Chapter 48

chapter 48

CEPHARIUS

Elle went limp in my arms.

I knew she was all right; I could feel her heartbeat and see her breathing, but her mind was quiet.

"Stop hurting her," I whispered, shaking with frustration. I didn't want to yell, I was afraid to strain our 'qa more than the ship's intrusion was already doing—but if it hurt her and I lived, I would go back to Thalassamur, gather my kin, and we would raze this structure to the ground.

Then her eyelids fluttered open, and I felt her rejoining the 'qa more consciously. I saw the blood vessel the ship's thoughts had burst in her eye again, and I delicately stroked over her with all of my tentacles, searching for any other damage.

"It's so scared, Ceph," she whispered, curling into a ball inside my arms, putting her hands to her head.

"Of what?" I thought to her, but she didn't know.

I clasped her to my chest, ready to take on the entire ship if I had to, when the lights in the room we were in turned off, and the door to the next room opened.

"Come in . Please, help us. We will trade you. "

I didn't feel like I had any other choice. I moved forward, carrying Elle.

This new room was lit with the strange ambient light the others had been, just like I'd seen in it before returning and finding the one particular wavelength of light directing me to Elle.

She felt fragile against me—so unlike herself—was this what had happened to the other two-legged men?

"No," the ship said. "We have tried to communicate many times. They broke . They were too small to listen . Communicating is hard ."

I got residual impressions of the difficulties it had had, trying to lure us closer, so that we were near it long enough to get a sense of our minds—the changing symbols, the colors, and then realizing that without Elle and I conjoining our 'qa, we would never be able to talk and understand it—it needed the space of my mind and the 'qa itself, but also Elle's ability and willingness to make sense of what was happening to succeed.

If the fact that I wanted to mate Elle so badly had left her open for damage, I would never forgive myself.

"I'm fine, Ceph," she whispered, answering my unspoken prayers. "I mean, as fine as anyone can be, when they're talking to a spaceship," she said, giving me a weak smile.

"I love you," I told her immediately. I had not gotten the chance to tell it to her enough yet—I could start repeating it today, and never be finished.

" Yes, " the ship interrupted me. "That is why we will trade you for your help. "

I sensed motion behind me and whirled to find the chamber we'd been in closing off, leaving us in this new one—and beside me a portion of the wall cleared, revealing a newly hatched kraken, no bigger than the size of my palm.