Page 37 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

Beside her, Johann had sprung to his feet to help her lift a wall of water, his face barely flushed from exertion. No doubt he’d trained to handle much more than this. Lorelei dreaded to think what he was truly capable of.

Just as the lindworm surged toward Sylvia and Adelheid’s boat, they curled their hands into fists and froze the wall to ice. It shattered on impact, raining chunks of ice like broken glass. Reflexively, Lorelei drew her coat around herself. Sharp slivers of ice sparkled on the floor at her feet.

The beast hissed furiously and dove back into the water. Lorelei struggled to stay balanced as the wake buffeted their boat.

Johann looked at Lorelei as if seeing her for the first time. “You can use magic?”

She realized her mistake too late. A bolt of panic lanced through her, but she kept her voice even as she said, “Perhaps we can discuss it another time.”

The dragon cut through the water like an arrow, almost too quickly to track, a flash of red in the deep. Beside them, Sylvia crumpled to a heap at the bottom of the rowboat, her arms caging in her face as though cringing from a blow. Her face was ashen, but worst of all was the haunted look in her eyes. Lorelei recognized it all too well: she was trapped in a time and place far away from here. Adelheid stepped in front of her and settled into a fighting stance.

“Stay focused, Kaskel.” Johann’s voice was a low growl.

The lindworm surged out of the river. The waves slapped against the boat so violently that Lorelei lost her footing. The floor slipped from beneath her and for a moment, she saw nothing but open air. Her head cracked against the back of the seat, and black burst across her vision.

The lindworm’s spined tail arced overhead and smashed into another boat. The sound of splintering wood and screams cut through the haze gumming up her thoughts. She forced herself upright in time to see Adelheid resurface from the river, spitting out a mouthful of water. She grabbed hold of a fragment of the rowboat bobbing in the current.

Where was Sylvia?

“Adelheid?” Johann shouted, his panic obvious.

“I’ll manage,” she said. “Handle that.”

Johann’s glare turned murderous as he rounded on the lindworm again. He moved like he was built to fight. It was almost beautiful, the effortlessness with which he pulled water from the river and sharpened it to spears of ice that shattered harmlessly against its scales. With a shout of frustration, he seized upon another wave of water and sent it up. It froze in serrated points.

Johann had clearly lost himself to rage, and Lorelei could see his precision slipping. She could hardly think through the ringing in her skull. With the others incapacitated, it was only the two of them now. The lindworm’s translucent eyelid pulled back, and the full brunt of its furious gaze landed on Lorelei. It gave her just enough of a jolt to think clearly.

“Its eye,” she snapped.

Johann glanced back at her, his lip still curled in a snarl. “What?”

“Don’t waste your time trying to pierce its scales.”

After a moment, understanding cut through his bloodlust. He nodded sharply. As the lindworm reared up again to strike, he drew back his arm and launched a thin, wicked spear of ice at it. It struck true, sinking deep into the bright green of its eye.

The beast shrieked, thrashing. The water churned violently, tossing them on its waves. Its claws dragged into the damp earth of the riverbanks. Sweat beaded on Johann’s temples as he clenched his fists tighter, driving the spear deeper into its skull.

With a final cry, the lindworm’s body collapsed on the shore. Blood poured off its scales and into the river. Pink froth pooled around its body, and red slowly bloomed across the surface of the water. The sight of its broken body, glittering in its death, almost made Lorelei lose her grip on herself entirely. She slumped against the side of the boat, breathing heavily, and dug her thumbs into her temples. The roiling in her stomach refused to quiet.

“It’s unwise to take your eyes off a dying thing, you know,” Johann said. “Everything becomes more vicious and more beautiful in its final moments.”

Lorelei lifted her gaze to him. He stood in profile, but there was a curve of a self-satisfied smile on his lips as he surveyed what he had done.

“Johann!”

His whole body seemed to slacken at the sound of Adelheid’s voice. She stood on the far bank with Sylvia, both of them shivering in theirwaterlogged cloaks. Lorelei could not read the hard set of her jaw, but a horrible, pleading condemnation burned in her eyes. An entire conversation seemed to pass between the two of them. Johann clenched his fists. Bit by bit, he loosened them and turned them over to stare at his trembling palms. He looked horrified, then ashamed.

As if that could excuse how he’d looked moments before. He’d been wearing the face of a monster.

No, she thought,a murderer.

Ten

THEY PULLED THEIR REMAININGboats to the shore, tethering them to the banks and covering them as best they could with loose branches and leaves. Sylvia was suspiciously quiet and stood with a very ignoble slouch, as though she could barely hold herself upright. Ludwig slid his arm around her shoulders, and despite her drenched cloak, he let her lean her head into the crook of his neck.

He waved a hand, as though he meant to lift the water from her clothing. He barely managed to wring more than a few drops from it. He flashed her an apologetic smile. “Sorry. That’s the best I can do.”

Sylvia offered him a wan smile.