Page 76 of Run of Ruin

She let out a shaking breath, then brushed a damp lock of hair from my face. “We’ve got to move. Can you swim?”

“Yeah, but we should be fast.” I answered. “Do you have any pieces?”

“These,” she said, pulling them from the neckline of her wetsuit. I glanced at them. She had two pieces right, and one decoy. I took that one from her hands and let it fall.

“Damnit, I wasn’t sure. I helped Pa put one together once when I was a kid, but it’s been a while.” She cursed under her breath.

“I know what they look like. I can help,” I replied, still hiding Zaffir’s secret assistance from the watching cameras.

“Let’s do it. We’ll find what we need and get back to our guys. Together.”

“I like the sound of that,” I teased.

Her smile cracked through the tension, a crooked, aching thing, and she pressed one more quick, fierce kiss to my temple before wrapping an arm securely around me and diving again.

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

Briar

I don’t thinkI truly understood fear until I saw Brexlyn underwater, blood trailing from her head, panic in her eyes, thrashing through crimson-tinged water with a hulking figure closing in behind her.

I’d been swimming for at least an hour at this point, lungs burning, muscles screaming, chasing down the final scattered pieces we each needed to survive this trial. When I found her, when I saw what had happened to her, I could have killed Devrin with my bare hands. I still might, but surviving and getting back to Thorne and Ezra was the most important thing now. My revenge on that Saltspire bastard would have to wait.

Bex was quick. Sharp. Even with the injury. She moved with purpose, zeroing in on the right pieces with barely a glance. It was that damn brilliant mind of hers. She’d probably seen one of these contraptions once years ago and stillremembered every curve, every connection. It was stamped on her brain.

But the blood loss was catching up with her. I saw it in the way her limbs lagged, the sluggishness in her strokes. We had to move faster. She had all her pieces now. When we finally surfaced in one of the narrow, half-submerged chambers, I managed a shaky grin.

“Go,” I panted. “Head back. I’ll be right behind you.”

She shook her head, water streaming down her face. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

“You need to get out of the water. And Ezra, he’s waiting for you.”

“The longer we argue,” she insisted, “the longer it’ll take for both of us to get back.”

Her eyes blazed, refusing to even entertain the idea of abandoning me. God, she was stubborn. I almost argued again, but my heart fluttered. Thrilled that she didn’t want to leave me. Finally I nodded, and together we dove again.

Three more descents, and I finally snagged the last piece I needed. Relief crashed through me… until I surfaced and realized I had no idea which way was back to the tank. My head spun.

The canals all looked the same. Dark, endless stretches of underwater tunnels with only the occasional pocket of air.

Thank the stars for Brexlyn.She surfaced beside me, panting, eyes dull with exhaustion but sharp with focus. She’d been mapping the paths in her head the whole time, of course she had.

I let her lead, following the faint movements of her hand in the murky water. But she was fading. Her strokes lost strength. She started to drift. I grabbed her arm and hauled her up to a pocket of air.

“I’m okay,” she murmured, though her skin had gone gray, lips tinged blue.

“You’re about to pass out,” I choked, panic clawing at my chest.

“Three… lefts,” she whispered, head tipping against my shoulder. “And… a right.”

Then her eyes fluttered shut. Her body went limp in the water.

“No, no, no…” I caught her, cradling her head above the surface. “Hollis, wake up for me, baby,” I pleaded, my voice cracking. Her lashes didn’t even flutter.

I had to move. Now.

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