Page 33

Chapter 33

Lillian

P horkys propels himself out of the cave, taking Erik with him. I couldn’t hear his voice at all, but I sensed him in there.

I feel so helpless. All of my friends are being held captive at the whims of these monsters. Sure, I can agree to have Keto’s babies, but how do I know She won’t renege on the deal once She has what She wants?

Unbidden, those old words from the shopkeeper at the general store come rolling back to mind. Lake Superior doesn’t give up Her dead.

But is that the lake? Or has it been Keto, this whole time? Sinking ships under cover of storms and fog, devouring up the victims before they become corpses? Before they leave evidence?

“You do not trust me.”

Her elegant face is stoic as She studies me, one emerald eyebrow raised. I meet Her gaze. At this point, I have nothing else to lose.

Either way, She holds all the cards.

You tricked me. You tricked my friends.

She tilts her head, narrowing her eyes. “How did I trick you?”

You told me you could “fix” me. You used your magic to make me beholden to you. I’m just a human. How am I supposed to make any choice when you take all my choices away?

A long moment passes where neither of us speak. I’m getting better at silencing my thoughts. Sure, I’m still uncomfortably aroused, but I’m not afraid anymore–at least, not for myself. For Tiffany and Dean? Their young family? Sure.

This morning, the overwhelming grief for my own lost child came crashing back like a tsunami. Once Keto took away Erik’s and my ability to satisfy our own desire, every emotion inside me started boiling. Lust, grief, fear—I’ve been in a state of constant overwhelm all day. And now?

I’m just numb.

Now that the fear and shock have ebbed, it’s hard to feel too passionate about anything when my hopelessness threatens to drag me under.

Something seems to shift in Keto’s expression. Her eyes soften around the edges. She finally opens her mouth to speak.

“When you came to my lake those many moons ago, broken and alone with grief, I never intended to take advantage of you, Lillian.”

Slowly, with each word, the hopelessness fades. The heavy weight in my stomach eases, and my chest unclenches. The water flows more easily over my gills, my lungs expanding with a full breath for the first time since this morning, and my head clears a little.

She’s playing with me again. Siphoning off my pain. I don’t know if I’m more wary or grateful.

She continues, “You came here with your friend. I could feel your loss from miles away. It called to me. One kindred soul to another.”

I blink.

Kindred… soul?

“I had children once. They were tricked and slaughtered by the spawn of the Olympians. Greek heroes, seeking glory, mercilessly hunted and murdered them one by one. All along the Aegean Sea, humans rejoiced in their demise. And Phorkys and I wept.

“When another brood swelled in my loins, we fled. Across oceans and rivers, rapids and puddles small enough to suffocate us, we journeyed west until we couldn’t any longer. I deposited my brood. He fertilized it. And then that wooden ship crashed into my nest.

“Thousands of my young– destroyed.

“I flew into a rage. And when Phorkys returned to my side, wearing the body of a murderer, I–”

She sucks in a breath, Her chest rising with fury as Her cheeks tint an angry yellow.

“I could not look at him. So I ran away.”

The shipwreck. Erik’s crew and family.

Phorkys didn’t tell us they crashed into their eggs.

I lost one embryo. Keto lost thousands.

The last drips of pain clinging to my heart squeeze in sympathy. Her eyes lock with mine, and whatever She sees there gives Her the strength to continue.

“Your pain was fresh. It called to me. I was quickening once again, and the grief and hope were overwhelming. I sought my mate, but he was still bound to the human. I could not mate with him.

“Then I found you.

“I did not realize humans could feel pain. They always seemed so brutal, so obsessed with glory and war. How could they kill so many and feel the depth of pain that I felt?

“But you. You understood. I could have listened to you weep for hours. You knew what it was to lose a child. You felt it as deeply as me. Meeting another with my scars was… cathartic, somehow.

“Your pain drew me to the shore. It wasn’t long before I met your friend, Tiffany. Her grief was different. She wept for the loss of her friend. Worried your friendship would never be what it was. Already missed you from your years attached to that unworthy male.

“She loves you, you know.”

What?

I look over at her unconscious body, limp in the seaweed bindings. I remember the sight of her on the beach not even two weeks ago, tan and happy, sipping mocktails and reading on her Kindle in the gravity chair beside mine.

