Page 54 of Monster's Pretty Bride

Eryss’ silver eyes widen. Her arms flail as she tries to catch herself, but the ground is gone.

She’s falling.

A scream rips from her lips, her body tumbling toward the dark abyss below.

"No!"

I don’t think. I don’t hesitate.

I jump.

The wind roars in my ears, my body cutting through the atmosphere as I chase her down.

She’s reaching for me, her fingers barely outstretched, but I can’t catch her fast enough.

The river below rises like an open mouth, waiting to swallow us whole.

I wrap my wings tight, bracing for impact.

The water is ice and agony, slamming into me with the force of a stone wall. It drags me down, pulling me under.

Eryss is lost beneath the churning depths.

But I will not let anyone or anything take her away.

25

ERYSS

The water is a beast, its claws sinking into my flesh, dragging me down, down, down.

The impact had stolen the breath from my lungs, left me weightless, suspended in the abyss, caught between life and death. Cold lashes at me, an unforgiving bite seeping into my bones, deeper than flesh, deeper than marrow. Deeper than fear.

I kick hard, but the current grips me tighter. The river is wild, ravenous, swallowing light, swallowing air. Swallowing me entirely.

Panic claws at my chest, sharp and ruthless. My limbs tangle in the churning blackness, my lungs screaming for breath I cannot find. The world above is lost. There is only the endless, crushing dark.

Suddenly, there are hands.

Huge, unrelenting hands, strong as stone, unyielding as fate. They clamp onto my waist, my ribs, locking me against a chest that feels as unmovable as the mountains. The current fights to steal me away, but the grip tightens, pulling me against an immovable force.

Naranus.

His body is fire against the consuming cold, but I can’t react before we are torn through the depths together.

He moves with brutal efficiency, each kick, each thrust of his massive legs cutting through the water, fighting against the current with inhuman strength. I cling to him, but my body is numb, weakening, slipping further into the dark.

The river does not let us go easily. It rips and tears, drags and suffocates. My fingers dig into his arm, barely able to feel the scorching heat of his skin, but I hold on. If I let go, I die.

I barely register the moment he surges upwards.

Light bursts through the suffocating dark, blinding me. Air. A desperate, choking gasp tears from my throat, but it is not enough.

Not enough.

The river crashes into us again, pulling us under, tumbling our bodies through the chaos of thrashing currents. My head smashes into something, a rock? Pain explodes, but there’s no time, no air, no breath.

The surface explodes around us.

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