The Kraken King, Part 7 Read Free

it’s . . . pleasant to be reminded of more.”
    By the thickness in Mara’s voice, Zenobia thought that
pleasant
couldn’t convey the emotions the memories truly evoked. “It’s good that you’re here, then.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWould you enjoy living in Krakentown?”
    Oh, Zenobia hadn’t meant to blurt out the question like that. Anxiety bound her chest again, pulling tighter and tighter when a brief silence fell, as if she’d surprised the other woman.
    Finally Mara said, “Cooper and I would like it very much,” but the mercenary’s response didn’t make it easier for Zenobia to breathe.
    â€œI love him,” she whispered, and now she’d exposed her heart to two people—her brother and her guard.
    This time there was no hesitation before Mara replied, “I know.” She finished with the sash, and concern creased her brow when she came around to study Zenobia’s face. “Are you well?”
    Not trusting her voice, Zenobia nodded. She was perfectly well. She just had lungs that wouldn’t breathe. A heart that wouldn’t stop racing. And feet that didn’t trust the ground beneath them.
    But perhaps she should have expected this uncertainty. Her world had turned completely upside down in the past two months—quite literally. She stood in a different hemisphere on the opposite side of the earth from where she’d been. And she’d changed, too. When she’d left home, Zenobia hadn’t been in love; now she was in so deep with Ariq that she could drown in it. She’d been a virgin; now she was so thoroughly ravished and eager to ravish him that every night had become an unending pleasure. She’d been a woman who hid and waited for ransom; now she would make a bludgeon and fashion her own escape.
    In many ways, she was the same woman who’d boarded an airship in Fladstrand. But there had been shifts within her, some like shivers and some like earthquakes, and so it was no surprise that she wasn’t yet steady.
    And she’d worried that Ariq had fallen in love with the spy rather than the woman she was? It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d known the truth. She would still be a different person now than the one he’d first met. She just had to trust that he would move with her when she shifted and quaked.
    Not so easy, trust. Not so easy, hope. But the realization helped her settle a little.
    Mara must have thought so, too. The concern smoothed away from her expression and she retrieved her bathing basket. “Are you worried because you haven’t yet received news from Krakentown?”
    Not a word from Ariq’s brother or from Lieutenant Blanchett, though he’d expected to hear from them the previous day. Ariq had been quiet that morning while readying to leave, his tension bordering on that terrifying calm. “Some. I’m trying not to think the worst. Ariq might have received a message today.”
    â€œAnd if he hasn’t?”
    â€œThen we will do what we must.”
    Though Zenobia had no idea what that might be—only that whatever Ariq decided, she would stand with him.
    Mara nodded. “And you know Cooper’s and my services are at your . . .”
    Tilting her head, she trailed off before setting her basket down. Zenobia stilled, listening.
    Only the ocean, the birds, and the expected noises of airship traffic and life in the tower.
    â€œWait here.” Mara left the chamber.
    Zenobia rushed to the door. She’d wait as told. But she’d look.
    An airship hovered off the western terrace. Painted a bright red and with white sails like fins, the sleek cruiser resembled a flying fish—though she had not seen many fish with gilded fins and ornate gold scrollwork decorating their snouts. Too opulent for a hired ship, it could only be a private vessel. Someone who hoped to speak with Ariq?
    Though the engines hummed