Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
But as much as she struggled, she could do nothing. Tieran was in her mind, reminding her to hold on to the tether. To trust that they wanted her to come out of this. To bind her to the land as well.
She held her breath as long as she could.
Her lungs burned. Her chest ached. Blood rushed to her face.
She could hold on no longer. So, she let go.
With blood floating all around the crystal-clear water, she inhaled, breathing in the Draíocht waters.
And drowned.
20
THE DROWNING
Kerrigan awoke with a start, coughing up water onto the black rock of the Draíocht. She hacked until she expelled all the water. Her vision was blurry and her mind empty. Then, it came back to her.
Being pushed under the water. Breathing the water in. Drowning.
She had … drowned.
Just like in the faerie tale.
It made no sense. She couldn’t have drowned because she was still alive. She spat one last time and then assessed her surroundings. She was alone. Her father and Helly were gone. A light had been left behind for her to show the placid water lapping at her heels.
She dragged her feet farther away from the sacred water. She had no recollection of how she had gotten out of the water and onto dry land. Her lungs ached, and her throat was raw. She still tasted the clear water on her tongue, tinged with her blood.
Her eyes flew to her arms. Her father and Helly had cut gouges in her arms. But looking at them now, they were as new as ever. As if none of it had happened. Had Helly healed her? Or had the water?
She had no answers. She needed to get out of here. She needed Tieran.
Kerrigan reached for the bond with her dragon and felt all the air punched out of her lungs again. It was gone. She couldn’t feel Tieran at all. The crux bond had been severed in the water.
She had known that they didn’t have a real bond, but she hadn’t considered that the water would be able to render what bond they did have free. She felt suddenly very alone. At least, normally, she would have Tieran to rely on, but she was back to square one again.
For a whole year, she and Tieran had suffered without the bond. All she’d wanted was a way for them to work together. She wished she could reach down that line and call him to her now. But there was nothing.
Her head swam as she put her hands on the hard black rock and forced herself to standing. There had to be a reason for all of this. An explanation for what had happened. Kerrigan reached then for her magic. At least that came to her readily. More than readily. She felt flush with magic, as if it were rushing out of every pore on her body. The world was suddenly bright with color. She hardly needed the remaining globe of light to see the entire expanse of the huge underground cavern. She ignited from within as the press of her magic threatened to overwhelm her. She’d never held so much magic at once.
She remembered her training and tried to breathe through it. Let it suffuse her. She closed her eyes and settled her heart. This was the magic she had always been meant to have. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did. This was everything. How it was always supposed to be.
And in the same instant, she knew that she could do anything.
Anything.
So, she reached within herself and found the seam of her spirit magic. It was just a brilliant as the rest of her powers. Lit up and magnificent. The first touch felt as natural as breathing. Then she pushed further into that dream space that Cleora had told her about. She knew that to dreamwalk she had to push into someone else’s dream. She hadn’t been told how to pull someone into her dream. If this was a dream at all.
But a part of her knew precisely what to do. As if the magic had always been right there waiting for her to take hold of it. It was a simple matter to pull someone here rather than push herself out. As simple as the crux bond. Even though the magic necessary for this should have been beyond her. It wasn’t. Not here.
A second passed. The scent of summer rains and charcoal perfumed the cavern, and then she heard, “Kerrigan?”
She opened her eyes and found Fordham standing before her.
Her knees nearly gave out at the sight of him. The stunning visage of her crowned prince. His strong jawline was as sharp as ever with stubble only intensifying his attractiveness. His midnight hair was longer than she had ever seen it, falling forward into his eyes. Those thundercloud eyes looked back at her with both shock and somehow annoyance.