Page 70 of Rising from the Depths

His only response was a glare; he made no effort to hide his roiling emotions. Their faces were blurs to him as they shuffled out, kraken and human blending together into a featureless mob.

Scraping his claws over the wall, he slowly turned back toward Blake and Eva.

Blake was mumbling to himself, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them to look at Eva. “They’re gone… I let them all die. But she’s here. I…I can’t… Maybe she’ll forgive me? She has to. She’s mine, my wife.”

“Blake,” Kronus said firmly.

The man’s head jerked up, and his eyes met Kronus’s. “What? Why are you still here? You…touchedher!”

“I will not leave her. I care for her very much. You do, as well, do you not?”

“I love her!”

“Then you need to understand what you are doing to her.”

“I’m not…” He turned his head and looked at the knife. “She’s angry. I…I needed her to listen, but she kept fighting me. I just needed her to listen. To love me again. I only wanted to touch her…kiss her.”

Kronus released a long breath. His tentacles writhed on the floor, but he willed himself to betray no further sign of his agitation. Not until she was safe in his arms again. “Have you listened toher?”

“She doesn’t know what she means. She’s just angry. She’ll…be better soon.”

Part of Kronus’s mind assessed the distance between himself and the bed, tried to judge the man’s distraction, tried to estimate Blake’s reaction time, but he would not allow that side to take control. This was one of those instances when instinct was not necessarily an ally.

“Eva is already better, Blake,” Kronus said.

Blake shook his head. “No. She needs me. She told me. She was…crying, but I didn’t listen. I am now.”

“Lower the knife and remove the cloth from her mouth. If you are listening, allow her to speak.”

“She still…she’s still notwell. She’s still saying things she doesn’t mean.”

Kronus battled his urge to move closer. He wanted nothing more than to be near enough to touch her, but he understood Blake’s mindset. He’d been there himself, at one point; he’d been broken, too. That did not make it any easier to curtail his impulses, but it wassomething.

“Then you are not willing to listen to her, are you?” Kronus asked.

“I’m listening, I’m listening… I’m fucking listening! Butshewon’t listen!” Blake seethed, chest heaving. His hair had fallen around his eyes, and his flushed face glistened with a sheen of sweat.

Kronus dropped his gaze to Eva’s face. There was fear in her expression, but there was something more there — the strength he’d recognized from the moment he’d freed her from the razorback. She flicked her eyes down once, twice, three times, until he finally followed them with his own. She was twisted with one shoulder toward him, just enough for him to see her fingers working at the rope binding her wrists together, undoing the knot a little at a time.

“She said she doesn’t want me,” Blake continued. “She’s lying. She joined with me.Me!She’s just mad. We belong together.” He nodded. “We survived, but maybe…maybe we weren’t meant to. Maybe we were supposed to die that day too.” He looked at Eva, and her eyes widened. She shook her head. “We could be with them again. Addison. Sam. Hailey.”

“No,” Kronus growled, shifting forward before catching himself.

Blake, eyes rounded, looked at Kronus again. “You!Youtookher from me! This isyourfault!”

“Then release her and makemepay for it,” Kronus said, holding the man’s gaze. “But if you care for her at all, and this is not simply a means for you to ease your own guilt, you will remove the blade from her throat. If you cared for her, if youlovedher, you would want to give her reasons to live, not push her toward death!”

Blake’s hand shook, and a strange sound escaped him, not unlike the whine of a wounded animal. His shoulders quaked with a heavy sob. “I…loved her, but I…I did horrible things. Said horrible things… I…left them, I lefther, and I-I had sex with other women, and…”

“She is no longer yours, Blake,” Kronus said, as gently as he could manage. “You have done wrong, yes, but…there can be atonement.Thisis not the way. Let her go. If you blame me, come and face me, but it will not set right what you have done. You must look inward for that.”

Kronus glanced down to see the ties around Eva’s wrists dangling. She loosened them further, freeing her right hand.

“I…” Blake searched her face, his expression warring with itself. “I…can’t. All I feel is guilt. So much guilt. It…it would be better… I can give uspeace, Eva. I can do that.”

He leaned his face closer to hers, and the arm holding the knife slacked. It was all the opening Eva needed. She drew back and smacked Blake’s hand, knocking the knife out of his hand. It clattered onto the floor near the foot of the bed.

Kronus leapt at him.

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