We all turn back to the foreign forcefield with a lot more hesitation than we had a second ago.
“Then let’s just stretch our legs for a second and we can go,” Kyzen says.
I peer over my shoulder as a shift floats through the air and instantly sneer when I see Gladian and his Valtrue lurking a good twenty feet back.
Ugh. Wish they’d step through this weird thing.
My eyes continue to travel up and down the wall of power and to Thayla as my feet propel me closer to her. Her head keeps turning to the left and I can’t help but look where she looks.
A small rocky formation sits about fifty feet away. I spot the steam drifting in the air above the knee-high meadow grass and realize it’s a hot spring.
That’s the hot spring I’ve heard her mention.
Damn, she really did trek her ass all the way out here to get in that thing.
She stops her mindless walk, shakes her head, then faces the barrier fully.
Slowly, with a shuddering breath falling from her lips, she raises her fingers and caresses it gently. A small, sad smile crosses her mouth and my chest tugs painfully.
Not wanting to intrude too much on her moment—okay, yeah, I want to, but I’m trying not to—I mimic her and turn fully to the barrier as well.
Curiosity gets the best of me and the desire to feel what she’s feeling flows through my blood. I lift my hand, just as she did, and allow it to lie against the shimmering power.
Unlike her hand, though, that comes off and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, mine gets stuck.
A giggle, this one not funny, but purely chaotic, slips through my lips as I try to rip my hand away. It doesn’t budge and that power beneath my palm starts to heat.
My belly starts to swirl.
Uh-oh.
That heat travels through my arm as it starts to pull me forward.
I dig my feet into the ground and latch onto my wrist with my other hand in an attempt to snatch it free.
“Oh shit,” I bark as the force grows stronger.
“Riven!”
My name tears from Thayla’s throat just as her arms wrap around me. Her back slams into the barrier, separating it from me, and trembles pass through the ground.
My stomach bottoms out as the force behind that barrier whips through my body, stealing all the oxygen from my lungs, and sends me tumbling through the air.
Not me. Us.
Panic grips my chest as Thayla’s screaming pierces my ringing ears. I wrap my arms around her, tucking her head as close to me as I can as we plummet through the sky.
“Riven,” she bellows into my chest.
“Hold on, angel. I got you.”
I tighten my arms around her as our descent speeds up.
I brace myself for impact, preparing for bones to break. My harmony shoots through us, relaxing our stiff muscles, and my knees curl up as my head tucks close to hers.
A painful grunt rips from my mouth as my back hits what feels like a solid surface a second before we sink.
My mouth fills with water hot as fire and my ass hits the rocky bottom. Reality slaps into me as Thayla tries to kick away and propel to the surface.
