𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 // 𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈.

CHAPTER 18

Stay With Me

     The river tossed them back and forth, in seemingly endless circles instead of downstream. Brynn bit down on her baleen as soon as she couldn't breathe any longer, grasping blindly in the dark waters for something familiar to hang onto. She couldn't see in the water, it blinded her in a way she hated so much.

Brynn remembered the time she'd fallen into the river near her village. She and Sasha had been playing by the riverside in the mud, for which they surely would have been scolded by their mother for ruining their skirts.

The water rushed into her mouth and filled her lungs. Her throat burned, her airway constricted. She had reached out frantically for anything to hold, the rushing waters flinging her frail and small body every which way. Sasha's cries could be heard even beneath the surface of the ruthless brook.

Finally, a hand broke through the frothing waters. Brynn grabbed onto it despite her near-blinded state. The hand pulled her out quickly, then started to work to get the water out of her lungs. Brynn couldn't breathe for a long time, then she was given a chance at life again.

Ma had heard her sister's screams and came running with Da. Da was quick to jump into action, resuscitating Brynn with forceful compressions. Brynn never went down to the river again, and neither did Sasha. Even if their mother hadn't forbid it, they still would have stayed away. The experience traumatized them both beyond what they would have either admitted.

Here she was again, blinded and tumbling through the dark waters with no direction. Her dress tore from the strength of the current, her hair whipping around her mercilessly. Her body banged against the stones and rough sides of the river. She could feel the baleen beginning to bleed through on the sides of her mouth, the water slowly seeping in.

Just before, her head broke through the surface of the waters. Brynn could only take one breath before she was forced under again.

Then she was being dragged out and onto the gorge of the river, onto the rocky shore. Brynn coughed up water, swatting away the person who was dragging her. The rocks beneath her scraped at her skin and bare feet as she lugged herself up onto her feet.

Brynn's dress was ripped, many of the hanging chains of jewels ripped off of her dress and leaving her with many scrapes and bruises all over her near-naked body. Brynn was soaking wet and cold, her hair tangled, red spots bleeding through the blonde.

Nina stepped away from her, her own dress frayed and torn. Like always, she looked better than Brynn. Normally, she would have healed them both, then figured out why Bo Yul-Bayur was a mere boy, but then they saw Matthias drag a limp, unconscious Kaz out of the water and onto the dry land.

"Saints, is he breathing?" asked Nina.

Matthias grabbed Kaz and flipped him over harshly, starting to press his hands down on Kaz's chest with much more force than was necessary.