Destonne turned to brace her fall, and the air thrust from him as his back struck the stone beneath. He released a long, slow groan.
As the air flooded back into her lungs, water rattled in her chest. A cough wrenched from deep within her and she braced her hands on either side of his head. She leaned over. Her stomach roiled. She gagged andgagged.
When it finally stopped, she hung her head and glanced at Destonne’s profile. His eyes were squeezed shut, maybe in pain.
Their chests brushed against one another as they both battled for oxygen.
When Emmery finally composed herself, she pulled back, her face still too close to his. “Are you alright?”
“Never better,” he said, strained, rough. Then she realized his hands rested on her hips and she straddled him. Utterly mortified, she pushed off his chest, and scrambled away, as her faceburned.
A smirk tugged at his lips. “Why the rush? I quite enjoyed the view.”
She wanted to slap the smugness off his face, but her stinging shoulder and the torn fabric of her tunic occupied her. She glanced up to see Brennen dripping wet and an unimpressed scrunch to his face, but safe nonetheless.
“Settle down, Dez,” Brennen scolded. He shook out his thick fur coat, sending water droplets cascading into the air.
Emmery pursed her lips and adjusted her clothes while she attempted to summon some shred of dignity before she turned back to Destonne. “Did you enjoy the sound of me retching in your ear, as well? Because keep that up and there will be an abundance of it.”
The corners of Destonne’s lips twitched. “I should clarify the pleasure wasn’t ambient.” He sat up and winced. He must have hit the ground hard, especially with her weight atop him. But his brows pulled together as he surveyed the scratch on her shoulder. “What happened?”
“Something grabbed me.” Emmery shuddered. She could still feel the phantom slice of those claws. “I think it was a siren. But it was some sort of shadow?” It reminded her of her trial for her magic; the strange beast that had appeared with her face, until it bled away and revealed the monster beneath.
Clearly unbothered, Destonne said, “Sirens.Hmmm.”
Brennen was too busy searching the cavern to pay the two of them any attention. Stalactites, the colour of fresh blood, hung from the ceiling. The crimson liquid dripped on the cavern floor in an unnerving staccato.
Destonne squinted into the dark and thrust himself to his feet. Navigating the thorns, he tugged a hand through his hair to smooth back the stretched curls. He caught a red drop as it fell from the ceiling, brought it to his nose and inhaled. His face scrunched.
“Blood,” he said, his voice low, before he shook the drop free.
Emmery’s stomach roiled. The blood had to be coming from somewhere. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to discover the source.
The three of them marched onward, Destonne at the lead and Brennen at her side. Her waterlogged boots made an audible squishing sound, and warm water squelched between her toes with each step, testing her already strung out nerves. What she wouldn't give to be dry again.
The sinister stillness surrounding them seemed fragile, like at any moment a blood-curdling scream would shatter it. Emmery’s breath echoed in her ears as they walked the winding stretch and waited for some terrible fate to leap into their path.
Then a sliver of light severed the darkness ahead.
A doorway.
The cave transformed from a rocky narrow tube to a large ethereal void that resembled the Divide. A door, outlined by light, floated suspended in the midnight black.
As Brennen approached, it creaked open. The hinges groaned in the stillness of the cavern, and seized something inside Emmery, calling to a force within her, and sang,welcome, come forward.
Destonne’s breath hitched. “Do you feel that?”
“Like it’s drawing us forward,” Emmery affirmed.
Brennen glanced between the two of them. “I’ll go first.”
The wolf offered Emmery a wink before he sank into the vast darkness. She stared after him, waiting for some sign of distress or howl or any indicator that Brennen had stumbled into trouble. But only silence remained.
She glanced to her side and found Destonne watching her. “Ladies first,” he offered with a sweep of his hand.
“If you’re afraid, you could just say so,” Emmery teased as she stepped toward the door.
“I’m not afraid of anything. I simply want to make sureyoudon’t run screaming back the way we came.”