Page 108 of A Dark and Drowning Tide

“Adelheid,” Sylvia shouted, “you don’t have to do this. We can all escape this together.”

“And let you return to Albe to raise your armies against me? No. Our childhood days are long over, Sylvia.”

Sylvia’s face hardened with resolve. “Then you leave me no choice.”

Adelheid looked at her impassively. “I could boil your blood where I stand.”

Lorelei believed it. The pressure in the room made her ears pop. She had never seen anything quite like this, even from the most proficient mages. The only thing keeping her grounded was the sickly pallor of Adelheid’s skin. Power like this always came at a price, just as every tale she’d collected promised.

Lorelei curled her lip. “So do it.”

Adelheid pinned her with that horrible, inhuman stare. But rather than Lorelei’s blood boiling, the water from the spring rose behind Adelheid. It was eerily clear, like a crashing wave preserved in glass, and Adelheid like a goddess beneath it.

She threw her arms forward.

Lorelei braced herself. If Adelheid was flagging, she could deflect it. Drawing in her breath, she focused her will on the wave hurtling toward her. It glanced off uselessly, as though she possessed not a scrap of power. She hardly had a moment to be surprised before the water broke over her and sent her tumbling off her feet. She couldn’t catch her bearings. It was as though she’d been dragged out to sea and thrown a thousand leagues down. Lorelei scrabbled against the floor and steadied herself just in time to see Heike’s skull hit the limestone wall with a dullcrack. She slumped onto the ground.

Adelheid studied her with only a flicker of regret. Then, she bolted.

“Stop her!”

If she made it back to the boats first, she would abandon the rest of them here. Lorelei scrambled to her feet. Heike lay dazed on the ground,a trickle of blood oozing from the wound in the back of her head. Lorelei’s stomach turned at the sight of it.

Sylvia crouched beside Heike and placed her finger beneath her nose. “She’s still breathing, just out cold. Concussed, most likely.”

“Good,” Lorelei said dispassionately. “Watch her. I’ll go after Adelheid.”

“What?” Sylvia spluttered. “No!Wewill go after her.”

“Heike needs medical attention that we can’t give. The next best thing is to monitor her. Secondly . . .”

There was far too much to say and far too little time.

Secondly, I couldn’t bear to see harm befall you.

I couldn’t exist in a world without you.

What me is there without you?

For so long, Lorelei had existed in spite of Sylvia and because of her. All the words tangled on her tongue. In the end, she settled on “If you die, there will be no one to tell those in Ruhigburg what happened here.”

Sylvia scoffed. “I’m not going to die.”

“You can’t promise me that.”

“Neither can you!” Sylvia flushed. God, she was sostubborn. “There is so much more to living than fear, Lorelei. For once in your life, let someone worry for you the way you worry for others.” Sylvia cupped her cheek and held her gaze steadily. “Letmeworry about you.”

In Sylvia’s shining eyes, she saw freedom.

Maybe, just this once, she could be the hero of a story like this. Maybe, just maybe, there was a happily ever after waiting for her on the other side of this nightmare.

“Fine, you impossible fool. What do you propose we do?”

“Exactly what you suggested.” Sylvia frowned. “If we hope to survive against her, I will need to use the Ursprung.”

“Are you sure?”

Sylvia grinned winningly at her. “You doubt me, then? Do you mean to take back all the kind things you said?”