Page 29 of Rising from the Depths

Kronus drew back, his skin shifting to deep red before reverting, slowly, to its normal ochre. His hands and tentacles fell away, but she didn’t miss how his fingers curled into fists at his sides. His chest swelled with a deep inhalation.

“Don’t,” she repeated, reaching for the discarded blanket at the end of the bed. She pulled it over her legs; it was a meager shield, but it was better than nothing.

Her chest was tight with emotion, her body still thrummed with desire, but it was too much. She wasn’t…she wasn’twhole. He’d touched her,there, where a piece of her was missing. Hiding beneath a blanket wouldn’t bring her leg back, but at least she wouldn’t have to look at it. At least she wouldn’t have to be reminded that she was incomplete.

As though I can ever forget.

He darted toward her suddenly, moving with enough speed to make her jump back on the mattress. His clawed hand swung toward her. Before she could even squeeze her eyes shut in fear of the coming blow, he snatched the blanket and tore it away from her.

“This isyounow!” he snarled, jabbing a finger toward her left leg, his skin pulsing crimson. “You do not have to like it, but youwillhave to accept it. You cannot turn away from this, you cannot pretend it did not happen, and I will not allow you to. Your krullshit ends here and now!”

Fury blazed within her, hot and explosive.

“You do not get to tell me how I feel!” she screamed, grabbing the nearest loose object. She twisted, swinging her arm, and used all her strength to hurl it at him.

Even with almost no time to react and less than a meter of distance between them, Kronus was almost fast enough to catch the pillow. His hands closed around it the same instant it struck his face. For a moment, he was still,terriblystill, and then he threw the pillow across the room. He bared his teeth, eyes smoldering with anger.

Eva dug her fingers into the bedding as she glared at him. “You have no damned right!”

“This is you,” he repeated in a low voice, his red skin belying his relatively controlled tone. “There was not any good reason for what happened to you, but it isdone. Your scars are no cause for shame. You received your wound with honor and selflessness.Youhave no reason to hide.”

For a moment, Eva was speechless, her features relaxing slightly. He raged, she could tell by the tension radiating from him, from his eyes, and the color of his skin, but his words were…kind, in their own way. Why was he still here with her? Why did he endure her pessimism, her anger, her ungratefulness?

Eva studied him as the silence stretched between them, their harsh breaths the only sounds in the room.

What did he mean thatshehad no reason to hide?

His words from the pasture came back to her in a rush.

I am no longer worthy of my home.

“What are you hiding from, Kronus?” she asked softly.

The muscles of his jaw bulged, making the cords of his neck stand out. His skin reverted to its normal coloring slowly; she had the sense that he was willing it to do so, fighting back whatever turmoil was within him.

“You have earned some rest. I will find Aymee and ask about your next meal.” He turned away, gathered the pillow off the floor, and tossed it, along with the wadded blanket, onto the foot of the bed. That done, he moved toward the door, his upper body oddly stiff in contrast to the fluidity of tentacles.

Eva watched him go with a frown. When she could no longer hear the familiar drag of his movements from the hallway, she looked down at her left leg and raised it. The bit remaining below her knee — little more than a nub — moved with ease. There was nothing to weigh it down; no shin, ankle, or foot to lift, and she could not help her emotional response to the sight. It was unnatural. Incomplete. She couldalmostsee, in her mind’s eye, what her leg had looked like before.

If she stopped and forced herself to consider it rationally, it was just a leg. A leg that happened to end quite a bit sooner than it used to. It was different, yes, but it was still the same thing it had always been.

She shifted her gaze to the crutches against the wall. Using them hadn’t been easy, hadn’t been comfortable, hadn’t been pleasant, but…it had been better than nothing.

It had been astart.

Chapter 10

Kronus returned several times over the next few days, rarely leaving Eva alone. He made sure she ate every bite of every meal and forced her to get up and move regularly. They bickered frequently — he issued commands she often defied, usually just to spite him. Despite the struggles, Eva pushed herself just as hard as he did.

The crutches became easier to use as she recovered her strength. Kronus responded to her increasing endurance by making her walk farther every time; when he decided she’d mastered walking around the clinic, he made her go outside. Though he didn’t relent to her complaints about going outside, he never forced her beyond the street immediately in front of the clinic, and she appreciated that small courtesy.

He was always gruff with her, but his constant presence and willingness to catch her whenever she fell made it clear that he cared about her wellbeing — even if she couldn’t figure outwhy. He refused to accept whining or self-pity. And though he often angered and riled her, Eva found herself looking forward to his visits.

The more time they spent together, the more she noticed his little quirks — from the slight twist of his lips when something amused him to the subtle changes in coloration that flashed over his skin, signaling shifts in mood he otherwise masked.

The rest was more difficult to figure out. She’d realized after her first few prolonged conversations with him — if they could be called that — that there was far more information to be gleaned from what Kronus didn’t say than what he did. He wasn’t a fan of answering questions, and though it frustrated her, his evasiveness had soon begun to shape a picture of what went on inside his head.

If her inferences were right, Kronus was as lonely and broken as she was. Was that why he sought to help her? To find companionship, as terrible as hers might be?

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