Cool air raised gooseflesh along Tink’s skin, but she barely noticed, not with the tingle of excitement already running through her veins and joy practically pouring off the man at her side.
A pool of clear water stretched toward the edges of the cave at the end of the tunnel. Narrow strands of light filtered in from a crevice in the roof.
“It’s deeper than before.” James frowned as he wedged the torch between two nearby rocks.
The storm’s fault, no doubt. Of course it would make this last part harder too. Didn’t it always?
Small pebbles littered the bottom of the clear pool. “How will we find the scale in all this? Do you even know what it looks like?”
James shook his head. “No idea.” He looked her up and down. “Though it might be a good thing we left our clothes behind.”
Heat rushed to the tips of her ears. As if she needed another reminder of his nudity. She’d stubbed her toe twice on the short walk there because she’d been too preoccupied with her view of James. Their goal within reach or not, he was a huge distraction. Even the cold didn’t detract from that…much.
Water splashed as James stepped into the pool. “Bloody cold!” he yelped.
Tink sighed. They were going into the water.Of course. Why, oh why, do I always have to get in the water?She stuck a toe in and nearly shrieked.Bloody cold is right.
Calm pool. No waves. Not that much different than the streams at home,she repeated silently to herself, trying to calm her racing thoughts. But the streams at home were warm and much less deep. Shallow pool, her ass. Maybe it had been before the rain.
Her foot slipped. Tink yelped as her arms flailed in the air and her wings beat behind her, barely keeping her upright.
“Got you.” James grabbed her arm, steadying her.
Tink gasped, but it wasn’t just his touch that had her heart racing and the cold melting away. Out in the deepest part of the pool, something glowed a pale, eerie blue. “Look.”
He followed her line of sight. His eyes widened, and he stepped in front of her.
“The scale?” She peeked around him.
“Don’t know.” His voice held a hard edge, as if an enemy had just dropped from the roof. “Stay here.” No sooner had he let her go to venture into the deeper water than the glow vanished.
“Bloody—”
“Where’d it go?” Tink splashed forward, heedless of his words or the water rising up her thighs. She brushed against James, and the glow flared back to life.
Breath caught in her throat. “Every time we touch…”
James turned toward her. “Two bound as one.” The last of the witch’s words. He took her hand in his. “We have to get it together.”
Tink swallowed the sudden tightness in her throat. She’d have to go into that deep water with him.
“And one more thing…” He glanced down at the stump of his hand where he’d yet to reattach his hook.
Her stomach dropped. “If you’re holding my hand, you can’t pick up the scale.”
“Aye.”
“I could hold your arm…maybe…” She looked away. Blast it, that water would be over her head.
He pulled her close in a comforting embrace. “I’ll swim for us and get us down there. You just have to grab it.”
Easier said than done.
Tink practically clung to James like a monkey in a tree as they walked out into the depths. True to his word, all she had to do was hold on. And hold her breath. James plunged below the surface with Tink wrapped in his arms.
The icy water closing over her face nearly made her screech out all the air she’d sucked in before he dove.
Water everywhere. Can’t swim. Lungs burning.
