As soon as I step inside, my movements stop as darkness swallows me whole. I spin around, but the entrance is gone.
“Dammit,” I whisper, cracking my neck. I take the first step through the narrow maze toward the distant echoing of crashing waves. Where is it coming from? My feet pick up, but the faster I go, the farther away it sounds. Frustration coils around my forehead as I halt, heaving in deep breaths.
I lean over my knees, when the ground gives way beneath me.
I hit water.
Cold. Fuckingfreezing. The shock steals my breath, lungs seizing as I plunge under, darkness pressing in from all sides. My limbs flail, seeking purchase, finding nothing but endless liquid void.
Up. I needup.
I kick hard, breaking the surface with a gasp that scrapes my throat raw. Water streams down my face, blurring my vision as I tread frantically, spinning to get my bearings.
Stone walls rise around me, slick and ancient, forming a circular chamber. No exit. No ledge. Just water that tastes like salt and copper, and walls too smooth to climb.
“Legend!” My voice echoes back, mocking. “This isn’t fucking funny!”
Silence answers.
The water shifts.
Not a current. Somethingdeliberate. The surface ripples outward from a point behind me, and I whirl, heart slammingagainst my ribs.
Legend materializes on a platform that wasn’t there before—dry stone jutting from the water’s edge, high enough that I’d need to haul myself up. He crouches at the edge, forearms resting on his knees, watching me with an expression I can’t read.
“Get me out of here.” My teeth chatter despite my best effort to keep my voice steady.
“No.”
The word lands like a fist to my gut.
I swim closer, reaching for the platform’s edge. “Legend, I swear to fuck—”
He stands. Steps back. Away from me.
The distance between us stretches, impossible and wrong, and something hot and terrible claws up my throat.
“What are you doing?”
“What I should’ve done from the start.” His voice is flat. Empty. “Letting you go.”
The water feels colder suddenly. My fingers slip on the stone as I try to grip it, pull myself up. “Stop fucking around.”
“I’m not.” He crosses his arms, and the gesture—so casual, sodismissive—makes my pulse stutter. “This was a mistake.Youwere a mistake.”
I stiffen.
No.
The word screams through my head, but my mouth won’t form it. My hands shake as I grip the platform harder, nails scraping stone.
“You don’t mean that.” Why the fuck do I care? It’s not like I wanted him to begin with. So he’s hot, can kind of be funny, and is annoying enough to make me want to fuck him into submission, but I didn’t really want him.
“Don’t I?” His lips curve, but there’s nothing warm in it.NothingLegendin it. “You’re worthless. You were never fit enough for a royal.”
My heart clenches, squeezing so tight I can’t breathe. Can’tthink.
Fingernails bite into my palms. “Fuck you.”
