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She broke free, air hitting her face, and she gulped two quick breaths. Her arms splaying wide, she hugged the boulder the best she could as the rush of water pinned her to the hunk of rock.
The water churning around her, she searched the river. Just past her, floating fast and far away, a head. A dark head.
Above the water, the head wrenched to the left and back and his eyes locked onto hers. Wes. He was still above the grip of the water, thank the heavens. But far away—too far to help her.
Her left hand slipped on the boulder and she shifted, the water threatening to swallow her once more.
Her look jerking around, she found the shore closest to her. A distance, but if the riverbed moved upward through the channel she might just have a chance.
She rolled sideways on the boulder, landing hard on her belly. With just her chest above the roiling water, she wedged her right foot up, bracing it against the rock, teetering on the balance between the water snatching her away and getting enough leverage to launch herself toward the bank.
One gasp. Two. Three. And she kicked herself off of the boulder and toward the riverbank with as much force as she could muster into her right leg.
Enough for halfway to shore. Nothing more.
The water rushed over her head again, her skirts so heavy about her legs she couldn’t even kick through the tangle of them.
Her arms flew, clawing through the water, stretching out to the bank of the river.
Down further. Further.
Water seeping into her mouth.
Solid. Her left knuckles slammed into something solid. Her hand instantly flipped over, grabbing a hold of the rope in the midst of the churning waters.
Not a rope. A root. So fat and slick she almost lost grip on it.
Her right hand battled against the rushing water and she managed to get her right fingers wrapped around the root.
Up. Up. Up.
She pulled her body upward through the water until she found air again. Hand over hand until she’d dragged herself up onto the steep bank, her fingers and toes clawing at the loose mud until she found solid ground under her chest.
“Laney!” The roar from Wes’s lungs shook the dirt under her.
She flipped onto her back, her calves still hanging over the crumbling edge of the riverbank, and she shoved the matted hair away from her eyes. Wes was running up along the opposite side of the river, pure panic on his face. She searched around her. “The blackguard, where is he?”
“Gone under. Washed away.”
She collapsed back onto the ground, gulping air, one hand on her belly and the other on her chest.
“Laney.Laney!”
She lifted her head to look at him.
“You can breathe?”
“I can breathe.” She nodded, unable to force the words loud enough for him to hear over the churning of the river.
“Don’t collapse on me like that.”
She nodded again, unable to lift her head to look at him. She just needed a moment. A moment to not be gasping for every breath, for her body to stop shaking.
But then there was silence.
Too much silence.
Her head jerked up and Wes still stood on the opposite side of the river, looking down. His stare locked onto something in his hands.
