finals.
Kaderin had seventy-four points. Cindey had seventy-two.
It hadn't escaped Kaderin's notice that she was thirteen points shy of the finals—the exact value of the prize she'd relinquished.
Today, the instructions were to swim out ten miles until a whirlpool portal appeared and brought them down to the prize—Amphitrite's tear, a bead said to heal any wound.
As twilight crept closer, competitors continued to line the beach. These entrants would be new ones—the veterans would have taken one look at this task, an eleven-pointer, and known some catch awaited them. Kaderin's first clue what that catch might be occurred when she'd spied cows' heads bobbing in the water just off the shore.
And that was before she even saw the first fin.
With a quick jog down the beach, she found a rivulet flowing steadily into the ocean, carrying the heads. Far upriver, a meatpacking plant must be churning out the refuse.
'Sharks!' Cindey cried when Kaderin returned. 'Bloody sharks.' She faced Kaderin. 'You going in?'
'Might. You?'
'If you do, I won't have much choice, will I?' Cindey snapped.
The Lore beings and low creatures had taken great pains to get here, lured by the idea of a healing agent, and likely were wondering why the older ones weren't getting into the water. Then they spotted the fins, too. Not one of them talked of swimming. But Kaderin was in a desperate position.
She'd given up that damn box. Silly, silly Valkyrie.
'Screw this,' she muttered, yanking off her sword.
'Kaderin's going to do it!' someone whispered. Others pointed.
Shrugging from her pack and jacket, she collected her sword, slinging the strap over her shoulder. She backed down the strand of beach and took off in a sprint, diving at the last possible moment, gaining yards out into the sea.
With smooth, even strokes, she swam freely through the sharks. This isn't so bad. Ten miles was nothing. If she wasn't bleeding or thrashing about, she should be fine—
An aggressive bump nearly knocked the breath from her. Ignore it. Swim.
Another purposeful knock.
In seconds, the sea was teeming with them, making it impossible to swim without hitting one with each kick. She knew no one had ever seen or documented anything like this. The meatpacking plant was, in essence, running a shark farm on the side.
Her sword would be useless in the water.
One shark was worse than the others, the bull of them all, giving her yet another violent shove—
Teeth sank into her thigh. She shrieked with pain, shoving her fingers at the flesh around the rows of teeth, prying the jaws apart.
She was fighting for her life now. With sodding sharks.
There came a brief thought that surely Sebastian would trace to her again and might find her remains—if there were any.
Kaderin had believed she'd die a violent death, but she'd be damned if she'd be food. She dove down, slashing out with her claws, biting them just as they sought to bite her. Outrage filled her, and red covered her vision.
She sank her claws into the bull's fin, yanked herself into it and bit down as hard as she could. Blood darkened the water, red bubbles and streams everywhere. Impossibly, more sharks came. She spit, then bit again.
I might actually die here. An immortal could die from a shark attack, if the head was severed from the neck.
Another swipe of her claws connected down the sleek side of the bull, but she couldn't fight them all off.
She swam down, determined to hide in a reef. She could hold her breath for extended periods of time.
And she couldn't die of drowning. Just ask Furie.
Before she could escape, the bull latched on to her leg, thrashing as it propelled her back into the fray.
Frantic slashing. Pain. When she clawed against the grain, the sharkskin abraded her fingers, tore at her claws. Twisting bodies, the power in them...
She kicked up to the surface, gasping air to return—
One seized her other leg above the knee, forcing her down in erratic yanks. The water swallowed her scream.
35
Sebastian jerked awake, then immediately collapsed back, wincing at the pain thundering through his head.
He cracked open his eyes to a starry nighttime sky. A warm breeze brushed over him as he lay unmoving on a stony riverbed. He eased up once more, struggling to determine where he was, squinting as memories from the jungle bombarded him.
That fucking wolf had tossed him into a raging river. Each time Sebastian had been dragged under was salvation from the sun, even as he sucked water into his lungs. After what seemed like days, the water had finally calmed. With his skin burning in the light, and his blood from a head injury gushing into his eye, he'd been sure he would die.
But he'd hauled himself to the shore—because he hungered for his future, with Kaderin in it. Before he'd passed out, he'd made it into the brush until only his legs were exposed. For the rest of the day, he'd burned, too weak even to move to avoid the pain.
How long had he been out? The entire day? He was thirsty, exhausted—
MacRieve threatened Kaderin. He bolted to his feet, tracing to her. When the dizziness hit from standing and he rocked on his feet, he was already on a tropical beach somewhere just at sunset.
Which meant he was now on the other side of the world. Again.
Dozens of competitors from the Lore gazed breathlessly out at the sea. Sebastian followed their attention, and spied a churning in a darker ring of water. Shark fins sliced through the water, then slipped back down.
Something was dying out there, and no one bothered to lend a—
A hand shot through the surface.
His stomach clenched. Kaderin.
An instant trace. Under the murky water with her. Impossible to see. Blood—hers—and tissue, pieces of shark thick in the water. He struck out, fighting past the coil of sharks to reach for her shoulders.
Missed her. One had her leg, twisting her from Sebastian's grasp, yanking down in a frenzy.
Sebastian fought with all the strength he had. He hit and connected, slicing his hands on teeth, ignoring his own wounds, clearing a way to her.
His hand closed in a fist over her upper arm...
Fucking got her.
He traced back to the beach, tumbling to the ground, twisting her atop him so he didn't crush her.
She wasn't breathing. He jerked up, flipping her to her side. She coughed, choking up water. He rubbed her back as she spit into the sand. When she'd caught her breath, he took her in his arms, rocking with her.
What if I didn't wake when I did?
She'd be... dead. He shuddered. They couldn't be parted again.
Even if he had to lock her away.
When he gently held her by the shoulders so he could see her eyes, she muttered, 'You look white as a ghost.'
'You were seconds away from being eaten alive!' he roared, his gut-wrenching fear for her turning to fury in an instant. 'Or drowning.'
