Slowly, I peel back the leaf of paper.
“And him?” I ask, barely able to look at the man depicted across a stretch of two pages.
He’s built from powerful slabs of brawn, his hair dark gray, eyes black like the night sky. He’s unrefined, beastly in his bearing, as if all that’s stuffed inside him is almost impossible to contain.
He reminds me of the storm clouds that chew on my tower sometimes.
There arefiveversions of the man, each more haunched and distorted than the last, showcasing his gradual metamorphosis into a monster.
One I recognize.
“Bjorn. God of Balance. As you can see, his form is depicted similarly to the common day Vruk.”
Sharp shrieks echo through my memory, and I nod, remembering the ground trembling so much I thought it might crack open and swallow me whole.
“His ... his talons,” I bite out, jerking my chin toward the long, black hooks glinting off a shaft of sketched moonlight. “Does it say anything about them?”
Kai taps a slant of script riddled across the page. “Klahfta des ta ne flak ten.Simplified, it means something akin tounparalleled.”
“Oh,” I whisper, nodding, thankful I didn’t try to stomach breakfast or lunch. “And the common day Vruks this depiction was based on?”
“A Vruk’s talon is lethal.” Kai clears his throat, stare casting out across the bay. “To anyone.”
I frown at the turmoil failing to hide in the depth of his ocean eyes.
“Kai?”
“Safety is important to you, yes? Above most other things?”
“I guess so. Why do you ask?”
His tongue slips out, sweeping the glitter of sea salt off his lips. “Be right back.”
“Wai—”
He dives, disappearing beneath the water, his gossamer tail a slash that sends a string of seaweed topside.
I sigh, waiting patiently for his return.
When he reemerges, his arms are burdened by a small, tarnished chest he lumps on the rock beside me before prying the lid open. He digs around inside and reveals what appears to be a curved blade sheathed in leather. Its unworn hilt is forged from a dark metal, unadorned but for the end—tipped in ebony stone.
“What’s that?” I ask, eyeing the thing like it’s about to leap out of his hand and bite me.
Kai hesitates, then suspends it between us. “Something that can protect you fromanything. Always.”
Unease spills through my chest.
I reach out, hand shaking as if my body knows something my mind is yet to catch on to. I grip the curved sheath in one hand, the hilt in the other, andtug ...
Only a few inches of the weapon are exposed before I slam it shut, stomach churning, heart beating hard and fast.
A talon.
It’s a fuckingtalon.
“W-wow ...”
“I just thought, well, you said you hate your new sword, and I ... Are you okay?” he asks, tone tender, his beat tapping around my edges.
