Page 53 of Rising from the Depths

“I got over you,” she continued. “I will always remember our friends, and I will always remember you…and I’ll remember how you ran. The first moment things got hard, youran. And Kronus was there for me. A stranger, someone we thought of as a creature because of how he looks, saved me, andsavedme, andsavedme, and you weregone.”

Tears filled Eva’s blue eyes, but fury burned behind them.

“You were gone, Blake,” she said, “but Kronus was there. He showed me what it means to care for someone, to never give up on them, tolovethem. You and I had a good time while it lasted, but it was never that. It was never love.”

“What are you saying?” Blake’s chest rose and fell with quick, shallow breaths. “I loved you, Eva! I still do. I was hurt by all this, too, and it’s not fucking fair for you to lay this atmyfeet!”

Eva turned to face Blake fully and stepped toward him. Kronus let his arm fall away; it took all his willpower to keep from grabbing Eva and dragging her back against him, from shielding her from any and all harm with his body. This was her time. Her fight. That did not diminish his rage, but he could not act upon his own feelings.

“Donottalk to me aboutfair,” she growled, jabbing a finger into Blake’s chest. “You blamed me foreverything. If you had just stuck by me for a little while, I could’ve helped you through it, too. We could’ve made it together, but you left, forsaking me, Blake, and there’s no coming back from that. And now that I can look back on it…I’m glad you left. Because it’s led me to something, to someone, so much better.”

“You can’t mean that! Damnit, Eva, I—” Blake moved closer, grabbed Eva’s face, and slammed his mouth over hers.

Kronus darted forward as Eva jerked her head back and swung her hand, slapping Blake across his face. Blake reeled from the blow; the opening was more than enough for the kraken to seize.

Thrusting his arm out, Kronus clamped a hand on Blake’s throat, just beneath he man’s jaw, and lifted him off the ground.

Blake’s startled cry was cut off by a grunt. He grasped Kronus’s forearm with both hands, kicking his feet in the air as though it would earn his freedom.

Eva gripped Kronus’s extended arm. “No, Kronus, don’t!”

Rage-fueled strength coursed through Kronus’s muscles; he trembled with his fury, and his skin felt as though it were ablaze. He’d tolerated a lot of disrespect thus far, but he would not allow anyone to treat his mate that way.

“I told you not to touch her,” he grated through bared teeth. All he had to do was squeeze, and he would crush the man’s throat.

Blake’s struggles grew more desperate as his face reddened.

Eva’s fingernails dug into Kronus’s skin, but he did not release his hold. He drew Blake closer and looked directly into the man’s eyes. “She is mine. You will regret it should you wish to challenge me, human. You gave her up. You left her behind. I have claimed her, and she has chosenme.”

Soft, small hands grabbed Kronus’s face and tugged his head down. He snarled instinctively, skin bristling, only to find Eva between him and Blake; she flinched at his reaction. A pang of guilt and shame pierced his burning cloud of rage.

“Kronus, stop. Don’t do this. Please.” She brushed her thumbs over his cheeks. Faint tremors coursed through her hands. “You need to calm down. You’re hurting him.”

It wasn’t the fact that he was hurting Blake which lead him to release his grasp, but that his actions were hurting Eva. When Kronus opened his hand, Blake dropped to the ground, falling backward to land on his backside. The kraken paid him no more attention; all Kronus’s focus shifted to Eva alone.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “As angry as I am with him, I don’t want him hurt or…killed.” She glanced at Blake over her shoulder before meeting Kronus’s gaze again. She stroked his cheek. “He isn’t worth…this.”

Kronus’s awareness of his surroundings rushed back to him. The music had stopped, and there were people gathered all around, staring at Kronus. Some of their expressions were judgmental, some were confused, but the fearful faces struck him hardest — especially those of the human younglings who clung to their parents with wide eyes.

Blake coughed and staggered to his feet. He held a hand at his throat as he slowly backed away, staring at Kronus. “He tried to kill me!”

“That’s enough!” called a male human as he wove his way through the crowd. He emerged nearby, his face pink and his eyes wide. Kronus had never spoken to the man, but he knew him as Walter Bailiff, the head councilman of The Watch.

Ector moved to a place beside Walter, wearing a troubled look on his face. Whispers rippled through the crowd, too low and indistinct for Kronus to decipher. The immediacy of his fury had diminished, but he was still aflame inside. He could not help but turn his head to glare at Blake.

“I understand that this little…occurrence was, uh,unsettling,” Walter called, tongue slipping out to wet his lips, “but there’s nothing to be frightened about.”

“He was choking Blake!” someone shouted.

“Blake was kissing the kraken’s woman!” another person yelled from the opposite side of the crowd.

Kronus couldn’t locate the speakers, but he probably didn’t know them anyway. He put his arms around Eva and drew her closer, as though he could hide her from the crowd within his embrace. His eyes shifted to meet Ector’s; he could not read the elder kraken’s expression well enough to guess at the thoughts behind it.

Walter raised his hands in placation. “Now look, a lot of us overhead what was going on, and considering the, uh…the unfortunate incidents that have led up to this point, I don’t think it’s the place of any of us to judge.”

“He tried to kill me, Walter,” Blake said, turning his angry gaze to the councilman.

“If I meant to kill you, you would already be dead,” Kronus responded.

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