She resurfaced just long enough to breathe again before she went back down, her short sword in hand.

She was only able to cut a few strands before her lungs started to ache. Another trip to the surface to breathe, and back down to feed that air to Torr.

The progress was slow, but she eventually freed one of his arms. Blood painted the water, making it even harder to see. She was going by feel now, alternating her trips for air and cutting away the bonds.

Finally, she sliced through one last strand and he shot like a rocket toward the surface.

She followed him, sucking in huge gulps of air to refill her lungs.

His lips were still blue, but the color was returning fast. His skin was shredded in places, but at least he was free.

“You okay?” she asked.

He nodded, not wasting his breath on words.

As soon as she could, she took another deep breath and dove to the bottom. She went by feel, grabbing a rock about the size of her fist before kicking back toward the sky.

She passed Torr on the way up.

“What the hell were you doing?” he demanded as soon as they surfaced. “I almost died doing that a minute ago.”

“How many nets can there be down there?”

He took the stone from her hand. “Let’s not find out. Back to shore.”

He didn’t need to tell her twice.

Her wet leather tunic weighed her down, but she was a strong enough swimmer to make it back safely. Once on land, she collapsed and just breathed.

Torr stood over her, naked, sword in hand, scanning the area as if expecting trouble.

“You don’t think we’re alone?”

Bloody water dripped down his body. “I’ve had enough surprises for one day.”

She turned over and crawled to where she’d dropped her medical bag. “Sit down. Some of those cuts are bad enough you’re going to need me to sew them up.”

“They’ll heal,” he said, not even sparing her a glance.

“If you don’t want to do it here, we can go back into the woods where we’re out of sight, but you’re bleeding pretty bad.”

“I’ve bled worse. I’ll live.”

Okay. Clearly he had no intention of letting her do her job.

She gathered her things, positioned them over her wet clothes and picked up the rock from where he’d tossed it.

She was sure she was supposed to feel something, but all she felt was gravity. “I’m not sure this is the right kind of rock.”

“It is. I felt its pull a second ago.”

“I don’t feel anything.”

“Maybe because you have no innate magic.”

“Oh.” Of course she didn’t. The only thing she was good at was healing, and he wouldn’t even let her do that. Despite what he thought, some of those gashes were nasty, and who knew what kind of bacteria lived in that water?

She examined his naked body from where she stood, wishing he’d let her do something to help ease his pain.

A sharp sting sliced across her arm. She gasped a little before she could control her surprised reaction.

She looked down and saw that she’d been cut, or maybe had reopened one of the cuts from yesterday.

“Stop it,” he nearly shouted.

She jumped at the force of his words and took several involuntary steps back. “What? I didn’t do anything.”

He swallowed a curse, and by the look of his face, it had been a big one. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped. Let’s get out of here and figure out our next move.”

Water dripped into her eyes as she followed him. The view of his naked backside was a nice distraction from the general ache of her body and the sting of the cuts she’d gathered helping to free him.

By the time he stopped, she was more than ready. She pulled some bandages and salve from her bag and went to him. “Let me do this.”

“You first.”

He took the supplies from her and wrapped her cuts with a gentle touch. By the time he was done, she’d forgotten why she was supposed to be mad at him. All she could think about was how glad she was that he was alive and breathing.

“Thanks,” he said, “for saving me back there. I thought for sure that was the end of the line.”

She didn’t even like to think about what could have happened. “You’re welcome.”

He lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. So pretty was the clear amber that she almost missed what he said. “You can’t ever do it again.”

“Do what?”

“Risk your life for me. If anything happened to you, it would destroy me.”

“Nothing happened.”

“But it could have. Far too easily.” He stood and started pulling on his clothes.

His cuts had already scabbed over, leaving her little doubt that he would be fine and whole within a few hours. She, on the other hand, would take days to fully heal.

“Time to go?” she asked as she started packing away her things.

“Yes.”

She picked up the stone and handed it to him. “Which way?”

He took it, but didn’t seem to perform any magic that she could tell.

He pointed. “That way.”

“So they did take the stone toward the southern village?”

He didn’t answer her question. All he said was, “Let me know if you need a break. I plan to push hard and be there by nightfall.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep up.” And she would, even if it killed her.

Chapter 26

Torr had no intention of taking her to the Masons’ building site. She was going right back to Brenya and the others, where there was absolutely no risk of her throwing herself into danger to save him. Again.

As grateful as he was to her for saving his life, he was also furious. How could she risk herself? Didn’t she realize she was the center of his world?

Of course she didn’t. And thanks to Brenya, he couldn’t tell her.

Rage and frustration fueled his stride, giving him the feeling he could go on forever without stopping.

An hour into their trek, he felt a sudden shift in the direction the lake stone was pulling. The bag it was in lifted slightly from his hip, indicating that the other stone was to his left. He kept walking, and within a few minutes the stone was tugging his bag backward.

They’d just passed the site.

They were still a few miles from the southern village—too far for him to get there and back before nightfall.