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‘Stop! Tova, Irsha, stop!’ The water barely reached Irsha’s waist, but Tova’s chest was disappearing beneath the surface.

And I knew for certain the dwarf couldn’t swim.

The warning sign now made sense. The woman between the reeds and the stupid look on my friends’ faces.

They were enraptured by a rusalka’s song, and because I was a woman, I couldn’t hear it.

My wings sprang from my back, lifting me off the ground. As my magic awakened, I heard the rusalki. Whispers teased the wind, calling my friends home in voices I would recognise anywhere. Lily and Inga, the women they yearned for, were now being used as a trap for my family.

I hadn’t learned how to fly but running into the water would be too slow.

I concentrated on moving the muscles in my back. Somehow it worked—more or less. Cin, if we survive this, you’ll give me a lesson. I wobbled above the water, and just before the dwarf’s head disappeared beneath the surface, I grabbed his beard and hauled him up.

A pale hand with soft, glowing skin emerged and tried to pull him back. I held onto Tova with all of my strength while Irsha waded deeper, and I couldn’t hold on to save them both.

Rage surged through me, and my power responded, bathing the world in emerald fire.

‘They are mine!’ I screamed, the sound echoing off the trees.

The melody that drew them under receded beneath the assault of my magic. The whispers intensified around me—begging, haggling, promising to return one if they took the other.

My arms and wings strained to keep the dwarf above the water. Locked in a magical tug of war with water spirits, unwilling to lose either of them.

‘Get your hands off my men, or I swear I’ll turn this place into a monstrous swamp,’ I snarled and let my power do what it did best: wreak havoc.

Emerald mist burned with dragon fire. The water below boiled, reeds withered and twisted into horrendous shapes, and the beings in the lake screamed, shattering the willow trees.

‘Enough! Release the men!’ a deep voice bellowed from the lake’s centre. I choked on a sob when Tova came free, and Irsha emerged from the water, coughing and spluttering as he blinked away his stupor. ‘Call back your power, Dobra’s daughter. Don’t hurt my foolish children. They only wanted to play.’

I pulled Tova to the shallows so he could climb onto the shore and focused on calling back the raging power. It didn’t want to listen. All my efforts were futile, my soul too small to encompass such potency.

My head spun, and blood trickled from my nose. The very source of life was ripping me apart from within, refusing to be tamed. Its will to transform turned water lilies into crystalline flowers filled with liquid gold, their petals shimmering on the water’s surface.

My control frayed with every heartbeat, with each slow, tired flutter of my wings. Still, I fought, trying to force my power back inside, but my strength waned. Staying aloft grew harder. So did staying awake.

Irsha called my name and rushed into the water. I gestured, commanding a willow tree to hold him back.

My wings fluttered one more time, then disappeared. Like a rock, I fell into the depths of the lake.

Into the waiting arms of Vodnik’s daughters.