He regarded her in unfocused confusion. He blinked rapidly, his gaze sharpening, then he snapped his mouth shut. Ravenna gasped, air bubbles floating between them.
He haddied.
But now he was picking up his legs, trudging forward, the effort costing him. Saturnino’s expression turned grim and he motioned for her to help him. Ravenna swam around him, her skirts billowing as she placed her hands flat against his back. She kicked her legs again, propelling him forward, his weight heavy and cumbersome.
Their progress was laborious and slow.
Her lungs burned. She couldn’t hold on much longer. Ravenna set her teeth and swam, trying to calm her racing heart. But then Saturnino turned, and he took hold of her waist, launching her upward as if he were throwing her into the air. Ravenna gripped his hand to keep herself from sailing up; she wanted to give him air, even though she knew it wouldn’t be enough.
He must have understood what she wanted because he abruptly turned his head away from her, his dark hair a halo around his temples. Ravenna pinched him and he looked back at her, his expression harsh. He motioned for her to leave him.
Ravenna swam, internally kicking and screaming, but she did it.
By the time she returned, Saturnino was drowning again. His eyes were wild with panic, body jerking out of his control as the river filled his lungs. Ravenna tried to give him air, but he wouldn’t let her.
She watched him die again.
It was an awful, hair-raising experience watching it unfold across her eyes. He clutched at his throat, his mouth open in a silent, horrifying scream. Ravenna gripped his shoulders and tugged him forward, desperate to help him. But he was gone.
For a breathless moment, his body swayed gently in the water, eyes vacant again.
Saturnino came back the next second.
Again, he went through the same confusing orientation of hissurroundings; the visible panic in his features made her heart sink. But then he picked up his feet, his face grim and determined. He was caught in a nightmare, and she could do nothing but help him take another step toward the river’s edge. Saturnino seemed to know when she was close to running out of air because he grabbed her waist to launch her up over his head. She hated leaving him, hated breaking the surface, her lungs burning for want of air. Ravenna inhaled deeply as she looked to the river’s edge. The icy water curled around her in a merciless grip. Her teeth chattered, and her hands were curling from the cold.
It would be so easy to leave him.
But something held her back.
He was alone down there, drowning again and again, and he was scared. She couldn’t let him die alone. Even though he came back, his death was painful. Horrifying.
Ravenna inhaled and went back to him.
They repeated the process; she had to leave him twice more to swim up to the surface. Each time she returned, it was in time to see him drowning. And each time, he refused to take any air from her. She had to watch him die, his body jerking, his hands gripping his throat as if trying to keep the water from flooding his lungs. He died again and again, and it was the most terrible thing she had ever witnessed.
The memory of it would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She kept pushing him, and they finally broke the surface, moonlight sparkling across the water in welcome. They gasped for air, stumbling up the bank, the cold hissing around them like a feral beast snapping at their heels. Ravenna took Saturnino’s hand and yanked him forward until they were at last fully released from the water.
Saturnino coughed, vomiting water, falling onto his hands and knees. Ravenna dropped down next to him, pressing close to his side. She placed a soft hand across the expanse of his shoulders, careful not to touch the protruding arrows.
“It’s over,” she said, her teeth clacking loudly. “It’s over.”
Saturnino stared down at his hands, his body shuddering. His pale fingers dug into the dirt as he forcefully gulped in air. Ravenna made soothing noises, the kind she made for her siblings whenever they were sick in bed.
“I hate that fucking river,” he gasped.
She rubbed his back and he let out another shuddering breath. His body finally settled.
Slowly, Saturnino turned his head to look at her. Their faces were inches apart. His hair hung in long, dark strips around his temple and cheeks, the water dripping down his skin in a slow, icy crawl. He looked at her as if he had never seen her before, his eyes piercing and glittering like silver coins. He stared at her as if she were a mythical creature that shouldn’t exist, something precious and mysterious. For the first time, Ravenna felt as if she were staring into the face of a human being.
Vulnerable and afraid and awestruck.
“Why?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Ravenna let out a shaky exhale, and her breath clouded between them. She didn’t know what question he was asking her. Why had she stayed? Or why had she betrayed him? Either way, he wanted an answer.
An honest one.
