Gerald rolled his eyes faintly. “Spencer will survive disappointment.”
“That’s not disappointment,” Edith replied. That was betrayal and she suspected both brothers knew it.
Mark finally glanced toward her then. Something uneasy flickered behind his eyes.
She smirked at him, it was mean, but she hoped it haunted him.
Edith leaned back slightly against the railing, letting the wind whip her hair wildly around her face as she looked out across the sea. She felt no fear this time, it seemed to have vanished with the swaying of the boat. Edith had made a decision and she wasn’t going back quietly.
She wasn’t becoming some silent, decorative wife tucked neatly beside Gerald while he treated her like property. Absolutely not.
If she was going down, she was taking someone with her.
Edith smiled slowly to herself. Binky and Bas would be so proud. Somewhere behind her, Gerald was still talking calmly about wedding preparations like this was all inevitable.
Edith tuned him out completely. Instead, she focused on the sea. On the calming movement beneath the waves. On the strange feeling building low in her chest.
Like something was coming. Something big, and yet Edith felt hopeful.
Because far behind them, in the waters surrounding Krakens Hole, something ancient had awakened. And Edith had a feeling her kidnappers were about to learn a very important lesson.
Never steal someone protected by Krakens.
31
“Absolutely not.”
Baba Yaga slapped a handful of glittering pirate streamers away from the market stall in disgust.
“You cannot put decorative bunting next to open flame torches. That is how festivals become insurance claims.”
The ghost pirate running the stall looked offended.
“It’s thematic.”
“It’s flammable.”
“It’s festive.”
“It’sarson with decorations.”
The ghost muttered something rude under his breath.
Baba Yaga ignored him and continued her slow stroll through the centre of Krakens Hole, bright gold leotard gleaming painfully in the sunlight while her pink leg warmers made several tourists visibly nervous.
Good.
Tourists should fear her.
The annual pirate festival preparations had swallowed the town whole already. Colourful banners stretched between buildings, enchanted lanterns bobbed lazily overhead, andsomewhere near the harbour, someone had begun testing fireworks despite it still being daylight.
Idiots.
Absolute idiots.
A group of local children sprinted past her dressed as pirates.
One pointed excitedly at her outfit.
