Page 82 of Ballad of Sea and Sky

It had always been my greatest fear to drown, but as my lungs filled with lake water and my mind began to go dark, I decided it wasn’t the worst way to die.

Chapter 30

Thekelpiesformedawall of writhing, tossing water around me, refusing to let me pass even as I screamed Marina’s name. They dragged at me, wrenching me back with their teeth and tendrils of water, holding me fast as my mate drowned.

My mate.

She was dying. I wasn’t sure how I knew this in my bones, but I did. The lake was a churning black vortex, and Marina was somewhere in there with weakened lungs and no oxygen.

The horror I had felt when she had turned to me, eyes wholly black and somehowother, had been surpassed only by the way she spoke, as if something was using her body.

Rannoch neighed, low and somber, and the kelpies finally let me pass. I dove into the water, the fact that it was clear and blue once more barely registering as I swam for its center, my wings straining against the unfamiliar pressure of water rather than air. I tucked them in close, diving for the bottom of the lake where a form floated in horrible suspended silence.

Her eyes were closed, her face almost peaceful as her hair flowed around her in a crown of blue. I wrapped my arms around her, pushing against the bed of the lake and shooting to the surface.

“Marina!” I cried, surfacing and trying to shake her awake as I swam. “Come on, Marina, breathe!”

She lolled limply to one side, and I cursed as I sped for the edge of the lake.

The kelpies finally took pity on me, wading into the water, no longer a poison to them, and shifting into their tails. Rannoch met me partway, and I grabbed onto his mane and let him drag us to shore.

“Marina,” I murmured, laying her flat on her back and checking her pulse. She was still, her eyes closed and lips blue.

“I will give you anything,” I growled fiercely, Marina lifeless in my arms as I raged at the water horse. “Anything at all. Just bring her back.”

Rannoch watched me, his eyes sad as I held the female I loved in my arms, wishing I could go back to the moment I first decided to kidnap her and undo it all.

“Bring her back!” I bellowed, making the kelpies skitter backward as Ran contemplated me, his muzzle pressing to Marina’s lifeless face.

I had done this. I had taken her and gotten her trapped here and forced her to make a deal that would result in her death. It should be me lying here lifeless, drowned in the black lake. My heart felt like it was splitting apart, the pain of it too much for me to bear.

Rannoch nodded toward her, blowing a gust of air in my face. I cursed the fact that I couldn’t speak to him as Marina had, trying to figure out his meaning.

“You want me to breathe for her?” I asked, watching the horse, and he gave me a definite nod. “That will bring her back?” Another nod.

I laid her out on the damp earth, tilting her head back to open her airways. “Breathe, my love,” I whispered, pressing my mouth to hers and breathing for her as I had done once before and as she had done for me. My breath met resistance. There was water in her lungs, and I couldn’t shift it the way she could.

I laid her back down, forming a fist above her sternum to try to force the water out.

“Fucking breathe, Marina!” I commanded, thrusting down to try to force the water up her throat. It dribbled from her mouth and I forced her ribs down again, wincing as I felt them crack.

She retched, turning on her side so she could cough up everything she had breathed in. It looked as if she had swallowed most of the lake, and I cursed as she continued retching.

She lives, said a voice in my head, a burbling masculine voice.As promised, Winged One.

I looked up in surprise as Rannoch regarded me, his expression one of vaguely amused patience.

Yes, it is I,he confirmed.You bear the mark of her soul now. You can hear me as she can.

“I…what?” I asked, thumping Marina on the back as she continued to cough up lungfuls of water.

You bear her mark,Rannoch said as if this should be easy to understand.And she bares yours. You are bonded now, sooner than fate would have had you, but it was the only way.

The horse knew. Had known what I had started to suspect days ago when we had first given in to desire. That Marina was my mate, my soul bonded partner. And he had let her fucking die.

I didn’t have time to question the damned horse.

Marina gasped, opening her eyes, blue as the sea and the sky, rather than the possessed black of Morar. “Cas?” she croaked, her voice weak as her eyes fluttered.