Chapter 25

25

Arya tightened her grip on Jai , but the moment they hit the water, it jerked him out of her hold. The pool was a maelstrom of violence and water tossing her toward the rocks. She loosened her body and allowed the surge to move her where it would. She came close enough to a massive boulder that she could have reached out to touch it, but the flow quickly spun her away, only to throw her toward more rocks.

She found herself moving near boulders time and again, but the water never dashed her against them. Her lungs burned for air, but she didn’t fight to breathe until she was spun out into the calmer part of the pool.

The moment her head broke the surface, she dragged in a much-needed breath and immediately searched for Jai . She found him floating face-down and hastily swam over. Arya flipped him onto his back and towed him toward the shore.

Once her foot hit the ground, she used her legs to drag him onto land. When that became too difficult, she called to her magic for aid. The moment he was out of the water, she dropped down beside him. Then she looked at him. Her breath locked in her throat when she saw his swollen face, the cuts, and the bruises.

Her gaze drifted lower to take in his torn shirt, open to reveal more bruising and cuts. His arms were the same. She went to touch him but wasn’t sure where she could that wouldn’t cause him pain.

“ Jai ,” she whispered frantically when she realized he wasn’t breathing.

Ravi stared out over the river, watching the light from below illuminate the fish and other creatures swimming about. Some dared to get close to the falls, but they kept to the bottom, where the current was obviously slower.

He looked at the falls. The sound was thunderous. Someone could come up behind him, and he would never know. He didn’t want to remain here for long.

“ Ravi .”

He swung his head to the side and saw the outline of Yaz’s body as she crouched next to a rock. She looked behind her. He followed her gaze but saw nothing in the darkness. It was worse than nighttime in the Below . The dark was absolute. No moon or stars lit the way. And while the bioluminescence was bright, it remained in the water or was too far up to do much good.

“ What is it?” he asked.

Yasmin stood and pushed him. “ We need to go.”

“ Go where? We can’t see anything.”

She shoved him again. “ There are stairs alongside the falls. Go . Go now.”

“ Want to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked as they began a brisk walk, moving as fast as they dared.

“ I don’t know. The stones keep yelling one word.”

He swallowed. “ What word would that be?”

“ Go .”

The little light from the river wasn’t enough for Ravi to see as well as he would like. Descending stairs in the dark didn’t exactly sound like a good idea, but if the stones told Yaz they needed to go, then they would go.

Ravi found the stairs when he went to step and found nothing but air. Yaz stabilized him. He clutched her hand and looked back at her. She nodded to let him know she was ready. Then they began their descent.

The steps were uneven, narrow, steep, and slippery from the water spray. He felt Yaz’s urgency but didn’t dare go any faster.

“ Dain’s presence would be good right about now,” Ravi stated.

He heard the grin in Yaz’s voice when she said, “ I can’t wait to tell him you said that.”

There had once been a rivalry between him and the Dark , but Dain had come through for him and Yaz at Shaldorn . Ravi had also seen Dain in battle, which made him glad Dain wasn’t their enemy. All of that meant it proved difficult to continue holding a grudge against the elf. Especially when Dain was the one responsible for helping Ravi win Yasmin back. It might be pushing it to call Dain a friend, though—at least to his face.

Ravi heard a soft gasp behind him a heartbeat before Yaz slipped on the wet stones. He caught hold of her, bringing her against his body. They held each other for a moment before he reluctantly released her so they could continue. The stairs didn’t descend in a straight line. Instead , they wove close to the waterfall and then moved away again. The stones were also uneven and different sizes.

He glanced at the falls. They were halfway down, and he could already hear Yaz breathing hard.

“ Wait ,” she told him, pausing with her hand on a rock. After a second, she nodded for him to start the descent again. “ Arya got Jai out of the cage. They fell.”

“ Shite . How badly are they injured?”

“ I’m not sure, but we need to hurry.”

“ We can’t.”

“ We have to,” Yaz insisted.

