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Ordus

I clutch the seaweed bag tighter, eyes darting around the water for threats.

The fish within buck in their attempts to escape their fate of becoming my mate’s dinner.

It has been ten days since Lazell made his ultimatum, eight since Cindi and I married.

There is no telling if the Curse is broken.

Game has not changed.

I still must travel far to hunt.

The earth below is nothing but sand, stone, and decay.

I don’t dare travel to Krokant to see what state the land is in, whether there is absolutely nothing or if there is…

more. I want to check my family’s graves as well, but anything I do will mean that I am separated from Cindi for longer, and it is killing me.

My wife comes first. Always.

If the Curse remains, then so be it.

What’s done is done.

There is nothing I can do about it.

Tonight, we will flee, biding our time on the mainland until I can determine whether my kingdom has been saved.

And if the Curse never lifts, I will protect Cindi any way I can, Vasz too.

I swim hard across the barren land, hating that Cindi is alone and vulnerable on the island.

Vasz hasn’t willingly left her side once, not unless I all but throw him out of the den.

A flash of color out of the corner of my eye stops me in my tracks.

I frown, squinting against the murky waters to make out the hint of…

green?

It can’t be.

I swoop low to the floor and quicken my pace to get a better look.

Sprouting from the sand are two shoots of bright green grass.

Grass.

Tentatively, I reach out and brush my finger along a shoot to make sure I’m not dreaming.

Prickles rain across my skin when my nail hits it and it doesn’t float away.

This is the first sign of life I’ve seen in these parts in over twenty years.

It worked. The Curse is broken.

A smile splits across my face.

My mate did it.

I race toward the island.

I must tell my Cindi.

Hopefully, she is awake so I can see her eyes brighten with delight.

My family’s lands are saved—their deaths weren’t for nothing.

If Yannig could see me now, he’d call me to the palace and insist on throwing a feast in my name, no one but the two of us in attendance.

Chlaena would make decrees in my honor.

My mother would be proud her outcast son has saved the lives of all krakens.

We did it—the ones my people see as vermin are the very reason they will continue to exist.

My nostrils flare as I close in on the island.

A subtle wave of foreign scents are quickly approaching.

Among them sits an unmistakable scent.

My knuckles crack. They’re coming.

I jet the remaining distance and climb straight onto shore, speeding between the trees toward the hut.

I smell her long before I see her.

Our scents are mingled from the time we spent in the den this morning, seeing how many times I could make her climax.

It’s the most exhilarating thing to watch—and feeling her walls clamp down around me?

A few times, I thought I was going to die.

Hearing my approach, she pops her head out from the hammock, and her entire face comes alight.

Her brown eyes twinkle beneath the sun as the cool breeze carries her scent toward me.

My eyes track the bite mark on her chest, and I release the barest purr.

Vasz huffs and resumes his chewing like I’m nothing more than an inconvenience.

My wife stumbles out of the hammock, and I whisk her off her feet, transferring her from my tentacles to my arms before she can so much as say hello.

My lips are on hers the moment she’s close enough, and she kisses me back like we’ve been doing it for thousands of years rather than mere days.

My tentacle wraps around her thighs.

I shiver, tasting the remnants of my seed in the threads of her pores.

It feels like if I blink too hard, it will all disappear.

I feared the worst after I bit her, but the worry was short-lived once she awoke, skin glowing like she’d had the best sleep in her life.

Not once have I seen her sway in her steps or snooze in the middle of the day.

She no longer sleeps longer than Vasz, and she moves faster, surer than I’m used to.

“The Curse is broken,” I rasp against her lips, barely believing I can finally say those words.

It feels right to have her in my arms like this.

This is what I prayed to the Goddess for.

Not a mate, but a partner, someone who completes me.

Someone who is smart, brave, and sees me for who I am.

Cindi’s beautiful eyes round.

“What? Really?”

I nod.

“I saw grass growing not far from here.” Soon, kelp and reefs will return.

I’ll make trips to the mainland to collect seeds to hurry the process along.

“But they’re coming. You must go to the den.”

Vasz perks up and immediately sprints toward the beach, barking and growling and acting like he can take all krakens on.

“No.” She shakes her hand, pushing against me as I head toward the tunnels into our cave.

“You must. It isn’t safe,” I growl.

We’ve discussed this before—the possibility of the krakens coming early before we can make our escape.

She refuses to leave before giving it time to see if the Curse has been lifted.

“Ordus,” she scolds.

“They need to see that tattoo. They won’t take your word for it.”

I stop with a snarl.

She has used this reasoning a great many times, and it’s the truth.

If we want to stay on the island, we will need to prove it to them.

“At the first sign of danger, you run,” I say, staring at her so she knows this is my compromise—because I am capable of doing that.

“Promise me.”

She traces the mating scar on my chest. “I promise.”

I hesitate before cupping her face, nuzzling my nose against hers.

“I love you, Cindi.”

Pressing her lips to mine, she breathes, “I love you too, Ordus.”

A smile stretches across my lips.

