Page 112 of The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom 2)

64

Aren

Bubbles rushedpast him and Lara’s arm went limp in his grasp.

No!A silent scream tore through his head, and Aren pulled himself toward her, feeling in the darkness where she’d been caught by the steel.

Her belt.

His chest ached with the need to breathe, a lifetime spent in the water only buying him a few more moments.

After fumbling for his knife, he sawed on the leather until it split. Dropping the knife, he caught hold of Lara’s arms and heaved with all the strength he possessed.

She slipped through the opening.

Holding her tight, he swam upward, the surging water pushing them farther into the cave as he rose, kicking hard.

I’m not going to let you die.

He broke the surface and sucked in a gasp, waves slamming him against the rocky walls, but then they pulled him back. Back toward the portcullis. And he needed to get her out of the water. Needed to save her.

Arms jerked him upward, and Aren landed on his back in the boat, Lara’s limp body on top of him.

“Lara!” He rolled her, pushing people out of his way.

The torchlight illuminated her face, her eyes open and unseeing.

Gone.

“No!” he screamed, slamming his hands down against her chest. Over and over.

“Get a healer!” someone shouted, but it didn’t matter, because Lara was gone. His wife, his queen, was gone.

“Aren, enough.” Jor tried to pull him back, but Aren shoved him away, hands back on Lara’s chest. Willing her to breathe.

“Aren, she’s not coming back. You need to let her go.”

“No!”

The boat hit the foot of the harbor’s rocky steps, and Aren scooped Lara into his arms, carrying her up the steps at a run to set her on the landing where he resumed compressions on her chest, his arms shaking with the effort.

“I love you.” He could feel his people gathering around, feel the rain pouring from above. “I need you. Please come back.”

She seemed so small. So unlike the indomitable warrior he knew her to be.

“Lara!” He screamed her name. “Fight!”

65

Lara

It wasa slow climb out of the murky darkness. The longest climb she’d ever made. Through blackness and sadness and terror, chased by all the villains who had haunted her life, none the least the villain inside herself. Grasping and reaching and struggling. But then she heard his voice. Her name. Heard the only command he’d ever given her.

Lara opened her eyes.

66

Lara

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