Page 49 of Let Me Win You

A convulsion ran through Nic’s body, and I nearly panicked, ready to crash through the rock, the wall, and the hell below, just to keep her alive.

Cradling her head in my hand, I placed my parted lips on hers and allowed her to breathe the air I had kept for her.

I had no lungs, no heart, no muscle tissue, or any blood vessels. But my form and functions were created to mimic a human body—with a heartbeat, breathing, and a pulse. I could eat if I wanted. I could breathe. But I didn’t need to do any of that to exist. Nic did.

She gripped handfuls of my hair in her fists, keeping me close, and breathed. My smart woman drew air in small, measured breaths, mindful of making it last. I just hoped that the river tunnel ended before I ran out of air too.

The creature behind us was getting closer. The water was saturated with its presence. The black tentacles splayed, like ink, choking out my glow and plunging us in nearly complete darkness.

Nic closed her eyes, held on to me, and breathed, just breathed. What a good girl she was. I wished I could tell her that, to comfort her somehow. But I had to focus to keep her alive.

I pushed harder, working my tail to keep moving and to stay ahead from the hellish creature. Its darkness seemed to fall back, giving space for my glow to spread. The tunnel’s roof above us rose higher, allowing for a sliver of air above the water surface.

I lifted Nic with her face above water, letting her take a breath freely.

“Invi? Are you okay?” Fighting for air, she worried about me.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. What can possibly happen to a sin?”

She angled her head to take a look behind us. I kept swimming with the same speed as before, but the distance between us and the creature was growing.

“He’s…falling behind,” she said in a halting voice as she kept working on her breathing.

“The tunnel is ending.” I gestured up at the ceiling that was rising higher and higher, widening the tunnel into a riverbed once again.

A little further down the stream, the riverbank widened into a flat rock platform on our right. The creature was no longer pursuing us. I couldn’t see it, no matter how hard I tried. More importantly, I couldn’t catch even a trace of its rotten presence in the water anymore.

“It’s safe for us to get out now,” I said, taking a course toward the flat platform on our right.

14

Nicole

Invi helped me climb out of the water, then quickly inspected the area to make sure it was safe.

The underground stream was body temperature. The air wasn’t cold either. But without the sun, I felt the chill in my wet clothes acutely.

Shaking, I hugged my arms.

“Is he really gone?” I asked cautiously, not taking my eyes off the river while half-expecting thatthingto show up again.

“I believe he is,” Invi assured me. “The beasts are sometimes confined to one section of the maze. Once we left his section, he couldn’t follow. I can’t sense him at all now.” He scooped the water from the river in his hand and took a drink. “It’s safe to drink, Nic, if you’re thirsty.”

I didn’t wait for him to offer it twice. Kneeling on the rocky riverbank, I drank the tepid water from the river greedily.

Once the thirst was gone, fear returned.

“Can there be other monsters in here?” I glanced around, scanning every little rock and shadow for hidden dangers.

“You mean other than me?” Invi smiled.

It took me a moment to understand the meaning of what he said because I no longer viewed Invi as a monster.

“I was so stupid to ever fear you,” I admitted.

“I’m just glad you don’t anymore.” He gently lifted my hair off my shoulders and squeezed the water out.

“What was that thing that chased us? I’ve never seen anything so…repulsive.” I shuddered in disgust.

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