Julian made an uncertain noise as he set himself up at the human-height counter. “Again, this won’t be like you’re used to,” he murmured as he prepared the meal.
“You mean you don’t have some poor terrorized shifter stashed away belowdecks, preparing meals while waiting to be sacrificed to an ancient shifter god? I thought we discussed this earlier. I’d rather eat this than anything on that ship.” She shook herself, stood…
…and hesitated.
Julian crooked an eyebrow at her. “Yes?”
She shouldn’t have stood up. “I was thinking I ought to ask if there’s anything I can do to help,” she admitted.
“Worried I’ll balk at letting you near a knife?” His eyes glittered. Was heteasingher?
“You should.”
“I thought lionesses attacked with tooth and claw, not human weapons.”
“We do. So I have no idea how to use a knife.” She stalked behind the counter. “What should I do?”
He passed her a bowl of small, pale fruit. “Cut these. With this.” He waited until she picked up the knife, then commented, “The sharp end goes down.”
She glared at him. He smirked back.
And the silver thread between them glimmered again.
Julian hissed in a breath. Francine tried not to let the leap of her heart show.
There it was, in front of them all this time. Whatever harm they’d done to the mate bond could be healed bylikingone another.
Surely Julian wouldn’t allow that.
“Maybe I should get back to that research instead.” She swept away, shooting him a blinding smile he clearly didn’t believe in.
But he didn’t say anything, and neither did she. Good. They could talk about it afterwards.
If there was an afterwards.
38
Julian
Dinner and some light reading. And, in a day or two, potentially the end of the world.
“You said a kraken shifter helped trap the Soul-Eater here. And his magic makes him immune to the Soul-Eater’s powers, whereas it sounds as though all the Soul-Eater would need to do to escape this place is touch a shadow dragon and use your power to disappear. Are there any kraken shifters still around?”
“Potentially. Attempting to contact them would be a last resort.”
Her eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly, and his dragon stirred with admiration. Oh, yes. She knew exactly what he had truly chosen as a last resort.
“So we’re looking for an ancient phonebook to get us in touch with a shifter who died thousands of years ago?”
He shook his head. “There is always a kraken. The Weaver of Souls swore it would be so.”
“Weaver of Souls, Soul-Eater, now akraken…” She shook her head, exasperated. “And it’s, what? Immortal?”
“The Weaver of Souls created it as a weapon and bound it to one of the warriors fighting against the Soul-Eater. It’s … eternal. The same way they are. After the Soul-Eater was imprisoned, it took itself to the deepest part of the sea to wait until it was needed again.”
“Another ancient shifter. How do you contact it?”
“I do not know. And even if I did, I wouldn’t.”
