Oh mage! Did Kian somehow know I was here?
I tugged on the stone, but for some strange reason, it wouldn’t come free.
Attracted like a magnet my butt! This thing was glued in.
Grabbing the crystal with both hands, I yanked and tried pushing off the bottom of the lake with both feet. Pain sliced across my fingers, and the brackish water tinged red.
But the stone was free in my hands!
I kicked toward what I hoped was the surface, each frantic beat of my heart carrying with it the desperation for a breath.
Something bumped into me, and I screamed.
Another bump…
Mother Mage!
I needed air!
A dark shadow passed me on my left, a creature at least six feet long. Another shadow—or was it the same one?—passed me on my right, and then something bumped me from behind.
All I could think wassharks, but sharks didn’t live in fresh water. Still, could Kian use his water magic to convert the lake to be shark-friendly?
No way was I waiting to find out.
My heart stopped, and full-on panic seized me.
The dark shadow thing drew closer, and I caught a glimpse of blue fabric … like Kian’s robe. Then with a crushing pain it—he?—latched on to my ankle.
I screamed again. Only this time, water rushed into my nose and mouth. The shadowy-monstrous thing, which I was 98.4% sure was Kian, pulled me deeper down, and I did the only thing I could think of … and punched him as hard as I could. The crystal in my hand bludgeoned the shadowy beast, and I felt bone crunch beneath my fist. The water bloomed even more red, and Rage flooded my mind.
‘What the hell, Nai! Are you okay?’I didn’t have time to respond.
The pressure released on my ankle as well as the wound, my shields taking my injury. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, and with a gasp of desperation I sucked in water.
No, no, no!
Something swam under my arms as I started to sink, and a heartbeat later, someone hauled me out of the water and dropped me on my stomach.
“Dammit, Nai!” Reyna snarled. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
Coughing and gagging, I spewed water as she pounded on my back. “S-stop,” I sputtered. “Rey … stop. I’m okay.”
The beating stopped, and I rolled over onto my back, blinking up into the night sky. To my right, a blur of blue robes rose up from the water, and then I heard fist connect with bone. Panting and still trying to catch my breath, I let my head loll to the side…
What. The. Mage?
Soaking wet, Reyna had left my side and was now beating the ever-living crap out of Kian! She held the front of his soaking wet robes in one fist and pounded him with the other. He was well over six feet tall and going limp in her arms as she landed blow after blow into his face. And next to the douchebag of the year, lying on the ground, was someone else, a body who was also apparently unconscious with a horrible head wound.
Still hacking with each breath, my coughs turned into a panicked gasp.
“Hey … Rey…”
Reyna’s attention jerked to me, her fist still poised over Kian’s unconscious face as his body went fully slack and crumpled to the ground.
“Yeah?”
Struggling, I pushed up on my hands until I was sitting upright. “I’m pretty sure killing him is against some sort of rules. Besides, if you do, you’ll only be killing his shield.”
