The Shark and the Dragon King

By Jaymi Mizuno

To end her curse, she must destroy a king.

Marianna cannot control the creature that lives inside her. When she accidentally kills someone, she exiles herself from her home, her family, and from the temptation of the ocean. Longing to return, she’s willing to jump at the opportunity when a stranger offers her a deal that seems too good to be true. In exchange for a talisman that will allow her to enter the water without the sharks’ animal instincts overcoming her mind, she must travel to the bottom of the sea. To the undersea palace of the Dragon King.

And kill him.

But her quest doesn’t go as planned. The strange creatures at the palace all know her name. The king greets her as an old friend instead of as a threat. What other secrets are hidden in these watery depths, and will they end up changing everything Marianna knew about her family and herself forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaymi Mizuno
• Release date: Oct 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781005327743

Jaymi Mizuno

Jaymi Mizuno writes stories of fantasy and light science fiction, with some mushy romance stuff thrown in on occasion. Originally from Pearl City, Hawaii, she now lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with her husband, a hyperactive Lab-mix puppy, and two very talkative cats.To receive notifications of her new releases, please sign up for her newsletter: https://forms.aweber.com/form/00/721262800.htm

Book preview

The Shark and the Dragon King

THE SHARK AND THE DRAGON KING

JAYMI MIZUNO

Copyright © 2017 by Jaymi Mizuno

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

CONTENTS

Start of The Shark and the Dragon King

About the Author

I ’m not made for this kind of weather. Marianna’s teeth chattered so hard, she barely understood her own words. And there was no one else around to hear.

Most everyone was indoors. She would love to be too, but she had been on duty when the freak ice storm hit and now all she wanted to do was get back to her apartment. Her lightweight jacket provided no defense against the cold, and she had no gloves except for a thin leather pair she wore when she rode her motorcycle.

Like a fool, she believed the stories she heard about the southern US, especially places like Georgia, that described them as being almost as hot at times as her home state of Hawaii. Actually, it got even hotter during the summer. Back home, temperatures never soared over one hundred degrees.

And winter?

What was winter? She was learning the hard way, now.

Fortunately, her car started on the first attempt, but a thick layer of ice coated her windshield. Her wipers were frozen in place and though she turned on the heater full blast, it didn’t appear to be defrosting anything.

She did a quick internet search on her phone for improvised ice scraper and took out one of her old ID cards. The last state ID she received as a teenager before getting her driver’s license. There had been no reason to keep it after that. But once she was forced to leave her home, she hung onto this one small bit of the islands.

It was the same reason she never changed her cell phone number and refused to switch wireless carriers. Some companies claimed she could keep her old 808 area code with the change, but she refused to take that risk.

Either the ice was too thick or the plastic too flimsy. Her hands grew numb. Mariana gave up on the fruitless pursuit for a moment and took refuge in her car, though it was hardly warmer there than on the outside.

But sitting turned out to be worse than standing. Made her feel like she would turn into an icicle sooner rather than later. Marianna left the car and began pacing around the vehicle. So focused on the way her breath puffed out before her, she barely noticed the old man’s approach.

Mariana Saito?

There was a faint accent to the man’s voice, one she had rarely heard since leaving home. She turned and saw a little old man, who appeared as ill-prepared for the weather as she was.