She’s my best friend. Of course she loves me.

The Titan gives me a curious look. “You deny her deeper affections. That is interesting. Why?”

I… I shake my head. What affections? Tiffany loves Dean. That’s why they’re engaged. That’s why they’re starting a family.

“She asked if I could take away your grief. Grant you happiness once more. I told her that every magic has a price.

“When I asked for her firstborn, she said that that was an easy price to pay. She confessed she felt guilty, knowing in her soul that she wouldn’t ever pay the price. She never imagined the two of you would have children together.”

The two of us ?

Wait. You’re saying she had a crush on me?

Holy shit.

Keto tilts her head again. “I do not know that word. But she wished to spend her life with you, yes. As partners. As lovers.”

But… Dean…

“She loves Dean. It is true. But she dreams of someday having more. Deep in her heart, she desires a family of lovers. Her male mate does not know of this. Although he has fantasized about bedding both of you before.”

Well, fuck. I thought Tiffany and I knew everything about each other. But I never would have imagined she was polyamorous. Or that Dean wanted a threesome with me.

I expect to feel some kind of betrayal at that. But I don’t. I’m not disgusted by it, not even a little. In fact, the idea of the four of us—Erik, Tiffany, me, even Dean—somehow escaping this and establishing a little family somewhere far away from the Great Lakes…

It sounds really nice.

I’m having all sorts of realizations about myself today.

Can I speak to her?

Keto shakes her head. “No, Lillian. I cannot risk you fleeing before the debt is paid. I will give Tiffany her child, but my magic still demands its price.

“Phorkys cannot fertilize my eggs as long as he is chained to share that human’s body. With his seed, they will not develop unless their maturation occurs in a human womb. Even my power has its limits.”

I don’t understand how that works. Maybe something about shifter sperm having different DNA? But Keto doesn’t seem concerned with the specifics.

“Your essence will complete them, Lillian. And I will consider my debt paid.”

My grief is no longer overwhelming, but it also isn’t entirely gone anymore. Where there was an endless torrent, and then an empty hole, it’s now just a subtle ache in my heart. It’s a part of me, and I know it always will be—as surprising and scary as it was at the time, I wanted that baby. It will always hurt to think of what could have been.

But the pain of it isn’t all-consuming anymore. It’s the type of pain that helps me understand.

Yes, Keto is a terrifying monster. No, I don’t completely trust Her. But I do understand how seeing Her children murdered would make Her hate humans. How losing an entire brood of eggs would send Her into a rage.

Granted, I never wanted to kill an entire village of Vikings because I had a miscarriage. But you know, I see the logic behind the leap.

Kinda.

The water around me warms a little, and I look up to see Keto scowling at me. I realize Her anger is capable of heating up the lake. Yikes.

“We all grieve differently, Lillian.”

Okay. Right. Don’t make the sexy lake monster angry. Got it.

My eyes dart to Tiffany and Dean. I need to keep my cool. Not just for me and Erik, but for them. Their future depends on me.

In more ways than one.

I swallow.

“I will take them with me.”

What? When?? Panic flits through me as a few eels detach themselves from Her hair and begin untying my friends. Where are you taking them?

“As happy as I am to have convinced you to incubate my children, I do not wish to watch my lover fill you with his seed.”

I gulp. Uhh…

“I will hide your friends and leave you and Phorkys to the insemination. You can have them back when you have birthed my young.”

Birthed… what??

Keto, wait–!

But in a typhoon of swirling bubbles and scaly tails, She’s gone. Tiffany and Dean are gone with her.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!!

I didn’t think this through. Getting impregnated with a bunch of eggs, sure. Octopus sex insemination. Right, yeah, that’s fine… maybe even a little hot.

But birthing the monster babies? Actually pushing out a hoard of monsters through my hoo-ha?

How many eggs did She say She lost with the first brood? Thousands?

Thousands…?? In my…

Phorkys returns to the cave, an Ikea bag-sized bundle of gooey, opalescent eggs the size of marbles clutched in his ten tentacle arms, and I picture them growing. Maturing. Hatching.

The logistics of what I just agreed to do hit me all at once.

I pass out.