Page 81 of Battle Fluke
The exhaustion and the fear washed over her, and tears pricked at her eyes as Hudson held onto her just as tightly back, while Kyree’s arms wrapped around them both. Kyree’s body at Honour’s back, her fluke scooping their tails up in an encompassing embrace.
“I love you.”
29
The scene in front of Kyree tore her heart into shredded pieces of seaweed. Blood seeped into the water and clouded her sight. It smelled disgusting. She’d been here before, she remembered the scent, but that didn’t stop her stomach from churning.
“They need all the help they can get,” Hudson’s voice was a calming balm in Kyree’s broken body.
“It takes it out of me.” Kyree hesitated. It didn’t matter if it took it out of her, she would sacrifice herself for all the lives she saw being threatened and broken in front of her. But would it even be enough?
“It’s okay.” Hudson scooped Kyree up in her strong arms. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“I know.” Kyree kissed Hudson’s lips even as her fingers wrapped around the soul stone at her throat. She didn’t really have a decision to make, did she? Everything about this moment had been calling to her and begging her to take action.
The power of the magic washed over Kyree, and her lungs stuttered at the enormity of what lay in front of her. This was so much more than before. This wasn’t only going to drain her—it was going to hurt like hell.
She could feel them. Not just the creatures who had answered her plea of danger when Hudson and Honour were there. There were so many more of them. It didn’t even feel as though she reached out at all. It was as though they had all been waiting, wanting nothing more than to assist in saving their homes. Their desire to save the lives of those who no longer remembered the connection of souls they used to share made Kyree’s eyes sting with unshed tears of gratitude and love.
“Oh.” Kyree’s arms fell at her sides, but the strength of Hudson’s arms wrapped around her and kept the hope radiating inside her chest. It burned bright and alive, a force against the darkest of soundings.
“You’re amazing, Kyree.” Hudson’s lips were a bright spark against her forehead. “The krakens are moving back. And the animals—the animals are following.” Hudson’s words were a whisper against Kyree’s skin.
“We have to as well. We have to give them no respite.” Kyree snuggled in tighter to Hudson’s arms, though her energy seemed to be refilling. Her soul felt more alive now than it ever had before, as if she was living and breathing her full self in a way she hadn’t ever before.
“You almost sound like Honour.”
“And here you are finding a way to win without fighting.” Kyree kept her eyes closed, seeing through the eyes of the creatures she was sharing a moment of existence with.
“Oh, I’m fighting.” Hudson chuckled. “Just turns out that there are more ways to fight than swinging a sword or slamming a fist.”
The silence of their words fell over them as they reached the next resting spot of the mechanical beasts.
“Shit.”
“What?” Kyree opened her eyes and lifted her head from Hudson’s shoulder.
“There were more waiting.”
“Shouldn’t you have expected that?” Kyree couldn’t help the small tease as she looked up into Hudson’s face.
“I should’ve.”
But the joy that sparked between them disappeared in an instant as Kyree felt the pain of a sea star being torn apart by the clutches of metal claws. Kyree tried to ignore the warmth of tears that brushed in front of her face as she wrapped her fingers tighter around the soul stone.
Her hand shook as the stone answered back to her grip. With her heart racing and her lungs working overtime, Kyree panicked, wondering if her fingers would ever be able to bend again, to remove themselves from the contact that all but burned with the touch of the soul stone.
“We have more coming. And they’re angry.” Kyree’s voice hitched.
“Anger used in the right way can be a power for good. I believe Honour would call it justice.”
Kyree couldn’t reply. She wanted to nod, but she wasn’t sure her body would answer the call of her mind. Her mind swam with all the life forces of the ocean. The fear seeped away as more lights filled her. New life just coming into this world, old life happily passing on love and safety to the next generations. Shared love and affection. Joy and happiness.
Even in the midst of this horrific scene and battle, there was love. Love brought the peaceful creatures from their homes. They had love and life and futures to fight for.
The humans were moving back again. Fewer krakens mimicked the flow and movement of those born to this world. They moved faster, no longer taking moments to stop and fend off the defenders of this world. They were retreating, not simply falling back to another line of fighters ready and waiting.
“Where is Honour?” Kyree’s body tingled as energy returned to her. It spread out into her limbs, and her fingers twitched around the stone. They weren’t fused, though ridges on the skin of her hands marked the places she had gripped the soul stone.