No!He dove downward as she hit the choppy waters and went under. His heart in his throat, he plunged into the boiling sea, swimming against the current, trying to find her.
All he had was a faint pull to hold onto and locate her. The same pull that had drawn him from the moment he first saw her on the sidewalk in her world—
Dizziness stole his mind.
What the fuck?
Aerén shook his head, trying to clear the sudden haze. Through the misty air, something shadowy caught his attention, bobbing in the waters a distance away, but he couldn’t feel his legs.
“Leya!” He fought against the lethargy and darkness taking over his body and mind as he swam for her…
CHAPTER32
Torn from Aerén’s arms,Leya hit the chilly ocean in a hard splash, plunging several meters into its murky, icy depths.
She kicked her legs, swimming upward, and broke the surface, coughing and spitting out brine.
“Aerén!”she screamed, but it came out a croak, along with a coughing spasm. She treaded water, twisting around in the roiling sea. And nothing.
No,no! Did he fall, too?
She dove back under, searching for him, but could barely see beyond a few feet in the gloomy waters. Her lungs burning for oxygen, she shot up again, gulping air. A dark form a short distance away caught her eye. Panting, she plowed through the swells and found him floating face down.
“Aerén?” she rasped, barely able to get his name out. Teeth gritted, she put her arms around his chest. Something hard protruded out of his pecs and back. Before she could determine what it was, an undertow grabbed them, dragging them down into a whirlpool.
Oh, God!She held her breath.Please, please, please.She didn’t want to die here. Eyes shut, she clung to Aerén with everything she had as they spun like a top—
An unseen force slingshotted them through an eddying, swirling dark tunnel and out of the water—
She lost her hold on Aerén.
Her shoulder slammed against rocks before she fell onto damp sand. Leya lay there, her burning eyes squeezed tight, pain humming through every inch of her body as she struggled to pull air into her hurting lungs. She didn’t care as long as they didn’t end up in a watery grave.
The storm whined. Waves crashed on the shore, sweeping halfway up her body and drenching her again.
Groaning, she lifted her head, taking in the gloomy, deserted place with soaring craggy gray peaks and ebony shores—
Aerén!
A burst of adrenaline had her sitting up. In the dwindling daylight and thick mist, her gaze latched onto his dark shape, on his side a few feet from her. So still. His hair splayed like limp blue seaweed over his face.
While she knew he couldn’t die, panic took hold, and she forgot her aching limbs and sore body. She scrambled to her knees and crawled over to him.
About to thump his back so he could hurl out any seawater he’d swallowed, her gaze fell on the protrusion sticking out of his chest, the one she’d felt in the water—
Oh, shit! No, no, no!
Her stomach heaved.
Damn his enemies to hell!
“Thiorr? Drav’n?” she yelled, despite her hurting throat, glancing around, searching for his enforcers, but there was no one else in this deserted, miserable place.
She was on her own.
With shaky hands, she carefully grasped the arrow—
Shit!She jerked away, hands stinging. What the hell? She glared at the red welt forming on her palms.
