She gave a weak nod, water still dripping from her hair.
“Great. Because we’re still racing you know,” he reminded them.
Gregor and Sienna helped Morra to her feet as the rest of the team returned to their places. Morra pulled away and took her oar.
“Morra – what are you doing?” Kara asked, astonished.
“Rowing,” she replied from her seat, her face pale, yet determined.
“No, you nearly died, you need to rest.”
Earth worshippers were known to be stubborn but this was ridiculous.
“And you healed me,” Morra said simply.
Kara sat reluctantly, oar in hand. Behind her, Sebastian’s breath was still coming too hard, too fast. She turned to him briefly. His hand shook against the oar. Only once.
“What?” he asked.
You could have died.
“Nothing.” She pulled her gaze forward.
“Ready?” Jax asked.
“Ready!” they called in unison.
The boat moved forward – not smoothly, but with purpose. And for a few moments, they were the only sound on the river. The splashing of oars, the hiss of spray.
Then Kara heard it. A low, distant roar. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
“I was hoping it was wind,” Gregor muttered.
“It’s not,” Jax said, his voice tight. “It sounds like a waterfall.”
“A waterfall? Since when was there a waterfall in this river?!” Oryen demanded.
“Since now,” Jax answered grimly.
The roar grew louder, the river narrowing again into a fast, accelerating chute. They couldn’t see the edge – only mist and frothing white ahead.
“Hold on,” Jax barked. “Whatever happens. Keep yourselves in this boat.”
The current tugged harder. Sienna’s hands lit with violet light, soothing pulses of calm spreading out across them. Morra stood, hands outstretched, vivid yellow light winding from them, towards the trees on the riverbank.
“Give me room,” she ordered.
Vines snaked from the riverside – branches coiling around their boat like living things, binding around the sides. She curled her hands to fists and the wood groaned – then the vines settled, making the boat firmer, stronger.
Jax nodded his approval. “That might keep us together.”
Another jerk of the boat threw Morra into Kara. She fell back – straight into Sebastian. He reached out to stop her from falling, his hand gripping around her wrist. The moment his fingers made contact with her bare skin, everything changed.
Power surged through her.
Not hers. His.
Crimson heat flooded her veins like wildfire, quick and electric and utterly foreign. It didn’t ask permission. It poured into her, twining with her own magic like it knew the way exactly. Kara gasped. Her heart stuttered, skipped, then beat twice as fast. Her emerald light flared instinctively in response, reaching towards his crimson without her meaning to, without any command at all. For one breathless second, their magic wasn’t just touching – it was merging. She could feel his strength, his speed, the raw force he carried.
