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I pressed my lips together to suppress a groan, as even my blood fought to go to her. The only apology I could give her now was in siphoning the pain she might feel from our strained connection, and taking it into myself. I was grateful to be an ancient, with knowledge of how to manipulate the currents of magic, as well as the seas.

“You feel her?” The dagger had come free of Skadi’s throat and lay between us like a reminder of our foolishness. He took a long breath. A thin layer of frost covered his body in an obvious attempt at healing himself before he collapsed again. Black streaks with the sheen of obsidian radiated from the wound down his chest and up his jaw, and I thought for a moment before I spoke, knowing my words could be another mistake. A deadly one.

I hadn’t known he’d touched my mate in an effort to protect her. “If I can help you now, if I can take you to the one who can heal you…”

He coughed, and the air filled with an unpleasant, burning stench. “My little spy?”

“Not yours. But yes. Will you vow to leave her in peace afterward? Leave Rada alone, and never bother her again.” When he stared at me as if he didn’t understand, I said plainly, “Will you promise not to use your tentacle or any other part of your form on her again? Or in her?” No matter what he said about using it to save her, I knew what it meant for an immortal to inhabit another creature, no matter how small the incursion.

And Skadi’s tentacle was not small.

“She entered me first,” he said after a few seconds. “She entered me without my consent, and to harm me.”

“Entered?” I blinked as he moved a hand to his neck where an odd, slender lump lay. He had more than one lump on his skin, and I’d assumed they were a part of his form. When he plucked something out of his skin and held it up, though, I realized my mistake. “Where did you get that?”

“She plunged this tooth into my eye,” he said after a moment. “I had done nothing but speak to her. Squeeze her a bit, perhaps. But she inserted her tooth into me… without my consent.”

“She stabbed you?” I vaguely remembered her warlord mentioning this. I did not like it. I was fairly certain the only males my Rada stabbed and allowed to live were ones she admired.

“As I said, with her sharp tooth. I entered her as well, but I only used my tail…”

“She said it was a tentacle,” I interrupted.

“She is beautiful and so does not need to also possess great intelligence,” he stated magnanimously. “It is a tail. I think. Dragons have tails, yes? And scales like the ones I chose for my form, and the twin knots on my⁠—”

“Yes, all of those things are dragon-form traits,” I agreed, pulling myself to my feet. “If you vow not to bother her again, I will take you to her. She will heal you.”

“How would she be able to heal a god?” He didn’t sound offended, merely curious, as I staggered to his side.

I thought back to the months of watching her save dying creatures of many breeds: humans, wyverns, sea witches, and merfolk. Her blood had been changed from the years she’d spent carrying a divine presence inside her form. She wasn’t a goddess herself, but her healing was miraculous.

“Her blood has healing properties beyond anything else in the world, including my own. She would need to offer it to you freely, of course.” I didn’t want him to think killing her would provide the healing.

Skadi bristled, as much as he could lying on the icy ground. “I would not harm her to save myself.” His eyes narrowed as he casually tucked her jeweled hair pin away in his neck. “But I will make no vow to stay away from her. I cannot allow my brother Edan to touch her again. He does not ask for consent. He did not.” His offended, almost prudish tone nearly had me laughing again. “No, kraken. She may need my protection, if I can heal. She has been polluted by my brother’s magic, and he is intent on using her to breed a child.”

It was not a vow to stay away from her, but his concern allayed my fears. “He will not succeed.”

“He may. She made a bargain, or so she claimed. To save herself, she swore to go to him.” He inhaled. “The wind tells me he has brought her to his resting place.”

My lip curled. This far from the sea, I hadn’t even sensed her moving over the water, or moving from it. “He may believe she went to him because of a bargain. But she was always destined to go to where he lies. I am certain he has lured his death to him.”

“You underestimate his power,” Skadi groaned. “He is my elder brother, and vastly powerful. I damaged myself thoroughly the last time, and only managed to trap him because he was so engrossed in creating his daggers that he did not sense the beginning of my attack.”

“Attack?”

“I surrounded him with all the elements I command. Ice, and the wind that carried it. Snow, and the cold that brings death to anything. But I slept for thousands of years after our fight. When the scent of the little spy woke me, I was still not completely recovered.”

I stumbled at his admission, glad I had not fought him at his peak. His next words had my own blood freezing.

“Only another deity can stand against him. If you are her mate… she will need you alive.”

“Yes,” I admitted. “Our lives are bound.”

“Do what you can to strengthen me. Take me to her, if she is the key to deeper healing, and once I am restored, I will fight him again.”

I did not speak, considering his offer.

“Kraken, you must not fight him alone. You will die.” There was nothing but harsh truth in his words, a cold knowledge of what Rada faced.