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Fighting through my body’s longing for rest, we finally make it to the Caelestia , but I’m a shaking mess, and I have no idea how the hells I’m supposed to climb up the ladder his men on board throw to us over the side.

The longboat is still several feet away from the ship when I hear Zaos say from behind me, “If we get too close, the Caelestia will tip us over! The waves are too big and she’s rocking too hard! ”

I don’t like the look on Grayson’s face as he eyes me, assessing.

Before he even asks, I know what we’re going to have to do.

“Do you think you can swim?”

“Do I have a choice?” My teeth chatter with every word.

He leans forward, grasping the sides of my face and places a wet kiss to my forehead. “You’re only a few moments away from a warm cabin. Just fight a little longer.”

The sharp ache in my head has come back, but I’m not sure if it’s from the fall I took on the beach or the bitter cold that has overcome my entire body. But I ready myself for what must be done and pray to the heavens I don’t drown in the storm’s waves.

That would be embarrassing.

“I’m ready!” I try to shout over the wind, but my voice gets lost as a curtain of heavy rain passes over us.

Grayson hears me and nods. Then he reaches for the pack at his feet and checks to make sure it’s closed tightly. The last thing we need is for the Serpent’s Key to fall to the ocean floor and all this to be for naught. After he secures the pack on his back, he stands, then jumps into the water.

I steel my breath as I wait for his head to crest through the surface. Once his face emerges, I swear my heart stutters with relief. His body moves up and down with each rolling wave as his eyes find mine. Then, he reaches his arms upward as if he plans on catching me.

Steadying myself with my hands out, I slowly move to the side of the boat. From the corner of my eye, I see Collin start to shift to the other side to counter my weight. Bracing my palms on the edge, I stand and take in a deep breath.

Then, I jump.

A thousand needles prick my skin the moment my body sinks beneath the waves.

My shoulder and back scream at me as I wave my arms through the water, trying to break through the surface.

Strong currents whip me around and panic starts to seize my mind.

My lungs ache for a breath, but I can’t seem to find my way up—not when another wave crashes into me, yanking me backward.

My sight is clouded by the ocean’s froth and the only thing I see is a barrage of tiny bubbles amidst the churning water. The small amount of fight I have left starts to wane and I begin to sink, my entire body going limp.

Darkness descends, whipping its way toward me just as the lightning had.

Then I feel him. The strength of his hands as they wrap around mine and pull me up, up, up. The moment my face crests through the water’s surface, I suck in a long sharp breath. White-hot fire sears my lungs as I gasp for another breath and another.

“I’ve got you,” Grayson says, pulling me closer. “Just breathe. In. Out.”

Rain pelts my face and I start to feel a creeping numbness crawl up my body, but I do as he says. Taking one more icy breath in, then I let it out.

“Good, Rowenya. Very good.” His words are nearly lost to the rage of the storm, but the whisper of them is enough. “I’m going to help you up the ladder, okay?”

I follow his gaze to the right and see the ladder swinging in the wind on the side of the ship.

Peering up, a shudder runs through me. It’s a long, arduous climb and I can’t even feel my hands.

How in the hells am I supposed to make it all the way up?

The only other choice is to let the ocean claim me as hers, and that is no choice at all. Not when there is so much left to do.

Not when I’ve given my heart to him , the quiet voice in the back of my mind seems to say.

“Okay.” I nod, trying to clamp my teeth together to keep them from chattering, but it’s no use.

Grayson nods back, keeping ahold of my hand as he swims us toward the ladder. He grabs the side of it with his other hand and brings it to me.

The Caelestia rocks toward us as another large wave rolls under her and Grayson has to push against the hull to keep her from pulling us down.

“We need to move now , Rowenya!” The urgency in his voice sends a jolt of energy through me and I grasp the first wrung of the ladder. There’s no feeling in my hands as I reach up, placing my left foot on the wrung still wading in the water. But I start to move.

This is not how I die.

This is not how I die.

I repeat the words over and over until they are the only thing echoing in my mind.

“I’m coming up behind you,” Grayson calls up to me and I feel the weight of his body draw the ladder taught.

Then I feel the pressure of his palm meeting the side of my thigh. There’s no warmth to his touch seeping through the fabric of my pants, but I still notice the slight ease of my shoulders falling away from my ears knowing he’s right there, ready to catch me if I fall.

It’s a strange thing. How important the presence of someone can become in such a short period of time. But I don’t think too hard about it as I start to ascend the ladder again.

Peering up, I note we’re halfway there just as another large swell rocks the Caelestia and the ladder swings out over the angry waves below.

Wrapping my forearms around the sides of it, I brace myself, clinging on as tightly as my exhausted muscles can manage.

I feel Grayson’s hand clench around my leg and push forward, securing me against the ladder even more.

Once the wave passes and the ship rights itself again, I start moving. One step at a time. I stow away the aching numbness in my fingers and the way my entire body shakes from the cold. Only a few more steps and I’m there.

“Come on, Miss Rowenya!” I hear a voice shout through the wind, sounding very much like Tommy.

I look up and see his blond hair swept across his face, droplets of water falling from each lock as he bends over the side of the ship, just above the ladder.

For a moment, my haggard brain flashes images of my friends in his place.

Wells, Amara, and . . . Raven. All beckoning me to keep going. To find my way back to them.

I blink and their images are gone, replaced with Tommy’s worried face, and I remember that Tommy is my friend too.

Maybe not from the start as he was Grayson’s watch dog, reporting everything I did back to his captain.

But I can’t blame him for that. Not when Grayson was the one who plucked him from the claws of certain death and gave him the chance of another life.

So, I continue to climb toward my friend and feel a surge of relief when I finally feel his hands reach around my wrists and pull me up and over the side.

I fall to the deck and mutter a quiet thank you to the heavens for sparing me from an early grave. And once I see Grayson’s black boots hit the ground, I peer up, reaching for him with shaking hands. Kneeling, he takes the pack off his back and hands it to Tommy before sweeping me into his arms.

I hear the faint whisper of his promise before the darkness finally takes me: “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”