meal approached, but it wasn’t the increased number of people that made Eva’s heart pound; the leatherworker’s shop was on this street, and there was a familiar figure standing out front.

Blake’s laughter was deep, carefree, and boisterous, the same as it had always been. She watched his head tilt back, watched the rays of sunlight catch upon the golden locks brushing his brow, and watched the flash of his white teeth. He said something Eva could not hear, and his words were punctuated by feminine laughter.

Eva tore her gaze from Blake to look at the woman in front of him. The woman’s posture was languid, her body leaned casually toward him as though she’d reach out and put her hand on his arm at any moment.

But the woman didn’t reach for Blake;hereached forher. He tucked the woman’s hair behind her ear and brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek.

Eva’s heart stopped, and her breath fled her. Her chest tightened, flooding with raw pain. This wasn’t… This couldn’t be Blake.

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