Page 14 of Rising from the Depths

“We can get through this, Blake. Together. Please,” she begged, “stop putting distance between us.”

“It’s too late, Eva. We’re done.”

“What?” she breathed. She must not have heard him right; she couldn’t believe those words could have come out of his mouth.

“We’re done,” he repeated more firmly. “Whatever life we’d have after this isn’t one I want. I’m not going to throw years away taking care of you. I need to be able to move on, to find my happiness. So, we’re done.”

“You mean you’re running away, like at the beach.” The words came unbidden, and it was only as Eva spoke them that she saw the fragment of a memory — Blake already halfway to the shore before anyone else had been able to react, Blake standing on the beach while she was surrounded by churning, bloody water.

Blake recoiled, his face instantly losing its color. Eva didn’t care. Fury burned within her.

“How dare you blame me for this and talk about how your life is ruined, how you need to findyourhappiness, whenyouwere the one who ran away without looking back?” She trembled with hurt, betrayal, and anger. “I don’t remember much of what happened, Blake, but Iknowyou left us out there. And I can forgive that, but if you run away now, if you runagain…”

“There wasnothingI could’ve done,” he said in a low voice, lips barely moving. “Nothing but die for no reason.”

Tears fell from her eyes. Had she ever meant anything to him, anything at all? “No reason?Iwasn’t a reason? I’m not saying you should have died, but you didn’t even try. You left me! You left all of us, and you didn’t even hesitate!”

“That’s not fair, Eva!”

“Neither is anything you’ve said or done!” She threw her arm out toward her leg. “I lost my damnedleg, Blake! How is that fair? Our friends are dead! Isthatfair? And you told me the other day that it wasmyfault. Don’t talk tomeabout what’s fair.”

He turned his face away from her, shoulders rising and falling with deep, harsh breaths. “Clearly you’re emotional right now. You’ll understand it’s best for both of us, eventually. I’ve already moved on. You’ll get there, too. There are a lot of other people in this world. I’ve…already met some.”

For a few moments, Eva’s chest and throat were too tight to produce a sound, too tight to draw in even the smallest breath. She couldn’t acknowledge what he’d said; she was still asleep, still having a nightmare. “Why are you being like this?”

Blake walked to the door, grasped the handle, and pulled it open. He paused before walking through, briefly pressed his lips into a tight line, and met her gaze. “I rescind my vows to you. We are joined no longer.”

Without awaiting a response, he left, not bothering to close the door.

Everything within Eva — the maelstrom of agony, loss, and rage — exploded. She screamed with everything she had. Swinging her arms, she knocked the tray of food away, sending it clattering to the floor, and screamed again, but it could not ease the hurt eating away at her heart and constricting her chest.

Kronus had just entered the clinic when Eva’s male, Blake, walked into the hallway from one of the rooms. The human’s eyes hardened, and his brows fell low as he met Kronus’s gaze.

A female’s ragged scream filled the corridor with agony and grief, making Kronus’s skin crawl. Blake flinched but did not look behind him. When something banged and clattered in a room down the hall, the man jumped and hurried past Kronus, giving the kraken a wide berth, darting out of the clinic as the female screamed again.

Kronus rushed down the short hallway and entered the room from which the screams had originated. A metallic tray lay overturned on the floor, with a trail of food scattered nearby. Eva was sitting up in bed, streams of tears glistening on her cheeks. The devastation in her expression reached into Kronus’s chest and clamped down on all three of his hearts at once.

She turned her face toward him and sucked in a sharp breath. Recognition lit in her bright blue eyes.

“You,” she rasped.

Kronus held her gaze, unsure of how to respond. His interactions with humans were infrequent and terse; he didn’t know how to decipher the nuances of their expressions and body language with any true accuracy. Her tone implied she was unhappy to see him, but that seemed an oversimplification.

“Why did you have to save me?” she demanded, pulling herself closer to the edge of the bed. “Why didn’t you just let me die, too?”

“It was too late to save the others,” he replied. “You were the only one who had a chance.”

“This is your fault!” she screamed. “I told you to helpthem. Ibeggedyou to! Why didn’t you save them?”

“They were already dead.” He nearly addedand that was not my fault, but couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Could he have been faster? Could he at least have saved the female Eva had been trying to lead to shore? “You are not. I’ve no desire for your gratitude, but I believe it is a natural reaction to having one’s life saved.”

Rage flashed in her tear-filled eyes. “Get out! Get out of here you…monster!” She pointed to the door. “Leave!”

Kronus gritted his teeth. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he decided to come here this morning, but this…this was not it. This supported Aymee’s assessment — Eva was in a bad place. A dark place.

A lonely, desperate, tortured place.

“I saidget out!” she screeched. Leaning toward him as though to emphasize her words, she thrust a hand down to the railing, but her palm slipped. Her torso lurched over the bed rail, and she tumbled onto the floor, landing heavily.

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