Page 22 of Taken By the Leviathan King

“These passages weren’t on any of the maps,” she observed, her keen eyes scanning the crystalline walls that grew more luminescent the deeper we traveled. Small flecks ofbioluminescent algae clung to the ancient stone, casting her in an ethereal blue glow that accentuated the delicate pattern of scales now visible along her collarbones.

“They wouldn’t be,” I responded, watching how her fingers traced the carved symbols etched into the corridor walls. “The path to the Heart is known only to the ruling bloodline and the sacred guardians. Even Zorath has never ventured this deep.”

Her eyebrow arched in that challenging way that sent heat coursing through my veins. “Yet you’re bringing me here.”

“You are my queen.” The words emerged more possessively than intended. “Whether you have accepted the title or not.”

She didn’t argue, which surprised me. Instead, she studied the way the water currents shifted around us, carrying particles of light that swirled in our wake like tiny stars.

“These symbols,” she said, changing the subject. “They’re similar to the markings on your skin. The ones that glow when you’re—”

“When I’m aroused?” I finished, enjoying the subtle darkening of her cheeks. Even now, after she had surrendered to our bond, her human modesty surfaced in these small, endearing ways. “Yes. They tell the history of my bloodline, our connection to the Deep.”

We approached a vast archway where two guardians stood sentinel, their ancient forms more serpentine than my own, with elongated spines and ceremonial armor that had grown into their bodies over centuries of service. Their eyes, clouded with age but sharp with awareness, fixed upon us immediately.

“King Krak’zol,” the elder guardian intoned, his voice like stone grinding against stone. “You bring an outsider to the sacred Heart?”

I drew myself to my full height, feeling the royal markings along my spine begin to pulse with proximity to the Heart’senergy. “I bring Queen Imoogeen, Bonded of the Deep, Shield of Two Worlds.”

Beside me, Imoogeen stiffened slightly at the formal title. I felt a tremor pass through the water between us—surprise, uncertainty, and, beneath it all, a reluctant pride that she could not quite suppress.

The guardians studied her for a long moment, their ancient eyes unblinking. Then, as one, they inclined their heads and parted, revealing the chamber beyond.

“The Heart awaits,” the younger guardian said. “It has been restless these past cycles. Perhaps it sensed her coming.”

Before we entered, I reached for Imoogeen, adjusting a piece of ceremonial armor on her shoulder—a curved plate of iridescent shell that I had commissioned for her in secret days ago. “It was my mother’s,” I said simply, watching her eyes widen at the significance.

The piece sat perfectly against her smaller frame, the royal insignia catching the ambient light. She was transformed in this moment—not just physically by my venom, but in presence. She carried herself like a warrior queen, her human resilience blending with Leviathan grace in a way that made my chest tighten with a possessive pride I’d never experienced before.

“Ready?” I asked, offering my hand.

She took it without hesitation, her fingers intertwining with mine despite the difference in our forms. “Lead on, Your Majesty.”

The Heart’s chamber opened before us, a vast cathedral of living crystal that stretched beyond sight, its ceiling lost in darkness far above. At its center floated the Heart itself—not a single crystal, as most believed, but a complex latticework of crystalline formations that pulsed with inner light, sending ripples of energy through the water in hypnotic patterns.

“It’s alive,” Imoogeen whispered, her voice filled with awe.

“In its way,” I confirmed, watching how the Heart’s light seemed drawn to her, tendrils of luminescence reaching out as we approached. “Not conscious as we understand it, but aware. It chooses the rulers of the Abyss, rejects those unworthy of its power.”

“And Rynor wants to control it.” Her eyes narrowed, taking in the strategic implications immediately. “If he corrupts this, he doesn’t just gain power—he rewrites the rules of succession.”

“More than that.” I guided her closer, feeling the energy intensify around us. “The Heart doesn’t just sustain our kingdom. It maintains the balance of all oceanic realms on Sanos. If corrupted, it would poison everything—the currents, the reefs, the very water that gives life.”

As we neared the center of the chamber, the Heart’s energy surged, responding to our presence. The royal markings along my body ignited fully, glowing with silver-blue light that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat. Imoogeen’s fingers traced one that curved across my forearm, her touch sending a shiver through me even in this sacred place.

“They’re beautiful,” she murmured, watching the patterns shift and flow beneath her fingertips.

The Heart pulsed more intensely, bathing us in waves of light that seemed to penetrate to the core of our beings. I felt its ancient consciousness brushing against my mind, testing, evaluating—and then accepting, as it had since I first took the throne.

But then it turned its attention to Imoogeen, and the chamber filled with a light so bright it nearly blinded me.

“Krak’zol?” Uncertainty edged her voice as tendrils of energy encircled her, lifting her slightly from the chamber floor. “What’s happening?”

“The Heart recognizes you,” I breathed, watching in awe as her skin began to shimmer with faint patterns that mirrored myown royal markings—not permanent, but a manifestation of the Heart’s acceptance. “It’s showing you something. Don’t fight it.”

Her eyes closed, her face a canvas of shifting emotions as the Heart communicated with her in ways only she could perceive. I watched, torn between fascination and concern, as her body temporarily transformed further—her skin luminous with delicate scale patterns, her hair floating around her like a dark halo shot through with threads of bioluminescence.

She was the perfect balance of human and Leviathan in this moment—fierce and vulnerable, familiar and alien, mine and entirely her own.

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