Eli drops my hands and scowls at the unrelenting water. “Shit. Come on.”
The rising flood is freezing despite the heated springs from which it spills. I hop from one set of toes to the other, arms folded over my chest. The cold is only a minor distraction from the gravity of everything else—the death of my mother, how Zandrite wants to kill me, how good of a fuck Eli is and how that’s all he wants to let me feel toward him because of a damn curse. But I’ll chip away his control on my heart like I’m degrading the effects of his curse, blending the dark and light into gray.
The feelings mount faster than I can stuff them. My mind is too stubborn to let go. The more I juggle my thoughts, the higher the water rises.
“We have to get out of the lower levels.” Eli grabs my upper arm, leaving his boots behind and trying to take off at a run. But the water is already up to our calves. Our steps drag. The water follows us up the inclining passage. “Everything leads up from here, but it’s a maze with hundreds of ways out and just as many dead ends.”
“Where is it all coming from?” I ask, attempting to convince myself it has nothing to do with me and looking over my shoulder as Eli hauls me along at the speed of his long legs. I can barely wade through the icy water.
“The walls. The springs. Both. I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before, not in any life.” He pants, his cheeks rosy over the amber brown glow of his skin. He pokes his head into every room coming off the passage.
“Why are you so out of breath?” I ask, puzzled. I’ve seen him fight and run and climb without huffing once.
We finally outpace the rising water, and he barrels on, faster, squeezing my arm so tight the bone aches. “I’m not,” he rasps, then bends his neck around another wall and stops completely.
What is he doing? I tuck my head next to his, searching the room.
But I don’t have to look hard to know why he stopped. Kelter is inside, his back to us. I’d know those sandy waves and ears anywhere, only not his bare ass. I look away, but I can’t quite shake the sight of his cheeks squeezing tight as he thrusts forward, his brown pants around his upper thighs. My cheeks flush, an unsettling chill sweeping over my skin.
“You knew I wasn’t done yet!” Kelter hisses angrily.
I turn my head back, thinking it must be over if he knows we’re here.
But no. A woman’s arms wrap around his neck, her ankles crossed over his lower back, pale in tone compared to his tan skin. Her moans of pleasure only make him drive into her faster, harder.
Eli rubs his face in desperation, biting out each word. “Don’t care. Stop fucking her.”
“Get out, Eli. The magic will kill me if I don’t finish.” Kelter lifts the woman’s ass higher before smashing her back against the wall again. Every thrust produces a high-pitched grunt from her.
Eli’s body tenses, short, tight breaths expelled one after the other. He plows a hand through his curls and growls.
“What’s your—” I’m left floundering for words when his hand shifts to his crotch, adjusting his now obvious hardness. “This turns you on that much?”
“No,” he gasps.
Kelter flips his upper half around. “Ever? You’re here. I thought he left you in—” His eyes narrow on Eli, the motion of his hips unrelenting. “You blocked her from me.”
The woman grasps Kelter’s hair, pulling at the back of his head.
“You’re just a little distracted,brother.” Eli bends at the waist, smacking a hand onto each thigh to support himself. A groan escapes the depths of his chest.
“Oh.” My legs nearly give out. “Oh shit. You feel all of this.” My stomach crunches into a ball. “You feel him fucking her.”
“Like it’s me,” he admits, standing tall again and rolling his head back. He forces air in and out. I try to go, but he grabs my wrist. “He needs to get out of here too.”
The water catches up to us, bubbling with vengeance and cooling the backs of my hot knees.
“If it helps…” Kelter says, pausing to come inside the Half Link, his moans overcoming his words. The sound of their slapping skin echoes. He smacks a bloody, bandaged hand flat on the wall as his hips jerk. Eli drops to his knees, another groan demanding its way out of him. “I felt every second of him with you,” Kelter finishes with a gasp, looking over his shoulder at me with deep hurt in those hazel eyes, his nose bent out of place and more purple bruises than tan skin.
A wave of horror knocks me flat. Eli told me, but it’s easy to ignore the truth when caught up in the moment. “You don’t have to make it worse!”
Eli pushes up again, staggering as he barrels across the room. Cold water splashes in every direction. He slings an arm around Kelter’s neck and pulls him backward with a violent yank. “You will never say that to her again.”
Kelter tries to peel the woman from his front, revealing the side of her perfect face, but she tightens her legs and clings to him like a final breath. “I haven’t finished!” she whines.
I recognize her—Paisel, the only Half Link woman who stood up for me. She smiles when our gazes meet for a passing second.
Eli releases Kelter with a shove. “Give me back my knife.”
