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I heaved at his arm and he made a pained sound.
“Fuck, little wildcat! What part of ‘ow, my shoulder’ did you not understand? Basic anatomy, perhaps?”
“Begging your forgiveness, Your Highness,” I shot back, “but I figured it was less important than letting the water rise above your head. That’s generally how one drowns.”
Keeping him upright with one hand while trying to free us with the other was not working. All my strength was going into holding his weight, and my boots were slipping on whatever mud or silt the wagon was rapidly sinking into.
“While I appreciate your efforts to ensure I can continue to harass you to the very end,” said Ren, “I know we’re not going to die here.”
My gaze shot to his. “How can you possibly know that?”
He smiled, soft and beautiful. “Because you won’t let us,” he told me, and those words wrapped around my heart.
I struggled to breathe as I stared into the familiar brown eyes which were crinkled in fondness and pain, the water now lapping at our necks.
There was no slack left on the chain from where it was held down to the bench. And it wasn’t long enough to allow us to stand, so we were both awkwardly crouched in the cold, wet darkness, waiting for our utterly miserable ends. Unless one of us dropped down below the water to let the other rise higher with the hope that the wagon would stop sinking soon, we’d both be submerged in seconds, and dead within a couple of minutes.
“Right,” I said, and then let go of the man who had captured every fibre of my being. Ren immediately sank below the surface, his hair cascading around his head in an eerie halo before disappearing from view.
I took up the slack on the chain which it gave me, rising to my feet and bringing my foot down hard on the bench. It delivered nothing but a jarring in my ankle, but with the next blow I felt the wood give below my boot where it had been split, even soaked as it was. I adjusted my stance and continued to stomp on it, yanking at the restraints and trying to ignore the bubbles rising to my right even though this was taking too long, he’d been down there for too-
I stumbled backwards as the metal ring that had been holding us down by our wrists was tugged free from the crack in the wood, my arms flying out to keep my balance. And then I took a breath from the tiny pocket of remaining air and ducked down to gather Ren into my arms, relief flooding my soul as he grabbed hold of me.
The water resistance made our escape frustratingly slow and I snarled out a precious bubble of air when I discovered the back of the wagon had collapsed. I dragged the heavy canvas aside from where it had come loose and was wafting in the water, manoeuvring us both through the tight space just as my lungs began to burn.
When we broke the surface of the water, Ren immediately coughed, spluttered, and then mewled out a pained sob, clutching at his shoulder as I began to half-wade, half-swim to the shore of the river we’d found ourselves in. Thick mud, the heavy metal of the manacles, and a vehemently complaining prince all did their best to weigh me down, but I didn’t stop –couldn’tstop – until I’d heaved us both to the edge and we’d used the tough grasses that grew there to pull ourselves out. I rolled onto my back, staring unseeingly at the night sky, while Ren remained on his hands and knees and coughed up more dirty river water.
“That was something,” he said eventually, trying to stand. Still shackled to each other as we were, the movement yanked ruthlessly on my outstretched wrist, but I forgave him for not remembering we were bound together as a result of him almost drowning.
Then he tugged again, the cocky grin telling me he clearly hadn’t forgotten any such thing. I sighed and reluctantly climbed to my feet so that he could do the same.
Dripping and shivering, we both glanced around at the moonlight-drenched riverbank that had almost been our grave.
One of the mercenaries lay a few feet up the steep hill we’d presumably tumbled down, his body gruesomely contorted and his neck at an impossible angle to his shoulders. He must have been thrown from his horse, as the beast was nowhere to be seen. We’d been fucking lucky to have been inside the wagon itself, where the wooden struts that held up the canvas walls and roof had acted like a protective rib cage...although they’d certainly borne the brunt of such protection, with the wagon little more than a deformed, splintery mess where it was still sinking below the surface into the muddy riverbed. Ren muttered breathy gratitude to his god, crossing himself fervently, and I glanced up to the top of the hill where I assumed the road lay. Multiple lantern lights flickered up on the distant crest, telling me that either some of the mercenaries were still alive, or a bunch of helpful locals would soon be investigating our fall. Neither type of attention was good for us.
“Where did that little nuisance get to?” Ren grumbled, pulling at my wrist again as he turned in an unnecessarily brisk circle to look for the girl.
“Stop fucking doing that. And if your god is merciful, she got clear before the wagon went off the road.”
“Merciful? She made me bleed!” he protested, gesturing at his shoulder.
“An arrow did that. She saved our lives in whatever she did to spook the horses.”
“She also messed up my hair, Mat. That is unforgivable.”
“We’ll double her bounty when you take back your throne,” I promised, “and then I can thank her for it properly when she’s found. But to do that, we need to get out of here before they” – I pointed up at the bobbing lanterns – “find a way down here. I’ll take a look at your shoulder when we’re far enough away.”
Ren narrowed his eyes, clearly wondering whether I intended to thank the mysterious thief for our unintended rescue or the hair thing, and then satisfied himself by jerking me forward by the chain once more. This time it was abrupt enough to cause me to stumble.
“I said, stop-”
“I like the idea of you on a leash, Mat,” he said lightly, a slyness in his voice that was entirely inappropriate for the situation and yet I wouldn’t have expected any different from the mercurial asshole.
“We’re both on the same Blessed leash,svoloch,” I reminded him, “and you’ll note I haven’t taken advantage of it like you have.”
“Because I’m gravely injured,” the prince retorted, but he did fall into step beside me as we began to limp our way along the bank, moving upriver and awayfrom Máros.
“That wouldn’t stop me.”
