Page 79 of Traitor Witch

“Are you insane?” Kier is the one holding my wrist, but it’s Rysen speaking.

The vampire has dropped onto the deck and is standing protectively between me and Cas’s beast.

But the leviathan doesn’t look angry. It looks sad, almost mournful.

Like it misses the contact we never had.

“No.” I shove to my feet and push past both of them until I’m standing in front of the huge beast. Each of his huge breaths wafts warm, salty air over me, blowing my hair back with the force of it. “Look at him. He’s not going to hurt me.”

I reach my hand out again, and this time, neither male tries to stop me.

Even standing, I can barely reach the top of his snout, so I settle for awkwardly rubbing the scales of his upper lip.

His body is a combination of teal scales and dark furry mane that shouldn’t work, but does. There are bony spines along the bottom of his jaw and across the tops of his eye ridges that add a menace to his draconic face.

His eyes are small and double lidded, and from the back of his head, armoured plates, covered in long, seal-like fur, give the impression of an alien mane.

Two long, whisker-like… things dangle from the back of his jaw, they flick out, tasting the air, almost like feelers, but I don’t get to examine them closer.

“Oi, if you’re feeling useful, get us out of here!” Val yells. “East! And keep us away from the shore!”

The leviathan gives him a disgruntled look. Just that one expression telling me he doesn’t like Val any more than I do. He dives back into the water anyway, teal body disappearing beneath the stormy waves and taking my distraction with him.

Mother Goddess, I just drowned.

I can feel the shaking coming on as I fall back onto my ass.

Some part of me is dimly aware of a massive rope, the thickness of my leg, being unravelled and the lurch as the boat changes course. A different part of my mind even recognises that we’re now being pulled to safety by Cas.

But most of me is stuck back under those waves. Reliving the crushing darkness.

The suffocation.

The coldness.

A heaviness settles on my chest, making it hard to breathe. That, in turn, fuels the memory of my drowning, drawing me deeper into the labyrinth of panic.

A cold hand rubs gentle circles on my back, dragging my consciousness back from the brink with each careful glide of skin against skin.

“Deep breaths.” Rysen is in front of me. His deep, soulful brown eyes breaking the ocean’s hold on me. “Your first death is always the worst for any immortal.”

Death?

I… died?

Theoretically, I knew witches could come back as long as our heart and head were still intact.

Reality is a lot different.

I drag in more air at Rysen’s coaching, each lungful still laced with the salt of the sea. He and Kier block the ocean from my sight with their bodies. The vampire’s voice drowns out the waves.

It takes a while, but eventually, the weight on my chest eases. Breathing becomes second-nature and my mind slows to its regular speed.

“Take her below deck and get her warm,” Rysen instructs Kier, as soon as my shaking stops.

The fae helps me to my feet and offers me his arm in an unexpected, gentlemanly fashion. We make it to the hatch just as the moonlight breaks through the clouds. The constant roar of thunder stops abruptly and the sea evens out.

No more lightning.