My voice is swallowed by the roar of the river—Imight as well be whispering.
Where the fuck is she?
I spin, scanning the churning water, my heart pounding so hard it feels like it might tear itself out of my chest.Theriver isn’t the same anymore—it’s not the shallow, manageable flow we stepped into.
It’s alive now and it’s fucking angry.Themoment she took the water for the spell, something changed.Ican feel it—some ancient magic stirred up, something that doesn’t like being touched.Elowentook something it didn’t want to give and now it’s determined to take her.
I can’t let that happen.
“Elowen!”Ishout again, my voice raw.“Elowen, where are you?”
I look downstream at the churning water butIsee nothing.Noflash of red hair—no adorable freckled face—no sign of her at all.
Panic claws at my throat.
“Find her,”myDrakesnarls inside my head, his mental voice sharp with urgency.“Findhernow.”
“I’m fucking trying!”Igrowl back, forcing myself forward, fighting the current as it tries to drag me downstream.Everystep is a battle.Theriverbed shifts beneath my feet, slick stones threatening to send me under again.I’mafraid to go too fast—what ifImiss her?Whatif she’s clinging to a branch or a rock andIget swept right past her?
Where is she?Ican’t fucking lose her.Ican’t.
The thought hits me hard, deeper than anything else.Notjustcan’t.Won’t.
I won’t let her go.IfIdo,I’lllose part of myself—something vital.Somewherebetween the mountains and the sky, between the first time she touched myDrakewithout fear and the way she said my name like it meant something the curvy little priestess becamemine.
And now she’s gone.
“No,”Irasp, shaking my head hard asIforce myself forward.“No, no,no.”
I try toShift, thinkingIcan find her more easily from the air—Gods,Itry.
I call to myDrake, reaching for that familiar surge of power, thatShiftin bone and muscle and fire—but the river is too strong, too chaotic.Ican’t get my footing, can’t focus long enough to let the change take hold.Ormaybe it’s theSacredRiveritself stopping me—holding me back by its chaotic magic.
I don’t know, but for the first time in my life,Ican’t let myDrakeout.
I get so focused on trying thatImiss a step.Thecurrent slams into me again, knocking me sideways andIgo under.
Cold water closes over my head, deafening and blinding.Fora second,Ilose all sense of direction—up, down, it doesn’t matter.It’sall just force and pressure and chaos.
I fight my way back up to the surface, gasping and wiping water from my eyes.
Elowen, where is she?IfIcan’tShift,I’llhave to find her without myDrake’shelp.
Focus,Itell myself.Findher.
I scan downstream, looking desperately for any sign of my curvy little priestess.
And then—there—Isee it!
Something pale is caught in a tangle of dead branches jutting out from the far bank.
My heart stutters in my chest.It’swhite—her robes!Herpriestess robes!Thatmust be it.
“Elowen!”Ibellow.
I don’t think—Ijust move.Thecurrent is worse here—stronger, dragging at me asIpush across the river, swimming as fast asIcan, but it’s slow going in the chaotic, swirling water.Myarms burn with the effort, my lungs heaving asIforce myself forward inch by inch.
TheDrakeroars inside me, lending me strength, driving me harder.
