Page 48 of Broken Hearted
We all nodded and then his gaze landed on me. “If you start to weaken, say something and I’ll carry you.”
“You can’t swim for the both of us,” I argued.
“I can and I will. I won’t let you perish in these waters,” he told me, and the determination on his face almost had me believing that was true.
* * *
We’d been swimming for only ten minutes, but were making steady progress when a cramp seized my thigh. I gasped at the suddenness of the pain and pitched forward, dunking my head and only just avoiding sucking in seawater.
“What’s wrong?” Adrien asked when I resurfaced half a second later.
The rest of his crew was at least twenty feet in front of us and even though I knew Adrien could easily outpace me, he’d refused to get more than a half-stroke ahead of me.
“Nothing,” I lied. “Just needed a little break. I’m good now.” I plastered a smile on my face that was probably more grimace than anything else.
Adrien peered at me skeptically, but I gritted my teeth and forced my legs to keep moving on willpower alone. A dagger felt like it was twisting in my leg with every kick, but I went on through the pain. Adrien’s gaze weighed on me as silent tears leaked down my face that I hoped he mistook for seawater.
We went on for another couple of minutes like that when another cramp gripped my left arm. This time I couldn’t stop the pain-filled cry that burst from my lips. Adrien was there in an instant, his arms going around me as I started to sink beneath the waves.
“You’re cramping,” he said, guessing correctly.
All I could do was nod as slices of pain shot through my arm and leg.
“Lay back,” he commanded as he gently coaxed me onto my back. With his arms beneath me, he helped me float as he instructed how to stretch to work out the cramps and give my muscles a break.I bit my lip against the agony as I massaged first my arm and then my leg. Eventually, the ache had subsided to a piercing discomfort, but there was no way I could keep swimming. My muscles just weren’t obeying me anymore.
“I can’t go on,” I said, my voice catching. I had to swallow a sob that threatened to bubble up my throat.
“It’s okay. I have you,” Adrien said and then maneuvered so that he was at my head. He wrapped his arms around me, so that my back was on his chest, and started swimming us backward toward the island in the distance.
Adrien was strong and a fine swimmer, but he had his limits. I doubted he could reach the island if he was dragging me the rest of the way. His breath was coming out in huffs and puffs against my neck.
I had just worked up the courage to tell him to leave me behind when a scream rent the air. We both jolted, and then Adrien repositioned himself so we could turn toward the other sailors. They were even further ahead of us by now, but they’d all stopped swimming and were shouting to one another as they bobbed in the water, frantically turning in circles with their gazes cast on the water around them.
“Do you see Tanner?” one of them shouted.
“He was just here,” another yelled.
I quickly counted heads to realize that one sailor was missing.
No. My heart sank.
“What’s going on?” I asked Adrien.
He shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know just as a fin appeared.
“Shark,” I gasped.
Fear knifed me in the gut. I hadn’t thought extensively about how I’d prefer to die, but I knew that being eaten alive wasn’t the way I wanted to go.
I watched in horror as another fin appeared in the water. Then another and another. They started circling Adrien’s men, who shouted in alarm.
“Can you tread water?” Adrien asked suddenly, and I nodded. The cramps were only a dull pain now, and the adrenaline coursing through my body gave me a boost of energy.
Reaching down he pulled my faestone dagger and handed it to me. “Take this,” he told me.
As soon as my fingers wrapped around the dagger, he took off, swimming with broad strokes.
“Adrien, no!” I screamed and started after him. What did he expect to be able to do against sharks with only his bare hands?
