Goodbye.
I ran after her as if I could catch her before she fell. Without a second thought, I dove into the water headfirst.
The impact shook through me. I grabbed one sharp breath and plunged beneath the surface, swimming so hard my heartbeat felt like it might punch through my ribs.
I have to get to her.
She cannot leave me.
The darkness pressed in. Then I saw her outline, a red glow pulsing around her like a heartbeat trapped underwater.
Suddenly, pain hit my chest; pain that wasn’t mine.
A breath taken that wasn’t mine.
Water burned down my throat, salty and cold, but my own lungs were still full.
I felt her drowning.
Her last breath echoed inside me.
I swam faster.
No.
No.
They cannot take her.
I reached her just as bubbles slipped from her mouth, as the agony of her final inhale tore through my soul.
No.
I gathered every drop of my magic, holding tight to my love for her. A ball of yellow light ignited the water around us. I shoved it into her chest.
Then I grabbed her, kicking upward with everything I had. My chest tightened, pressure building. I felt my oath breaking completely; a tearing sensation like fire beneath my ribs. It burned like I was being seared from the inside out.
I was seconds from losing my breath when she opened her eyes.
One eye was brown; the color that held my entire heart.
The other bright turquoise; unmistakably Kathera.
My blood ran cold.
She looked at me, winked, a smile growing on her face, and reached upward.
A sudden explosion of wind carved through the water. A tunnel formed around us, letting me cough and gasp in air that wasn’t supposed to exist this deep.
She lifted us.
We rose on a column of spiraling wind until we hovered high above where the others stood.
“We can come down now, Sahora,” I managed, my lungs shaking with relief.
“Not yet.” Her voice carried two tones: Sahora and something older. Kathera. The wind surged, and we spun inside the eye of a storm she commanded.
“I told you not to break your oath,” she said, stern and calm.
I met her gaze, mismatched eyes meeting mine.
“And I told you that you do not get to choose.”
She cracked a smile and pulled my arms around her. I wrapped her in them greedily.
Looking into her mismatched eyes, I leaned in slowly, painfully, closing the space between us.
She drew in a soft breath, then moved closer and pressed her lips to mine.
I held her tighter as the storm rose around us, carrying us in the whirlwind she had created.