The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer #1)(102)

“Naari knows?” Kiva gasped. She wished her brain would recover faster from what had just happened so she could more easily process what she was learning.

“Promise me, Kiva,” Jaren said urgently. “You can’t tell anyone who I am. Do you understand?”

But Kiva didn’t get a chance to make him any promises, because the rope went taught, tugging at her ankle.

“Take a breath, quick!” Jaren ordered, right before he released whatever magic was keeping them protected.

In an instant, Kiva was again engulfed by freezing water, but this time she was being pulled upward, Jaren holding on to her tightly as they were tugged together toward the surface, then out into the air.

The journey took long enough that Kiva was coughing and shivering again when she was finally pulled over the edge of the cliff. She didn’t have to act like she was struggling to breathe, since her lungs were genuinely protesting the renewed lack of oxygen. Jaren was by her side, spluttering along with her, his skin tinged blue from the cold, as Kiva was sure her own was.

“On your feet,” came a rough voice, and a hand latched on to the back of Kiva’s tunic, dragging her up until she was standing. She could barely keep her legs under her, but she still had enough sense to fear what was about to unfold.

“I warned you,” Warden Rooke growled, striding into her line of vision. There was no relief in his eyes; if anything, there was a spark of frustration, as if he’d thought he’d finally be rid of her.

Whoever had pulled Kiva up remained behind her, their fist bunching the material near her neck, making her have to wheeze for breath as her frozen body shook violently. She looked sideways at Jaren, her fear doubling when she saw who had a hold on him—the Butcher.

“I warned you,” Rooke repeated, his dark face clouded with anger as his gaze shifted between them. “Was I not clear when I said I wouldn’t allow any interference in this Trial?”

Kiva tried to nod, but she only managed to start coughing again.

“It’s not her fault,” Jaren declared around his own cough. “I’m the one who jumped in after her.”

Rooke stepped toward him and reached for his hand, reading the metal band around his wrist. “D24L103. You’re new.”

“I’ve been here nearly two months,” Jaren said. He held the Warden’s sharp eyes as he added, “Long enough to know who’s worth saving.”

Kiva felt his words burrow into her while also willing him to shut up, knowing that anything he said would only make things worse. The Warden had warned her. He’d been very clear that any interference this time would result in punishment.

Jaren had saved her life. She couldn’t allow him to lose his in return.

“I asked him to do it,” she blurted.

Jaren’s head whipped toward her. “No, Kiva, don’t—”

“He got hurt, and I helped him, so he thought he owed me,” Kiva said quickly, the lies falling from her lips. She faltered slightly when she saw Naari at the edge of her vision, the guard’s face pale as she watched in dismay. But Kiva rallied and continued, “He told me he used to dive in the lake near his house, said he could hold his breath for a long time. We agreed that he’d jump in after I’d been down for a while, and he’d breathe his air into my lungs, helping me survive longer. It’s my fault, not his. My idea.”

“Kiva—”

“Enough!” Rooke interrupted Jaren, a single, barked word. He stepped closer to Kiva and in a low, threatening voice, said, “I tried to protect you, but I can’t save you from yourself. Not anymore.”

Before she could process the Warden’s words, he jerked his chin at the guard behind her. Her tunic was released, and for a single relief-filled moment, she thought she was free. But then a sharp pain erupted from the back of her head.

The last thing Kiva heard was Jaren yelling her name as she crumpled to the ground.





Chapter Twenty-Nine


When Kiva awoke, her head was pounding, and there was a stubborn, piercing ache at the base of her skull.

She opened her eyes with effort, the space around her dark and blurry from her spinning vision. She tried to sit up, but it took three attempts before she was no longer lying flat on the cold stone floor.

“Ow,” she moaned to herself, pressing a hand to her head.

Steadying her breathing, she sought to clear her mind, to figure out where she was, and why.

Adrenaline slammed into her when she remembered.

The water Ordeal.

Drowning.

Jaren saving her life.

With magic.

Rooke.

Then nothing.

Her thumping heart made her head ache even more, but it also brought much-needed clarity, and Kiva was able to shakily rise to her feet and look properly around the room she was in. The cell she was in. For that was what it was—no more than a small, empty space surrounded by thick stone walls, a metal door at one end, the dimmest of luminium beacons offering just enough light to see by.

Kiva had never been in such a cell before. Dread rose within her as she considered what she knew of Zalindov. Of all the buildings she’d visited as the prison healer, there was only one she’d never set foot in.

She was in the punishment block.

The Abyss.

A scraping sound at the metal door had her whirling toward it, then backing away as far as she could. Her pulse was racing, nerves shooting through her limbs. If her bladder had been full, she would have soiled herself, so stark was her terror at what she was about to face, at who was about to step through that door.