It’s a gut punch of the purest, deepest regret.
The feeling is strong enough to make my knees buckle and I’d fall over if Torin wasn’t holding me up.
“Reva? Are you all right?”
“Did you... feel that?” I ask, unsure how to describe exactly what I just experienced.
Or whose emotions I just experienced.
Who is feeling gut-wrenching regret right now? And why?
Chapter 24
Finch
It’s dark by the time I climb back onto my ship. All the strength has been zapped from my limbs, and I’m tempted to slither along like a boneless thing, but I manage to fight the urge. Just about.
The jelly-like state of my limbs is an indicator that I lost myself for longer than I realised. For hours, the thinking part of my brain shut off and I surrendered to the base beast inside. I couldn’t help it. Once I caught sight of the ships in the distance, a familiar all-encompassing rage took me over.
And then I came to, surrounded by driftwood. It was nighttime when we were rudely interrupted, and it’s nighttime again now. But something tells me it’s not the same night.
I must have lost an entire day to the kraken’s fury.
There’s enough wood in the water to rebuild a dozen ships, and the water around my ship is discoloured and murky.
My gut gives a wayward lurch; it’s a sea of blood out there.
Another indicator I’ve been gone longer than anticipated is the quiet on the ship. There’s no mad scramble to set things to rights. The deck is clear with only a couple of crew dotted around, working on the nightshift. All of the supplies have been put away and we’re sailing due east. It’s almost like we never went ashore for any amount of time.
Almost.
Despite my consciousness slinking into a pea-sized corner of the kraken’s brain for an entire day, I can still recall that moment when pure power washed over me and the strange web of connection formed. It was overwhelming as I was bombarded by so many thoughts and feelings that weren’t my own.
And right in the centre, she sat.
Reva.
My insides give a gurgle of discomfort. Now she’s got her seal back, perhaps she won’t want to stay on the ship. She might want to get as far as possible from me, especially if she witnessed anything from the past day.
The kraken was... brutal. Even more than normal.
I can’t act like I had no part in it, either. My own anger stoked the beast to a whole new level of fury, like I haven’t experienced in a long while. It was even worse than when we visited the Deadwood Cove labs. Deeper and more visceral, as though the kraken was a being made of wrath with nothing on its mind beyond destruction.
It’s like he was sending the bastard king a message. One to say that we won’t back down until every one of his men is dead.
Although there’s no one left to bear witness. No one to spread the message. But when the king’s men don’t return to him, it’ll become clear soon enough.
Not quite the plan I’ve been hatching. In fact, our discovery before one of Kit’s little treats could prove effective is a real crimp in my plans.
Perhaps, considering we weren’t able to curse him from afar, we can bring the fight to him. I’ve spent enough years hiding in the deep, too afraid someone might discover the weapon our dear king created in me.
The truth is, I could level the entire city with relative ease.
And perhaps that’s exactly what they deserve.
SOMETHING COLLIDESwith my leg since I never did quite push my gelatinous form to carry me below deck. I’m just sprawled on the deck like a sea slug.
“You all right down there, Cap?” One of my crew peers down at me, and I tip my head back until I recognise the face that goes with that voice.