There was no more discussion as Ravi picked up his pace. His legs thanked him when they finally reached the bottom. Yaz didn’t pause, though. She walked past him, tugging on his hand.

The glow from the river was nearly nonexistent now and he could barely make out Yaz . “ Careful .”

“ The rocks are leading me,” she replied.

They had saved her life—and his. But that didn’t mean his worry evaporated. Loving someone as much as he loved Yaz meant he had to let her do what she needed instead of wrapping her up and protecting her from the world. She was a survivor. She was also stubborn and determined.

“ There ,” she said over her shoulder, leading him.

Ravi had followed her over the Dangerous Peaks and into the Shaldorn Stronghold . He would follow her anywhere she led them for the rest of their lives.

Still , he pulled back when she turned to walk across the river. “ What are you doing?”

“ Trust me.”

“ I do, love. But you heard what Dain said about the water.”

Yaz merely pulled him after her. It wasn’t until she stood on a boulder that crested just above the water that the stone lit up. Ravi could only shake his head as he trailed behind her, moving from one rock to the next until they were across.

Arya searched Jai’s pockets but found no herbs. The silver band at his wrist intrigued her. She brushed her finger over it and looked at his face, willing him to breathe. Approaching footsteps pulled her attention away. She spotted Yasmin and Ravi rushing toward her and whispered a thanks to the gods.

“ Do you have any herbs?” Arya asked when they reached her.

Ravi pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to her. Yasmin slipped her pack off her shoulders and tugged out a water flask. Arya quickly dumped some herbs into the water and shook it. Ravi knelt on the other side of Jai and lifted his head so Arya could get the water down his throat. For several tense moments, none of them spoke. When Jai swallowed the last of the water, Arya set the flask aside and wrapped her hand around his.

“ How bad is he?” Ravi asked after lowering Jai to the ground.

Arya kept forgetting they couldn’t see. She held out her hand palm up. Black magic swirled and formed a slender light about the length of her finger. She brought it close to Jai’s face.

“ Bloody hell,” Ravi muttered, his gaze moving from Jai to her. “ Did the fall do that? Are you hurt?”

Arya shook her head. “ I don’t think so. I didn’t have time to judge where the rocks were. But I think this was done to him before.”

Ravi’s lips twisted. “ Which means some one did this to him.”

“ And by someone, you mean Priya .” Arya had thought Priya’s love would keep her from harming Jai . Maybe she was wrong. “ He stopped breathing earlier. I thought…”

Yasmin nodded. “ We understand.”

“ Aye ,” Ravi murmured.

Arya shook herself out of those gloomy thoughts. “ There’s something behind the waterfall.”

“ Behind ?” Ravi looked at Yasmin . “ Is that what the rocks warned you about?”

Yasmin wrinkled her nose. “ It was something else, actually.”

“ I only saw a tentacle,” Arya said. “ But I heard it. It sounded big.”

Ravi’s gaze lowered to Jai again.

Arya shrugged. “ I lost my hold on him when we hit, but he knows this place better than I do. He would know not to fight the water.”

Yasmin came to stand beside Ravi and pointed at Jai’s face. “ The swelling is going down already.”

“ What is this?” Ravi asked.

Arya had to move aside Jai’s ripped shirt. When she did, she spotted the necklace. “ That’s what they put on me to keep me from using magic. I can’t believe Priya would do that to him.”

“ I can,” Yasmin said. “ She loved Jai , and he released you. It was the ultimate betrayal.”

Ravi nodded as he looked at Arya . “ At least as Priya would see it.”

Arya had been so wrapped up in Jai that she didn’t realize until then that one of their party was missing. “ Where’s Dain ?”

“ He went to find Reva . The stones told me she was alive and where to find her,” Yasmin explained.

Arya was pleased to hear the news. “ I’m glad to hear she got free.”

“ Let’s hope Dain finds her,” Ravi said.

“ He will,” Arya declared and hoped she was right.