After Transmigrating, My Husband Is an Octopus novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Storm Night

I did not eat dinner, and I did not say anything until Bess had gone to bed.

Then I walked into the kitchen where Lorcan was mending a net by lamplight.

"The kitchens," I said.

His needle stopped.

"Lord Tristram told me what happens to a pet who fails the examination," I said. "You didn't."

"I was going to tell you tomorrow." He put the net down. "I wanted you to have one more night where it wasn't hanging over you."

"That's not your decision."

"No." He met my eyes, and a dull red crept up from his collar. "It isn't. I'm sorry. You're right."

I had been ready for an excuse.

I hadn't been ready for him to agree with me, and I stood there with nothing left to be angry with.

"What does the examination test?" I asked.

"Whether a human is worth keeping." His mouth twisted. "Usefulness, or a talent, or a lineage. Most pets fail. Most pets aren't supposed to pass. The Regent wants me to lose you in public."

"Then I'm not going to fail."

"Morwenna."

"I've got six days."

The first crack of thunder came then, so loud the lamp flame jumped.

Rain hit the roof all at once.

The Drift groaned on its stilts, and somewhere above the kitchen a board gave, and cold water poured through the ceiling onto the table.

Lorcan swore, climbed onto the bench and shoved a plank back into the gap with his bare hands.

The roof dropped a beam.

It caught him across the forearm.

I heard it hit.

"Lorcan!"

"It's fine." He got down. His shirt sleeve was torn, and the cloth below the elbow was dark with something that was not red.

It was violet, thin and shiny, and it was running down onto the floor.

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