Page 113 of Love & Heart Braking

“Gug,” Devereaux said rapidly. “Get Maligni out of here. Lerome will be at the rendezvous.” He pointed. “That way. It isn’t far.”

We’d nearly been free.

“Fenton,” I choked. He was bobbing face down not far away. Tears filled my eyes.

“Dead. They took his heart. We can’t bring his body with us. It’ll slow us down too much.” His blue irises flashed, and Devereaux’s frame grew larger before my very eyes.

I peeked over the top of the bank and gasped. “Soleil’s fighting the kraken!”

He grunted. “Bain too.”

A scream pierced the air, and all four of us looked over the bank too. One of the krakens bellowed while a golden Soleil stood behind him with a giant mass in her hands.

“She got a heart,” Gug said.

The kraken collapsed.

Maligni said in plain satisfaction, “The third heart. He’s dead.”

Together, she and Bain turned on the remaining kraken.

“Go now, Gug,” Devereaux said. “I will prevent anyone following.”

“Thank you,” she whispered to us.

I squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll be seeing you.”

We hoisted Maligni onto the top of the bank, and Devereaux and I both exited the water to crouch on the strip of land between two of the canals. I quickly stripped off my rebreathing gear, shivering as the night breeze touched my wet clothing.

“They’re going to win,” he growled.

I couldn’t help looking his way. My breath caught at the sight. The shape of his face had changed, becoming almost snout-like to accommodate the ferocious fangs extending from where his incisors had been. Dark hair crept in like a coat around his features. His ears had lengthened. His eyes glowed blue. Hair covered his hands, and his form was growing with each passing second.

This was what he’d been hiding from me. His predator’s form.

Wonder filled me.

“One heart taken,” he announced in the terrible voice I remembered from when Soleil’s youngest brother attacked me.

Bain had circled behind the kraken but threw himself down as ink jetted out of the water descendant.

Soleil roared and blurred forward, slashing her talons across the Dethnel’s eyes. As he was reeling, Bain launched forward, white flaring as he punctured the kraken’s flesh and ripped another heart free.

“We need to get out of here,” Devereaux said. “Soleil will get Bain clear.”

I hesitated.

“I need to get you out of here,” he pressed. “We’ll be more vulnerable on foot. And we have no idea how many Dethnels are currently headed this way. Perhaps with others of the twelve to help them.”

That meant Devereaux would be in danger too. “Okay.”

I followed him down the route Maligni and Gug just took. Neither of them was there when we made it to the rendezvous point. If Lerome didn’t whisk them away, I had no idea what we’d do, but I couldn’t contemplate that right now. After everything tonight, after Fenton—I dragged in a breath—I couldn’t bear for Maligni and Gug to be caught.

The kraken screamed.

“She got his gills,” Devereaux whispered, swinging me into his arms. “Hold on tight.”

I looped my hands around his neck. “They’ll be all right?”

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