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“And Iwill,” she says. “Or…youwill, when you defy me.”
I don’t see any other choice. I could wait for the Hunt–ifthey weren’t routed. I could wait for the Wrath. I could wait for Ryker.
But maybe this is why a twenty-one-year-old human with nothing but a strong will and a bad attitude was brought to this alien world. Maybethisis why I was blessed by Yrsa.
To save them all.
“Okay,” I say, lowering my blade. “I accept.”
“No!” Orion cries.
But it’s too late.
Lamia’s sharp nails catch hold of my braided hair, and she sends me face first into the pool.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
FIONA
I’m underwater. I’m drowning.
Taken by surprise, I suck in a lungful of air, and searing white light explodes across my vision. I don’t know exactly what it is I’m seeing, but all I can think of is my mother.
My mother, drowning. Submerged in saltwater. I didn’t know how much it would burn, like fire in my chest, in my nose, in my eyes…and I know I would be sobbing if I could.
It hurts, it hurts, ithurts…
The bottom of the pool glistens with something sparkling, and time dilates as I seem to zoom out. I’m not in the abyss anymore. I’m coasting, getting farther and farther away from this body, this life, my men.
I’m not drowning. I’m flying.
No.
I can’t.
Fuck, I’m sostubborn.
And I will do anything it takes to save them. To stay with them. My men…I have no idea if she’ll keep her end of the bargain. I can’t just fly away from them.
My life with them has only juststarted. I jerk against her, my knees going weak. The pain gets worse. I wonder if this is how my mom felt, if it hurt likethisas she went down. If there was anyone waiting to meet her at the end.
And then a hand is grasping mine.
Warm, slender fingers, sliding between my digits to interlock at the palm. And it isn’t the bottom of the pool beneath me, but lagoon green eyes, and tendrils of long auburn hair, and tentacles painted in violet and blush.
I don’t think he’s here, but he is.
“Breathe,” Nereus whispers, face to face with me.
I inhale.
I breathe.
How?
But I’m certain of it now–I’m breathing, and life is coming back into my limbs. I don’t let her know that though, letting Lamia think she’s killing me, that I’m drowning in this pool.
I stop struggling.