Cindi has broken every curse there is, and nothing makes me happier than knowing that, despite all odds, she still chose me.

“We need to go,” she says, pulling back.

Grumbling under my breath, I snatch a machete off the ground, pass it to her, and follow Vasz to the beach.

I set her down by the trees so she is at a safer distance from the water.

Vasz comes up by my side, a low warning growl in his throat.

Then, one by one, krakens appear out of the water, just as sickly appearing as they were when they soiled my shore ten days ago.

Females and males gather around.

Only a few are civilians, most previously holding rank as hunters or sentries.

In the middle stands the worst of them all.

“Ordus,” Lazell starts, eyes flicking between me and my mate.

When he dares look at Vasz, the mutt leaps forward, and he staggers back, hand partially raised in case Vasz carries through.

I bare my teeth at Lazell, but I do not bother correcting him.

Cindi told me it is best we “send him on his way as soon as possible.” There’s no need for “small talk” — I’m not sure what that is, but I agree.

“You said eleven days,” I speak in kraken tongue.

The corners of his eyes twitch.

He notices my lack of correction too.

“There is no need to delay the inevitable,” he says simply, sneering at me and mine.

I shift to block his queen out of view.

“It was foolish to waste such precious time as we did.”

I raise a single brow.

“So you did not see the life growing along the floor during your swim here?” I address the entire crowd.

Many avert their gaze, guilty.

Some appear struck, as if they cannot get their tongues to move to form their answer.

If grass is appearing by my island, Krokant would be bursting.

They’d be able to taste the quality of the water, the new shoots of life that spread beyond the small parcel.

A Counselor’s jaw feathers, and I see it—her excitement.

Not the morbid glee of spilling blood, but the elation of winning something grand.

Of renewed purpose. She’s seen it.

“No—” Lazell begins, attempting to shift my focus back on him.

“I pray the next words out of your mouth are not a lie. Swear it on the Goddess that you did not see. Swear it on Edea that the Curse remains.”

Lazell sputters.

“We have no guarantee the Curse has been permanently broken?—”

“Swear it on the Goddess,” I roar.

Krakens flinch at the sound and bow their heads in respect.

“My mate, your queen , ended the Curse. She was chosen by the Witch’s daughter to bear the mark of the Curse.” I point to Cindi.

“That human is my destined bride, and you will all bow down in respect for her saving your brother, your sister, your daughter, son, mother, friend. She is the reason you live.”

I nod my head at Cindi.

Slowly, she turns around, moving her hair over her shoulder so all can see the tattoo glimmering blue in certain light, like the glowing algae in our cave or the threads within my skin.

There is no denying it holds magic.

My kind knows well enough that no human can replicate such a trick.

“The Witch’s daughter inked the Curse into her skin so she may carry it and bring it to heel. If her blood is spilled by krakens, the Curse will return, and all hope is lost.”

Chlaena was a military strategist. Yannig was a diplomat.

My Cindi? She is a survivor, smart with her words and vicious.

Strong. The perfect queen.

I am her weapon, and she is my voice.

For what do my subjects fear more than death?

Being promised the certainty of life, only to be given a sure death, be it the Waste or hunger.

To rot away into sand that will drift and disperse, forever forgotten.

To be given hope and lose it?

That is a curse in and of itself, and Lazell, ever the wise Counselor, sees the threat as clear as the dawn.

Will the blood of one fill his gullet if it costs him the life of all?

Will hatred feed his hunger if what I say is true?

To believe my lie, or to end in a massacre?

Decisions, decisions.

I meet Lazell’s eye and revel in his fury.

His silence is all the answer I need.

“Kneel for your queen,” I boom, daring anyone to defy me.

Sentries and Counselors cast nervous glances between each other as I stare down Lazell, their unspoken leader, waiting for his next move.

His tentacles that usually mimic his surroundings are stiff at his sides, unmoving against the tides.

He works his jaw, mulling over his options.

Then he dips his head in the barest show of respect.

“Lower,” I order.

He’s tense as he does as I demand, curling his spine in a pathetic attempt at a bow.

“More.”

Satisfaction oozes through me when he bends at his hips, bowing low enough for waves to splash against his face.

One by one, the krakens follow Lazell’s lead in a deep bow that, for once, makes me feel victorious.

I may be a king in name only, but today, I have true power.

I’ve always longed for this feeling, yet it feels like nothing in comparison to having my mate look me in the eye and accept me, to feel her leave her mark on me and call me hers, as she is mine.

That type of power could turn me into the type of male who could fill the sea with corpses.

That type of power is what my people should fear.

Cindi comes up behind me, placing her small hand on my back.

“Is it over?” she whispers.

My tentacle immediately wraps around her, and I lift her into my arms, tucking her close to my chest. I nod, heading for our den.

“Now I can put a cub in you without worry for your safety.”

Her jaw drops.

“You can what ?”

“You needn’t worry. I’ll take care of you, my little mate.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second.”

A smile stretches across my lips, one she matches.

Cindi trusts me, and that’s the greatest gift of all.