I turned to and fro, trying to spy the kraken.
But there was…nothing there?
Nothing that looked like a rock.
There were only beautiful, glowing fish.
King Athon swam closer to her and shook his head, swooping his arm out in front of his body to show the vast nothingness.
Clearly, he didn’t see anything, either.
Queen Alora smiled and pointed down.
As one, we all looked below us.
Instant fear gripped my throat and a shiver worked down my spine—and it had nothing to do with the freezing water. I swam closer to my father and grasped his right hand, unable to stop myself.
What I had originally thought of as dark sand for quite some time was not that. It truly did appear to be rock if you actually looked at it straight on like this. From where I swam, it looked like the size of one hundred full-grown shifter elephants combined.
The rounded center was stretched up. Not unlike a spider, it had eight arms that I could see that were spread out on the ocean floor in its slumber. There were two tentacles that also lay about carelessly.
I had to turn my head from far left to far right to even be able to see the entire beast, the Fae a colossal monster.
I sucked in a breath and realized I’d seen this before.
On the ceiling in the royals’ main room at High Pointe.
I had not wanted to mess with it then, and I certainly did not want to play with it now.
Queen Alora pointed at King Athon, capturing his attention, and then pointed down. She whispered, “Go. I have it.”
King Athon stared down at the beast for a long moment as he floated in the depths of the ocean, until he nodded slowly.
I sucked in a harsh breath, not wanting him to go near that creature. If the Merfolk Queen lost her control of it, he would be dead. I looked away as he swam down, not able to watch him go.
King Traevon squeezed my hand and pulled me closer, but he kept his eyes on the Shifter King’s movements.
In the tense silence…and it was silent down here…I tried to keep breathing normally and not let my emotions run amok.
Otherwise, I would positively be a sniveling mess right now. I had never felt so weak. It was not a feeling that was entirely pleasant.
Father squeezed my hand again and tugged.
When I glanced at him, he pointed down with a quick finger and an eyebrow quirked up.
Not wanting to, I grudgingly looked below us.
And my jaw positively dropped, too late to remember to keep it closed off from sand.
My Fae damned soul mate held onto one tentacle…and was slowly rotating in a circle, swinging the kraken round…and round in the ocean. A burst of laughter wanted to escape my throat, but I stopped it abruptly, seeing as no one else found it as humorous as I did.
The other rulers were glaring daggers down on him.
As the water began to churn around us from his actions, the King of Shifters released the beast and let it float.
We watched as the kraken landed soundly again on the bottom of the ocean, with sand billowing up around it, far enough away that it was completely removed from its previous slumbering spot.
Queen Alora jerked in the water, her arms flying out. Her teeth bared and pain slashed over her beautiful features. She shook and thrashed, and it didn’t stop. The Merfolk Queen convulsed in the water, her yellow eyes rolling back into her head.
