Page 59 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

Without another word, he backed away, step after step, until he reached the bank.

He didn’t look in my direction as he pulled his shirt and coat on.

He dressed in silence, and I merely watched, eyes and throat burning.

When he crouched to pull his boots on, his last and final step, my breath hitched, and I silently cursed myself.

His fingers paused before his head turned to me. When I didn’t say anything, he rose to his feet with a sigh. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready.”

Then, he was gone, and I was alone—alone and cold, but he was safe.

I exhaled a long breath, releasing the pent-up cry stifled by my hand as I walked away from the wall into the shallower portion of the pool.

I didn’t want to die. Nobody wanted to die, but some things, some people were worth dying for.

I’d already had so much taken from me, and I wouldn’t let Adonis take this, too.

My choice was my own, and this was my choice: to kill or be killed.

I wouldn’t let him force my hand. I wouldn’t be the weapon he wielded against Rogue or anyone else.

Sucking in a breath, I wiped my eyes, a headache settling in behind them.

Drip. Drip.

I flinched at the sound and sank to my shoulders, but the second the water licked at my neck, just beneath my jaw, my mouth went dry, and I shot up, arms raised.

Screwing my eyes shut, I pressed my palms over them so hard, sparks danced among the flashes of that fucking bucket he used, its icy water, his hands lifting it.

I could hear the metallic clank of it on stone, water dripping from the table, from me.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I’d taken multiple baths since I escaped, but they never got easier, and I’d never been so distracted before. Every other time, I’d been painfully aware of the water I had to submerge myself in.

Drip. Drip.

My gut rolled, lungs burning, head spinning?—

“No.” I snapped my eyes open. “No.”

I looked at the water, rings rippling out from my hips. I wiggled my toes, the stone floor slick below them. They didn’t ache with cold. Neither did my legs nor my fingers. I was frozen in place, but not strapped down or in pain. My lungs inhaled air, not liquid.

Sucking in another breath, I lowered my arms until my hands were submerged.

“Safe,” I mumbled, voice shaking.

My heart hammered as I sank into the water again. Tears welled in my eyes, slipping past my lashes when my neck hit the water. My instincts screamed to get out. Get out, get out, get out.

I inhaled as much air as I could, held it for a few seconds, and let it out in a slow hiss.

“Safe, here.”

The stone was solid beneath my knees, my head tipped up as water lapped at my chin.

Beyond my internal screaming, the cave remained nearly silent. My ragged breaths echoed in the small cavern, but I forced them to slow until they were nearly silent too, as I finally located the source of the incessant dripping.

A crystal stalactite hung from the ceiling in the far corner where moisture clung to the stone walls. Slowly, rivulets of water traced their way down the crystal’s length, gathering at its tip before falling, each drop punctuating the silence.

“Safe, here, and alive,” I whispered, looking upwards. “Safe, here, and alive.”

My lips parted in awe at the multitude of stalactites, varying in shape and size, sparkling like stars against the darkness. I kept my gaze fixed on them as I lowered into the water, closing my eyes just long enough to submerge my face, then opening them again to see the fragmented beauty above.

When my lungs burned and the muscles in my chest seized, I pushed myself up, gasping, my body rigid as water streamed down my face.

As the flow slowed to a trickle, I pushed my hair back and did it again—submerged my face, held my breath until I couldn’t any longer, then stood, letting the water pour over me, again and again.

When I finally stopped, my lungs felt raw and abused, my mind fuzzy, but there was a quiet pride, too. My body ached with fatigue, every muscle drained, and a dull pain throbbed behind my eyes, but there wasn’t fear.

Lying back in the water, I floated.

Perhaps exhaustion had dulled the edge of my fear, or maybe I really had done it enough times to convince my frayed nerves I was fine—either way, the water’s caress on my cheeks no longer felt like a threat, and that pulled a smile to my lips.

The deep hum underwater soothed the raw parts of me, so I floated for a long while, ears submerged, hair drifting weightlessly around my head. I stared at the ceiling with unfocused eyes until the stone and crystal blurred together, a smeared canvas of gray and black and white and?—

White?

