Page 64 of Ivory Oath

“Dad…” he whimpers.

He takes one step closer to me and the ice shatters.

The cracking sound is like gunshots. But instead of ducking, I lunge forward.

I only make it two more steps before the ice starts to thin. I drop to my stomach, spreading out my weight as far as I can to keep the cracks from spreading further.

“Kick!” I yell, army crawling towards him. “Kick your feet, Dante! Fight!”

He’s splashing, but I can’t see if he’s above water from this vantage point.

I might be too late. He could disappear under the water.

I shove the grim thoughts aside and focus on getting to him.

I hear the moment Viviana rounds the bend behind me because she screams. “Stay back!” I yell over my shoulder. I don’t have time to stop to make sure Viviana is following orders; I just have to hope she’s smart enough to know I can’t save them both.

I might not even be able to save him.

I’m making achingly slow progress towards the cracked ice, but if I want to get Dante out of here alive, this is the only way. It would take longer to crash through a different spot in the ice and have to fight my way towards him like that. I need to get to the hole he fell into.

As I get closer to the fracture point, the ice is thin and gray. It splinters under me, painfully cold water creeping over the surface and cutting straight through my coat and thermal layers. I hiss, but I don’t stop. Dante’s bright blue coat is a blotch of color below the surface of the water. His face is submerged and he isn’t moving.

“Dante!”

He doesn’t budge—and everything I’ve ever been taught goes out the fucking window.

I should stop at the edge and strip down. The fewer layers I have on, the more likely it is I’ll be able to get us both out.

But there isn’t time.

I throw myself the last few feet into the water.

The cold filets me. It freezes the breath in my lungs and everything in me wants to get out. But I splash closer. Dante bobs in the water like a dinghy, still and lifeless. A small sense of relief floods through me when I get my numb arms around him and drag him above the surface. The relief is gone as soon as I realize how rigid he is.

His lips are blue and he isn’t breathing.

“This way!” Viviana is standing on the bank, waving me towards her. “Come this way. It’s faster.”

I’m so cold that I can’t even think about whether she’s right. I feel my body shutting down with every passing second. If I don’t get out now, we never will. So I move towards Viviana.

She’s like an angel in her white coat set against the dark trees. I follow the dot of light as black creeps into the edges of my vision. I do my best to keep Dante on my shoulder and out of the water. Not that it matters. He’s twenty pounds heavier, at least, just from the frozen lake water his clothes soaked up.

The water gets shallower as I approach the edge. I have to break through the ice with my shins to make it to the shore. I’m sure I’m cut to hell, but I don’t think about any of it. As soon as I’m clear of the shore, I lay Dante on the ground, rip open his coat, and press my hands into his chest.

Viviana collapses next to him. She tilts his head back and blows into his mouth.

Neither of us know what the fuck we’re doing, but there’s nothing else we can do. We have to try.

Viviana blows another breath. As soon as she’s done, I start pumping on his chest again. It feels like it’s been hours of breathing and compressions, but it can’t have been more than thirty seconds. Then, between one pump and the next, Dante coughs.

Water pours out of his mouth and I quickly roll him onto his side to help him get it all out.

“Oh my God!” Viviana presses his soaked hair back from his forehead. Her hands are shaking.

Dante coughs again and then starts to cry.

It’s the most beautiful fucking sound I’ve ever heard.

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