Cousin lay quietly in Kraken’s arms, her head on his chest. Her breathing matched his. In and out. In and out. She listened to his heart beat, and thought of his ocean green eyes, and his silence.
Kraken hadn’t said anything when he carried her into her cabin. He only climbed onto her bunk, and held her to him. He stroked her hair while she cried and said nothing. When Jak had brought a platter, he waved him off with a flick of his wrist. Kraken did the only thing he could. Hold Cousin and wait.
Cousin sniffled and rub her nose with her still bloody hand. Dried blood flaked onto the end of her nose. She didn’t notice her hands. Didn’t notice the unnatural quiet of the ship. Cousin only listened to Kraken’s heartbeat. She would stay that way as long as she could.
Time passed and neither moved aside from Kraken stroking her hair.
“I’m glad you came back to me,” Kraken whispered into the growing dark. “Would have torn down the world to find you.”
Cousin nuzzled his chest. She wanted to be closer to him. “I bled them of their powers. I’ve never done that before. It started as a reflex. I could have stopped it once I killed the Hunter. I . . .”
“You wanted to hurt them?”
“No. Not hurt. Destroy their ability to hurt. The slaves were – mistreated. I became livid.”
“Livid, huh?” Kraken smiled.
“I was thinking about what you say about killing. I was trying to learn about our enemy, and not kill without reason. Then I saw some of the slaves.”
“How did you see them? I watched through my glass, which was torture by the way, it was only you and the Hunter on deck.”
Cousin sat up and looked Kraken in the eye. “There were twenty-six wielders that built spells and fed them to the Hunter. Some of them pulled spirit essence from another to strengthen their spell. They were using some of the slaves for a power boost.”
Kraken sucked in his breath.
“Eight more watched and recorded the interactions, me, you, Gabb, Haven, the crew.”
“Recorded how?”
“Blood and bone.”
The statement fell like a boulder between them. It was a cruel and brutal technique. One that required an often unwilling host.
“Finish,” Kraken said.
Cousin took a shuttering breath. “I killed the Hunter with the Sor-von soon after the orb. The twenty-six were locked into the leach. I killed the eight one by one. The charm absorbed their spells, and I killed them with the Sor-von. I tried to free their record hosts. I tried.”
“Some you could only kill.”
Cousin nodded. “I used the power in the charm to turn those to vapor.”
Kraken touched her face. “I’m sorry you didn’t get done what you wanted. I’m sorry it didn’t go well.”
“It didn’t go well,” Cousin said. Serpent Shadows rolled in her eyes. “I did send my message to Protector. Just before I plunged my fingers into the communicator’s eyes.”
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