Page 31

Chapter 31

Lillian

W e’re all going to die.

It’s the only thought running on a track inside my head as I gape at the real-life Ursula monster towering before us. It’s almost like the cave got bigger once she was in it, like she’s bending time and space to her whims.

I know it’s a her, because her boobs are… well, they’re fucking gigantic and perfect and like porn star titties, except for the fact that they’re green. Seriously. She’s like one of those Barbie cakes, where they stuff the doll into a tiered cake that’s shaped like a skirt? Only instead of a skirt, it’s a bunch of tentacle-fin things. And instead of plastic hair, she’s got a mane of snakes and eels. And instead of–

Okay, you know what? Scratch that. She’s nothing like a fucking Barbie cake. She’s the most terrifying, sexy thing I’ve ever seen and I’m glad I’m underwater right now because I’m literally pissing myself with fear.

Erik, I plead in my mind, despite the fact that my Viking boyfriend has been replaced by a giant Octopus. Although, “giant” is relative. He looks like a chihuahua when he’s next to Keto. What are we going to do?

He doesn’t respond. I don’t know if he can. The giant, bulbous eyes on the side of the Octopus’s head are marbled with that haunting neon cyan that lets me know that Phorkys is at the helm. And He, like me, seems shocked to silence by the presence of His baby momma filling the underwater cave before us.

Baby momma…

Oh fuck.

The brood they want me to have. To… incubate, or whatever. The eggs they want to shove into my baby-maker. They’re not just the eggs of some slightly-larger-than-average octopus monster.

They’re Hers.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

I’m a big girl, sure, but there’s a big difference between a size 22 and a size Empire State Building.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die…

“Silence, human!”

Fuck. I piss myself again. The water around my legs goes warm for a second before blending into the mass of lake around it.

“Your thoughts are louder than you realize. Be silent like your male companion. Or, if you prefer, I’ll hold you in stasis like your precious Tiffany.”

I realize, for once, that she’s actually opening her mouth as if she’s speaking instead of just telepathing into our minds. It sounds like the voice in my head from earlier, that low sensual silk scarf of a voice that’s as arousing as it is terrifying.

Shit, am I bi? I might be bi.

“Silence!”

Her voice literally bends the laws of physics, echoing around the cave and shaking me to my very core. The same core that is now dripping.

And no, I didn’t piss myself again. I’m just super horny.

Fuck, I am bi, aren’t I??

Why couldn’t I learn this by scrolling TikTok like a normal thirty year-old white woman instead of through facing my own imminent mortality?

She’s hot, dammit. And going to kill me.

Suddenly, a tentacle that’s bigger around than a small sedan whips out and wraps around my body, suckers the size of my face gluing themselves to every inch of my skin before squeezing the air from my lungs.

Water from my gills?

What… even… ih…

“If you cannot quiet your mind, I will quiet it for you, human.”

The unbearable pressure relents, and a stream of water across my neck makes the light come back into my vision.

She had been choking me. I almost passed out.

Okay, then. Time to calm down.

“Much better.”

“What do you–” I try to speak, but unlike Keto, my voice comes out as a stream of coughing bubbles. I switch back to telepathy. –intend to do with Tiffany and Dean?

“Ah, these? Why, I am simply collecting the debt this one owes me.”

Debt?

“Yes. Her first born child. In exchange for granting you respite from your depression.”

I blink. Desperately attempting to keep my thoughts from spiraling again.

I want to stay conscious.

What are you talking about?

Her deep laugh rumbles through the water, the cave walls, and even my body—making it ache with that unrequited lust once again.

I really, really don’t like it when She plays with my body like that.

“We both know that isn’t true, Lillian. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have enjoyed your night with my consort nearly so much.”

Her luscious indigo lips curl into a knowing smile, and fuck if it doesn’t kill me a little.

I can’t speak. It’s all I can do not to think too loudly, with so many feelings clamoring to form sentences in my mind. I’m caught in a web: feeling too much to process, but needing to process to know what I’m feeling. Right now, it’s all just some horny/scared/confused milkshake that’s giving me brain freeze.

I think I short-circuit.

“Ahhh, good girl, Lillian. Your silence is appreciated.” Her eyes, fiery silver eyes that pull me in like a magnet, turn to the monster between us. “My precious Phorkys. You have done well to bring them to me.”