The Dragon Legion Collection(62)

As Petra continued to wade deeper, the snakes merely slipped around her body. They seemed to create a path for her and carry on with their own business, untroubled by her presence. It looked as if the water was only as deep as her hips.

“I wish I were an Earthdaughter,” Damien muttered.

Petra laughed. “You aren’t. Hurry up.”

He clenched his fists and tried to control his breathing. He eyed the distance to the far shore and tried to estimate the number of steps. He wished he hadn’t lost his shifting powers. He wished the river wasn’t full of snakes. He wished he didn’t have to cross it to ask Hades to make an exception. He wished he wasn’t so terrified.

But Damien had to follow Petra. He forced himself to take a step closer to the water, and then another. He took a trio of deep breaths, told himself he could do it, and took a step into the dark water. The first snake wound over the top of his boot, sinuous and revolting.

But it continued on its way. Damien felt cold sweat slide down his back as he took another step. The water was over the top of his boots in three steps, cold and slimy enough to make him shudder as it ran over his feet. He wouldn’t think about snakes slithering in there with it, wouldn’t think of how many of them there were, wouldn’t think about the way it was hard to push his legs through the barricade of their bodies. He shivered, feeling chilled to the bone.

He kept his thoughts on his goal. He lifted his gaze to Petra and the far shore.

He looked up just in time to see her slip.

She cried out as she fell and he guessed that she had lost her balance because of the baby.

Then she disappeared under the water.

“No!” Damien shouted Petra’s name in dismay. She didn’t answer, and she didn’t surface. He tried again to shift shape, but it still didn’t work.

All the while, he was striding further into the river, wanting only to reach her. She couldn’t drown, not in this place. He couldn’t lose her again.

He flung aside snakes, clearing his path with his hands and fighting his disgust. The only thing that mattered was Petra. Damien targeted the spot where he was sure he’d seen her go under. It was taking too long to reach her, he feared, and he would find her when it was too late.


He barely noticed the slight pain on his chest, and he certainly didn’t see the dark green dragon scale slip from beneath the hem of his shirt, slide over the bodies of the snakes, then disappear as it was submerged in the River Leche.

Forgotten.

He didn’t know if Petra could die again, but he did now that if he lost her in this river, he’d lose her for all time.

Nothing could keep him from giving his all to prevent that, even millions of snakes.



* * *



Petra was drowning all over again. She felt that first dismay like a sharp pang, reliving the moment when they’d realized the vessel was in danger. She saw the dark water gathering on the bottom of the boat, and knew it was coming in too fast. She looked, as she had that fateful day, and noted how far it was to shore. In a heartbeat, she knew they could never reach safety before the boat sank.

She fell to her knees, helping to bail the bottom of the boat, shaking with the certainty that all efforts were futile. The wind whipped at the sails, spinning the boat like a toy. The women on board wept. Petra could only feel the weight of her unborn child, and the burden of her failure.

The water was up to her knees in no time, dark and so cold that she soon couldn’t feel her feet. She wished her gift had been associated with water or with air, but this was one place her link with the earth could do no good.

She felt powerless for the first time in her life, and despair washed over her.

She cried out to the Erinyes to avenge her on the father of her child.

Then the boat sank with startling speed. Petra was terrified when the water touched her belly and she heard herself scream when the boat dropped from beneath her feet. She was plunged into the cold sea, struggling to reach the surface. She wasn’t a swimmer and never had been, but her instinct to survive was strong.

She reached the surface and took a single breath before an angry wave crashed over her. She was driven down into the depths again, as if Poseidon himself was determined to claim her forever. Petra fought her way upward again, losing her direction as the sea churned around her. She was alone and wondered what had become of the other people on the boat.

This time, she had a chance to look when she broke the surface. All she could see was churning water in every direction. She shouted, but the wind snatched away her voice. She thought she could hear cries for help, but couldn’t guess the direction.

She couldn’t even see land anymore. The sea rose and fell, swirling around her and tugging her down. Petra panicked, then saw a piece of the boat not far away. The wood was smashed but floating. She fought to approach it, then the sea lifted it on a wave. She had a moment to think that providence was on her side, that the water was bringing her the piece of wood and she’d be able to survive. Then the wave crashed over her and the wood slammed into her temple.

Then there was only darkness on all sides.

Darkness and oblivion.

Petra sank, knowing there’d be no reprieve for her now.



* * *



Damien’s knees weakened when he reached into the snakes and felt the curve of Petra’s hip. He plunged his hands in so that he was up to his shoulders in cold water and slithering snakes.