Page 31 of Love & Heart Braking

I rounded my eyes. “What did he do? I’ve heard rhages are crazy.”

Sorry, Dev.

Master Dethnel drew himself tall. “He tore up a large portion of our moat network here, killing some of our workers before fleeing to wider Nepos to continue his rampage. Your father had become rather convinced that we had someone he knew contained below the surface.”

If a kraken could smile, then the eldest Dethnel was doing it now.

My stomach churned at the loaded meaning in his words, and I couldn’t resist darting a look to Devereaux’s left wrist. A trickle of blood had escaped his cuff.

When he spoke, though, his voice was perfectly neutral. “I’m sorrier than you know for the lives my father took when he lost control. I don’t suppose you recall who he believed was trapped below?”

The kraken waved a disinterested tentacle in the air. “You, I would say. Well, if you are his only son. That is what he was screaming.”

Mars alive. They’d told Furoras that Devereaux was underwater. No wonder he’d gone rhage.

Devereaux sucked in a harsh inhale. “Why would he believe that?”

The patriarch leaned forward, staring down from his towering perch. “I have no answer other than that his type were not known for their stability. And I doubt your type are much better, are they, Detective?”

That was my true love he was talking to. I felt his threat in my very soul.

“Abitaverus,” I declared.

All three of the younger krakens whipped to look at me.

“Lucky it’s around, huh?” I finished awkwardly.

“Lucky,” Master Dethnel echoed a beat later.

I glanced around and shoved my hands into my coat pockets. “Detective, if you’re done with your questions, then I’d like to get off this estate before I catch an infectious disease.”

The krakens’ eyes glowed red.

Big yikes.

“That’s all,” Devereaux said quietly. “Thanks for your time.”

“Thank you for the entertainment,” the patriarch answered. Following his lead, the krakens slithered beneath the surface in a tangle of tentacles with barely a sound and nary a ripple.

Devereaux and I walked back to the carriage without a word.

I peered at the surface beside the stone path, shivering. Moonlight illuminated the murky water there, and when a stream of bubbles rose from the depths and disturbed the surface, I shifted closer to the silent berserker on my other side.

Freaky shit.

On the final stone step before the carriage, a glinting caught my eye.

“Hey.” I bent down. “Look at this.”

I picked up the pendant, careful not to touch any of the goopy slime.

Devereaux paused, and I glanced up at him, surprised to find shock coating his features.

I held the pendant high. “You know what this is?”

“Imperial gold. Mars’s gift to his soldiers. This was my father’s,” he said hoarsely. “A spear and shield.”

The circle ring was pierced with a small spear, much like the way an arrow pierced my magical hearts.

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