“No!” I screamed as he dove into the water. “Landon!”
I fell to the ground, my knees scraping against the stone. Crawling to the edge, I searched for him in the water. He wasn’t there. I couldn’t see him.
But light glinted on my palm. I dragged my gaze away from the water and looked up.
The sword.
He told me to get the sword.
I didn’t want to leave him. But my Knight had ordered it, and I submitted to him. Trusting him.
Pushing to my feet, I faced the jagged stone wall leading up to the sword. I found a hold and began to climb. Slipping as my hands trembled with fear, I gripped tighter.
Exhaustion clawed at me. It tried to force me down, but I had to keep going.
I had to get the sword.
I had to end this.
At the top of the rock wall, I came face to face with Excalibur.
With a glance back to where Landon had disappeared, I waited as I took a deep breath. Fear rose when he didn’t break through the surface.
But I pushed to my feet.
It took everything I had to keep going. To turn away and face the sword again. To move until I reached the stone dais entombing it.
Gathering all my remaining strength, I wrapped my hands around the hilt and pulled as hard as I could. I gritted my teeth as it fought against me.
Lodged in the stone, it wouldn’t budge.
I yanked harder.
The sword was supposed to come free. Like it had for Arthur, because he was meant to wield it.
But I must’ve missed something. I’d failed.
I wasn’t worthy.
Water crashed beyond the ledge. I raced over as a surge flooded the cave. Rising higher, it wouldn’t stop coming in.
I was going to drown. Die here when I was so close to the end. And Landon…
He wouldn’t be able to save her. He wouldn’t be able to reach the air because it kept rising away from him.
I had to stop it, but I didn’t know how.
Searching the cave, the ledge, I ran back to the sword and tried my hardest to pull it free. Certain it had to be what stopped the water. Sure there had to be a way out, unless they killed all the winners of The Quest.
And while it wouldn’t shock me to find out they did something so goddamn barbaric, my brain screamed at me to see reason. It scrambled for answers.
I had to be missing something.
I swiveled my gaze around the ledge, and I cried out when it fell on a symbol.
A stone on the floor, marked with a pattern I could draw with my eyes closed. A pattern traced onto my skin over and over until I had memorized it without ever seeing it.
Roses.
