Page 106 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

A familiar voice echoed from behind them: Heike. “I knew it.”

Twenty-Six

ADELHEID AND HEIKE STOODonly a few meters behind them, dripping from the ends of their hair. They were dark shapes carved out against the eerie glow of the cavern.

Heike looked different than Lorelei had ever seen her, like something had cracked within her and been clumsily papered over. But through her dishevelment, she burned with steadfast purpose. The look on Adelheid’s face, Lorelei recognized all too well. She had worn it herself every day for years. Cold fire smoldered within her green eyes, hollowing them out of everything but her rage. All of them were haunted women. Violence had broken and reforged them, and the sharp edges it left behind made them dangerous.

“Step away from the Ursprung,” Adelheid said. “You don’t know what that will do to you.”

Reluctantly, Lorelei let Sylvia go. “Neither do you.”

Adelheid smiled humorlessly.

“How did you get here?” Sylvia asked breathlessly.

“It wasn’t so difficult to retrace your steps.”

Their arrival shouldn’t have been a surprise. Normally, Lorelei would have been more attuned to her surroundings. But her single-mindedness, once her strength, had narrowed the scope of her world. For one precious night, nothing had existed but the two of them. How stupid she’d been.

“This is an impasse,” Lorelei said. “You have played the game admirably, Adelheid, but you’re out of pawns. It’s over.”

“This is far from over.” Adelheid threw out her arms, and the water in her hair and clothes burst from her in a cloud of mist. It coalesced in front of her, as sharp as a lance, and seethed like a heat shimmer.

Sylvia’s jaw tightened. “Adelheid, peace! We can talk through this and besensible—”

“No. I have heard enough talk to last a lifetime.”

It was the only warning she gave them before she launched herself forward. She was a barrage of steel and fury, shaping the water into a whip. It lashed out with the force of a gale, then solidified into ice as it struck Lorelei in the ribs hard enough that she dropped to her knees. It shattered on impact, shards raining down on the stone with a bright, clattering sound.

With a flex of her fingers, the whip reassembled itself, too quickly for Lorelei to regain her bearings. It cut through the air and landed a decisive blow on Sylvia’s shoulder, directly over her wound. It was a cheapshot—buteffective. Sylvia let out a strangled gasp of pain.

Adelheid took the opportunity to disarm her. Another flick of her wrist, and Sylvia’s saber flew out of her hand. It slid end over end across the floor, striking the cavern wall with a bell-likeclang. Water curled around Adelheid’s ankles and flowed into her open palm. Slowly, it crystallized into a pike, which she pointed directly at Sylvia’s throat.

“Well fought,” she said, without a hint of sarcasm. Her gaze flickered to Lorelei where she lay sprawled on the ground. “Don’t move. It would pain me to kill her now, but I will if I must.”

Sylvia glared at Adelheid, clutching her shoulder. “Is there finally enough blood on your hands?”

“What is she talking about?” Heike demanded.

Adelheid set her jaw and ignored her.

“You still haven’t told her?” Lorelei gritted out. “Do you plan to before or after you run Wilhelm through?”

Heike’s mouth opened, then snapped shut again. But a shadow crossed her expression: doubt. Just enough of a weakness for Lorelei to exploit. “You’re lying.”

“Adelheid resents Wilhelm for his inaction in Ebul. She plans to take the power of the Ursprung for herselfand—”

“I plan to see what power it can offer him,” Adelheid replied coolly. “Do not move.”

Despite the uncertainty that lit her eyes, Heike lifted her hands as though preparing to channel aether. With that ice blade pressed to the underside of Sylvia’s delicate throat, Lorelei did not dare open her mouth again. There was nothing she could do to stop her with brute force. Adelheid was as skilled as Johann had been withmagic—andtwice as controlled.

Adelheid crouched beside the spring and dipped her cupped hands into it. The water cradled in her palms lay dark and still as she brought it to her lips and drank. For a few moments, she remained where she was, her chin tilted upward and waitingfor...what,exactly? Some divine parting of the clouds?

Nothing happened.

Lorelei’s breath rushed out of her.

Adelheid stood and turned sharply toward them, as though seeking some explanation. Her expression crumpled with confusion. Once again, Lorelei was reminded of why she despised the inconstancy of fairy tales. Perhaps she’d taken too small a dose. Perhaps she needed to submerge herself. Perhaps, like the boy who slayed the dragon, she needed to drown.