The Kraken's Sacrifice (A Deal With a Demon #2)(18)

It takes two minutes to realize the lovely flowing fabric of her dress is a hindrance. I pause and rip the bottom half of it off, leaving the fabric to float above us as we continue our descent. Someone will collect it later. The tunnels branch like hallways, though they are not confined by gravity, so I move laterally and then at an angle to reach the outer part of the keep.

From here, the sea opens around us. We’re close enough to the surface that sunbeams penetrate the water, lighting the coral reef that makes up the west side of the keep, the coral extending for leagues to the north and south. Schools of fish dart about, their scales flashing pleasantly. The sight of so much open space always settles a part of me that never quite finds peace when I’m in the keep itself. Without the walls to close me in, I can breathe properly again.

Maybe that’s why it takes me so long to realize Catalina isn’t enjoying the view. She’s made herself even smaller in my arms, tucking her knees close to her chest. She’s also shaking.

She’s . . . terrified.





8





CATALINA





I wouldn’t call myself a particularly brave person, but I also wouldn’t think the sight of so much water would fill me with the kind of fear that has me fighting to claw away from Thane and get back into the tunnels. They were claustrophobic, but at least I knew their parameters, lit as they were by strange glowing in the rock formations.

But this . . . ocean? Sea? I don’t even know the proper term for it. It stretches out as far as the eye can see, the deep blue playing with my perception. Can I actually see for miles, or is it really much closer? Could there be a monster out there, all scales and teeth, just waiting for a foolish human to swim too close?

A hand under my chin gently draws my face away from the open water to look up at Thane. His hair tentacles float around his head, which might make me freak out more, but his expression is comforting in its coldness. Everything else may be different below the surface, but not this man.

He studies my face, and maybe not looking directly at the water should calm me, but I can’t catch my breath. I’m breathing underwater and I don’t think I’ll ever not be awed by that. This is too much newness, too fast.

Thane says something, I think, but I hear a series of clicks I don’t understand. Apparently the translation spell doesn’t work with this underwater language for some reason. I shake my head helplessly. Or maybe it’s my entire body shaking.

His brows draw in, and then he shifts his arm around me so that a single arm holds me, his bicep to my back, his big hand gripping my thigh closest to him. Later, I’ll marvel that our size difference is enough for him to do this. I don’t have time right now, not when he grips my upper thigh with his free hand, so high up that his knuckles brush my bare pussy.

The shock of the touch freezes me. My gaze flies to his face, only to find him looking at me in question. Just like that, I remember my irreverent comment before we descended.

It’s nothing a good fucking can’t fix.

Apparently he’s decided finger fucking will be good enough for this purpose. There are a thousand reasons not to do this, but I’m not thinking of any of them right now as I stare into his inky eyes. In fact, I’m not thinking of the dangers of open water either. I hadn’t been 100 percent serious before, but right now I think I might die if he doesn’t keep going.

I nod jerkily. It’s all the consent he needs to palm my pussy. His hands are so big that he’s essentially palming my entire nether regions. I jolt as Thane starts to swim again, but I can’t focus on our changing surroundings. Not when he’s gently sliding his fingers through my folds.

It’s not like it was before when he held me splayed out with his tentacles. That was easier to process. I challenged him, and he put me in my place with orgasms. A simple equation.

This . . . isn’t.

This feels like more than conquering. It feels like care. Normally that would be enough to freak me the fuck out, but there’s too much going on in this moment to freak out about. Being touched like this by Thane hardly ranks.

The pressure increases as we slowly descend to coast along the surface of the coral reef. Movement out of the corner of my eye makes me tense and start to whip around, but Thane chooses that moment to press a single large finger into me. He tests me for a moment, and then a second finger joins the first.

Oh fuck, that feels amazing.

The tentacles were good, but the hardness of his fingers, the roughness of his slow strokes, hits an entirely different kind of good. He shifts me in his arm and spreads my legs a little more, giving him better access.

And yet I can’t fully give myself over to the feeling. We’re moving too fast—laterally, so there’s no worry about the bends—and I keep seeing things that make my mind scream in fear, sure that we’re about to be eaten.

Thane shifts me higher on his chest, and then his mouth is at the corner of my jaw. His lips move against my skin, and everything goes black as one of his hair tentacles covers my eyes. I freeze, fear rising hard enough to make my head spin, but he keeps up that thorough fucking with his fingers.

My fear recedes one heartbeat at a time. Without any visual input, I only have the rhythmic movement of Thane’s body as he swims, the pleasure he deals out in steady waves. Even the tentacle around my eyes is a comfort after a few moments, its weight steady and reassuring.