“Be careful,” he told her.
“You too.”
She leaned up and kissed his cheek. Anything could happen and this might be the last time she had the opportunity.
The moment Mara plunged into the tunnel, the cold hit her like a physical blow. It wasn’t just cold, it was a living thing, a creature with claws that sank into her skin and stole the breath from her lungs. The water was so clear it looked like liquid glass, but it burned like knives as she kicked forward. The tunnel walls glowed faintly blue, lit by bioluminescent frost veins that pulsed like veins under skin.
She was halfway through when she felt it.
A shift in the current.
A sudden surge of pressure.
A roar of water behind her.
More water was coming in.
Her heart lurched. That meant Vaelor—
He must be struggling with the door.
If he couldn’t hold it open, the tunnel would fill completely. She would be trapped. He would be freezing. They would both lose.
A spike of fear shot through her, but she forced it down. Panic was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
She pushed harder, kicking until her legs burned. The cold gnawed at her muscles, trying to slow her, trying to claim her. Her fingers were numb, her joints stiffening, but she refused to stop.
Mara thought of her father—teaching her to swim in the reservoirs, telling her she was stronger than she knew.
She thought of the buffalo herd—how she and her father had moved through danger by trusting each other.
Every moment she’d been underestimated, dismissed, pushed aside.
She thought of Vaelor—holding the door, fighting the cold, trusting her to reach the end.
And she used all of it.
Every hard moment.
Every scar.
Every memory that had shaped her.
She kicked harder, slicing through the freezing water like a blade. The tunnel narrowed, the pressure building as the flood chased her. Her lungs screamed for air, but she kept going, refusing to slow, refusing to fail.
Finally—A glint of metal appeared ahead.
The exit gate.
Her chest tightened with relief. She reached it, fingers fumbling over the locking mechanism. Her hands were shaking violently, the cold biting deep, but she forced them to move.
One latch.
Two.
Three.
The gate released with a heavy metallic clang that vibrated through the water.
