Whatever was between my legs slid away. I fell back beneath the surface before I could stop myself. More liquid filled my mouth and nose. Something else slipped beneath me and feeling as if I were seated in a swing, I was lifted again.
Breaking free once more, water sprayed from my lips and ran down my chin when a round of coughing racked my body. Every one of my bones hurt, all my muscles and organs felt bruised, but I was alive.
My hands fell onto the scaly body of one of the tahanusis, my dress kept me protected from its rough skin as it slid beneath me. It held me above for a second more before slipping away. This time, I managed to weakly tread water instead of plummeting beneath.
All around me, the wraiths broke free of the surface. One of their hands fell through my shoulder, causing my teeth to chatter. I expected the Asharún to start icing over around me, but the current remained flowing steadily onward, taking me with it.
I tried to figure out where I was in the river, but I couldn’t see beyond the twisted souls encroaching on me. My kicking slowed as the wraiths steadily weakened me. More of the wraith’s hands fell through me. More twisted faces whirled before my eyes.
If I didn’t get away from them, I would go under again, and this time there would be no coming back. I tried to draw on my fire or the flow of life, but both eluded me in this world of water and death.
CHAPTER 5
River
Through the sea of black, I saw two lower-level demons slicing across the water toward me. I jerked when an arm locked around my waist and my back was pulled against a solid chest. Even before Kobal spoke, I knew it was him.
“Easy,” he murmured, his lips brushing over my ear. “I’ve got you, Mah Kush-la.”
His familiar endearment for me, meaningmyheart, briefly warmed me. My feeling of being safe didn’t last long as the two demons reached us and a third burst out of the water in front of us. Kobal curved himself protectively around me. The thuds of fists hitting his flesh sounded. He grunted, but made no other noise.
“K… Ko… bal?” I managed to chatter out.
He didn’t respond as he released me with one of his hands and swung out behind him. Craning my head, I watched as he sliced his claws across the neck of one demon before driving his fist through the chest of another and tearing out its heart. The third sliced its claws down Kobal’s side.
I cried out and lunged for the demon. I may not be able to do much with the wraiths and the water all around me, but I’d choke that thing to death for hurting him. Kobal’s powerful legs kept us both afloat as he seized the demon’s arm and snapped it back. Lunging forward, he sank his fangs in the demon’s throat, reared back and spit the demon’s flesh out.
Resting his hand on the Asharún, Kobal released a wall of fire from his fingertips. It raced over the water in a fiery blaze that illuminated the cavern. The demons screamed and fell back as the fire whipped around us to create a half-circle of protection. The popping sizzle of their flesh and the burnt stench of it filled the air.
Keeping his arm locked around my waist, Kobal’s powerful body cut through the water while fire continued to stream from his hand. I lost sight of the demons and the wraiths vanished when Kobal approached. I spotted the others standing on the shore with the hounds, waiting for us. The rattling of the tahanusis ceased, but the arched back of one slid out of the water a few feet away.
“They saved me,” I said when Kobal’s body further eased the chill in me.
“They may not like us in their water, but you are their queen,” he replied.
“I knew the demons accepted me as their queen, but these creatures too?”
“Any who are loyal to me will be loyal to you, without question,” Kobal said.
“Where are the rest of the demons who attacked us?”
“If the tahanusis didn’t feast on them, then they’ve fled like the cowards they are.”
The idea of being feasted on by a tahanusi made me gulp.
When we made it to the shoreline, Kobal carried me onto it. Despite the heat of Hell, and him, I continued to shiver in his arms. His hands ran over my body, rubbing my back and arms to defrost my limbs.
I craned my body to see over his shoulder and gasped at the flayed open skin of his back. He shifted to hold me so I couldn’t see it again. “You’re wounded!” I cried.
“I’m fine,” he said gruffly.
“Kobal—”
“It will heal soon,” he said and set me gently on my feet. Water dripped from his hair and down his face as he clasped my chin. His golden eyes surveyed me from head to toe before he circled around me. He kept his back from my view as he moved.
“I’m a little wetter than before, but no harm done,” I said when he stepped in front of me again.
“Hmm,” he grunted in response.