Shimmering white light snaked across the crystals.

Water sloshed as I jerked to my feet and slipped, slicing my foot on a stray shard of quartz.

I clutched my heel with a gasp. Blood swirled from between my fingers, clouding the water, and the humming grew louder, static snapping and popping.

I glanced down and slowly released my foot to lift my hand.

I barely had time to watch my mother’s ring flicker with a light of its own before energy surged all around me. Illuminated from within, the crystals flashed blinding white.

I screwed my eyes shut, shielding them with my hand—but then, a vortex started on the far side of the pool, the current strong enough to pull me down. My eyes snapped open, and I frantically raced for the bank, but my feet slipped, suddenly finding no traction.

My muscles screamed at the exertion, head spinning, but I ran. I swam. I thrashed and kicked and fought, yet I lost ground, slipping closer to imminent death inch by terrifying inch.

“Rogue!” I tried to scream, but the sound bounced back to me.

When the water reached my chin, I tilted my face up, sucking in one final breath, and dunked myself under before the current could force me.

My choice.

When I thought I’d hit the bottom, it sucked me deeper into a narrow tunnel. The walls pressed in on either side, and I couldn’t move my arms—could barely twitch my shoulders.

Panic surged up my throat. There wasn’t enough room or light or air.

It was dark and growing darker…colder.

My hands scrabbled at the walls, fingernails dragging across stone. I couldn’t stretch my arms. Couldn’t turn. Couldn’t run. Couldn’t breathe.

Turns out, I’m claustrophobic too.

My body burned. My lungs burned.

I scrunched my eyes when sparks danced in my vision. Flashes of Rogue joined them—specifically, his smile. That smile shifted into an onslaught of hurt.

When I didn’t come out to him, he’d look for me and find my dead body instead, or… No, he’d never find me down here. He’d never see me again. He’d think I left him again.

I didn’t leave, Rogue. I did not leave you.

My heart shattered, and I clawed at my chest when flames erupted beneath it. This was more than heartache; this was visceral agony.

A scream escaped my lungs with all the remaining air in my deprived lungs, bubbles floating downwards—upwards?

Faint light filtered through the water. The current disappeared all at once.

I sat on the bottom of the pool… Had I been tossed so much that I’d lost my sense of direction?

I kicked off and swam with everything I had until I broke through the surface, gasped, and erupted into a coughing fit. Each breath felt shallow and ragged, my heart throbbing, its rhythm erratic.

“Ara?”

Lightning cracked within my skull. My vision darkened at the excruciating migraine, a rush of heat surging beneath my skin.

“Ara, love, can you hear me?”

As my body went lax, I started to sink, the water almost soothing. No currents. No fear.

“Ara!”

I forced my eyes open and scrambled towards shore—by far, the farthest distance I’d ever swum.

Goddess be damned, how big is this fucking pool?

And when did my arms and legs turn to stone?

They’d never felt this heavy before. My entire body kept trying to sink, only partially responding to my commands, and it took my full attention to focus on the task as my hazy mind wandered back to the void.

Trembling started in my hands, but it quickly spread to every muscle until I shuddered with continuous involuntary tremors, either from cold or fatigue, or both.

This water is cold.

My foot landed on stone, and a relieved cry broke from my throat. I staggered until the water was shallow enough to crawl the rest of the way, my skin and extremities numb, my soaked hair clinging to my face and body.

This water wasn’t warm.

Rogue’s pool had been warm.

If this wasn’t that pool, then where was it?

Where was I?

I dragged myself onto the bank, quartz shards slicing into my palms and knees, but I didn’t feel the sharp bite. The gentle waves turned red and pink as they lapped away the evidence.

A hand appeared in front of me, reaching into my line of vision. I didn’t have enough energy to question it.

I took it, and every bit of exhaustion fled from my body, though the migraine remained, and a gnawing ache in my chest that burrowed deeper with each breath.

As I was hauled to my feet, my gaze locked with silver eyes, the mirror to my own.