Page 61 of Golden Star

Then, with one hand in his pocket, he walks over to one of his knights, Ghost staying by his side.

“What?” Zoey asks me.

I put the stone back in my pocket and keep my fingers wrapped around it, like I’m pretty sure Riven’s are right now.

I lean closer to Zoey to make it look like we’re brainstorming what to do next in the trial.

“When I touched the whisper stone, Riven talked to me through it,” I tell her, lowering my voice to make sure the knights can’t hear. “He said, ‘shut up and let me help you.’”

“So, let him help you,” she says, sitting back and waiting.

“How’s he supposed to help me?” I ask her. “He’s right next to that knight.”

“Maybe he has some type of plan,” she insists. “Give him a chance. He’s all we’ve got right now.”

I huff, knowing she’s right, and look back to Riven.

He’s watching me so closely that it’s like he’s trying to burn a hole through my forehead with his eyes.

“I’m ready,” I say through the stone, looking to Zoey as I do, who gives me a single nod of approval.

This is so pathetically entertaining,Riven says to his knight, in a conversational enough tone that if he wasn’t holding onto the stone, I wouldn’t be able to hear him from this far out in the lake.She’s so new to her magic thatshe has no idea she can just inhale the water and breathe like a fish.

There’s a pause.

From what I can see, the knight is saying something back. But I can only hear Riven—not the knight.

You never mastered filtering oxygen out of water?Riven says, and there’s another pause as the knight replies, before Riven continues.I suppose that makes sense. It’s an advanced skill for winter fae, since ice is our specialty. But since summer fae are most naturally in tune with water magic, I figured breathing underwater would be far easier for her than it is for us.

Zoey’s watching me eagerly. I can tell she wants to ask what’s going on, but she also knows not to distract me from what I’m hearing.

“He’s saying I can inhale water and breathe like a fish,” I share with her—quietly, of course. “That there’s oxygen in the water and I can filter it out.”

“So, there’s your answer,” she says. “You don’t have to hold your breath down there. You can just… breathe. In the water.”

I glance back down at the hole, which is slowly getting smaller as the water re-freezes.

My chest tightens at the thought of going back in there again.

Riven and the knight are now talking about how terrible the frost wine was from last year’s harvest,which I have a feeling means the help he was giving me is over.

Which means I either go back in there, or I admit defeat even though we’ve barely gotten started.

“Okay,” I decide. “I’ll try again.”

“You’ll be okay,” Zoey says, and I’m not sure if she’s trying to make me believe it, or herself. “I’m sorry I can’t help. Even if I was good at swimming, I’m just a human. I don’t have water magic. I don’t…” She pauses, looking around at the glistening forest with a strange sort of longing in her eyes. “I don’t belong in this realm.”

“Which is why you’re not staying here,” I say, more determined than ever at the reminder of how vulnerable Zoey is in this place. “Neither am I. We’re going to get home. And if that means jumping into that lake again… then I guess I’ll be jumping into that lake again.”

With that, I pull away from her, kneel by the hole, and put my hand on the ice.

Heat up,I think, and I push my magic through my hands, heating the ice and widening the opening once more. It’s easier this time than last. I suppose I’m getting the hang of it.

Then, I jump.

The freezing water slams into me again, stealing the breath from my lungs. My body locks up.

I should fight. Get back up to the surface before I drown.

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