Page 21 of Tides of Time

Gritting his teeth, Orion dug his feet into the unyielding muddy sand beneath him, desperately trying to push himself up and roll to the side, but each movement was countered by an invisible force. Just as his head broke the surface, he caught sight of another person falling and a colossal wave rising up in a violent burst, threatening to swallow them whole.

Then everything went blurry, and finally, he let his eyes close. He may die here, the pain in his chest was too intense to push past and the waves seemed determined to hold him where he was.

I’m sorry, Ariana.

* * *

Something squeezinghis arms woke Orion.

He blinked, trying to clear the fog, and the pain came back, searing through him like a bolt of electricity.

He was dying.

Someone tugged him backward, toward the shore.

The sounds of war were gone, and when he turned his head, Orion saw far too many bodies lying in the surrounding water.

“I’m not letting them take you. Not this time.”

He knew that voice, and it made less sense that he heard it than what was said.

Still, he was happy to see his final moments of lucidity conjured something as wonderful as the woman who’d stolen his heart in less than a month.

“I love you,” he choked on salt water and sputtered, but he knew the words were audible.

“And I love you, which is why I’m doing this. Those morons left you for dead.”

She continued to rant, but his ears began to fail him as the blood seeped out.

He closed his eyes.

Imagining Ariana was the perfect way to go if he had to die. She would pull him to safety, and he would sleep forever.

As his backside made solid contact with a large, unforgiving rock, he was quickly jolted out of any notion that this was just another vivid nightmare. The sharp pain radiating through his body confirmed the harsh reality of the situation. Then the pain in his chest returned.

“Ow, fuck.”

“Sorry, my love.” she glanced down at him and grimaced. “This is as far as I can take you. I can feel the time shift coming.” Her voice broke into sobs. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to stay!”

The sound of her anguished cry pierced his heart with a sharp, searing pain that cut through him like a bullet. It crashed against the walls of his chest, reverberating with raw emotion and leaving behind a trail of devastation. The intensity of her agony was palpable in the air, almost suffocating in its weight. And as he lay there, helpless and shattered, he knew that this one cry would forever be etched into his memory like a scar burned into flesh.

“You’re leaving?”

She began to blur, and Orion swore he could almost see through Ariana.

Maybe this is a death dream after all.

It was only a few more seconds before he could no longer feel her grip on his arms.

“Over here!” Another voice called in the distance

“You got a live one?”

Orion wasn’t certain what the fuck was going on anymore, but he just needed to sleep.

TEN

The icy watercrashed into her parted lips, a shocking burst of cold that flooded over her tongue and cascaded down her throat like a raging river. She gasped for air as the frigid liquid engulfed every part of her mouth, numbing her senses and sending shivers through her body. It was like being hit by an avalanche, powerful and overwhelming. She could feel its force propelling her forward, unable to resist its relentless rush.

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