Page 20 of The Jasad Crown

I waved my arms. “Find help!”

Efra didn’t move. He stood on the cliffside and simply watched. What did he think he was doing?

“We can punish him later,” she said.

I tore my gaze away from Efra. “Who are you?”

I lost sight of the apparition as it leapt onto another ledge.

“You know who we are.”

I startled. The voice, sea-deep and smooth as the finest glass, belonged to a man.

“Allow me to rephrase,” I growled. “What are you?”

I careened back as the stream nearest me erupted with movement. A hand closed around my wrist, and I gazed into bright gold-and-silver eyes identical to my own.

No, not identical—theyweremy eyes.

“What we are depends on you,” he said.

Before I could retreat, the hand on my wrist yanked me forward.

I tumbled into the waterfall.

I’d plummeted from great heights before. For most of them, blood loss and exhaustion shadowed my memories of the drop.

I knew I would remember this fall in excruciating detail. The sudden weightlessness, the surge of terror in my hollowing stomach, the frigid wind battering me as the waterfall swept me toward the frothing surface of the sea. I would remember shutting my eyes as my muscles tensed to prepare for impact. My magic, sluggish in my veins as it pumped with my panic.

I plunged into the sea, and pain washed my world white. My limbsdisconnected from my command, and for a minute, I could not tell where I began or ended. My lips parted beneath the freezing cold, accidentally inviting a surge of salt water to sear my throat. The waves battered me, each choppier and more forceful than the next.

I clawed to the surface in time to vomit before another wave drew me down again.

The weight of the water closed in, wrapping icy fingers around my thrashing limbs.

I didn’t want to die.

Sensation left my extremities, until I no longer knew where to find my legs to keep them kicking. I drifted deeper into Suhna Sea’s embrace, my body growing lax as I choked on the last of my air.

Drowning in Suhna Sea, at least, was less embarrassing than drowning in the lake.

Wake.

My eyes flew open, shock tearing apart the settling shroud of sleep. What the—

The tide is strong. The next wave will hurl you against the cliff. You will not heal from a broken neck.

I didn’t recognize the voice; I hesitated to even describe it as one. It was more akin to a series of sentient—and uninvited—vibrations in my head.

Bubbles floated out of my mouth. If I still had air, I wasn’t dead.

Yet.

I jerked. Whatwasthat?

My legs struggled to push me toward the surface, shoving pitifully against the unyielding weight of the sea.

I sank.

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