(Elara Pov)
We ran.
Branches tore at my sleeves as my lungs burned with every step, the sound of boots crashing through leaves and metal clinking growing closer behind us. They were too close. Eri didn't slow down. Her hand remained locked around mine, pulling me forward each time I stumbled, steady and unrelenting.
The forest opened without warning.
And then—
the ground disappeared.
She stopped just in time, small stones slipping past her boots and vanishing over the edge. I stepped beside her, breath catching as I saw it—a cliff, the river below roaring violently against jagged rocks, white and unforgiving.
We turned.
Bandits emerged from the trees, blades drawn, bows already lifted.
Cornered.
One of them smiled. "Two royal heads," he said. "Worth dying for."
My heart pounded so loudly it drowned everything else. I stepped back—
and Queen Eri stepped in front of me.
Blocking them.
A queen wasn't supposed to do that. She wasn't supposed to shield anyone. The queen survives. The queen retreats. The queen is protected.
But she stood there.
Between me and their blades.
Why?
My thoughts grew louder than the men surrounding us.
Why is she shielding me?
I saw her mouth move—she said something—but I didn't hear it. The blood rushing through my ears was too loud. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
I only saw her back.
Straight.
Unmoving.
Then suddenly, she turned.
Her hands grabbed me—hard—and before I could understand—
we were falling.
The world dropped away. Wind tore the scream from my throat as I grabbed her instinctively, the cliff rushing past in a blur before the impact stole everything—sound, air, direction.
The river didn't welcome us.
It swallowed us whole.
Cold wrapped around my body like iron chains as the force dragged me deeper beneath the surface. My ears rang violently, my limbs drifting uselessly in the dark water. For a moment, I didn't know where I was. Up and down felt the same.
I tried to move.
Nothing responded.
My chest tightened painfully.
I need to swim.
I know how to swim.
But the water pressed against me from every side, heavy and relentless. The fall had knocked the strength out of me. My ribs ached. My head felt distant. My body no longer felt like it belonged to me.
Light shimmered somewhere above.
Too far.
The current twisted me sideways, my cloak tangling around my legs as I tried to kick free—but my movements were slow, wrong, like I was pushing through glass instead of water.
My lungs began to burn.
At first, just a warning.
Then sharper.
I need air.
I opened my mouth instinctively—
and water rushed in.
Freezing. Bitter. Violent.
Panic exploded through me.
No—
I tried to push upward, but my arms felt weak, my fingers barely cutting through the water. The light blurred. My vision narrowed at the edges.
This is it.
The thought came quietly.
Without panic.
So this is how I die.
Not in a palace.
Not in a war.
But here.
Cold.
Alone.
The river roared distantly in my ears as my chest spasmed, demanding breath my body could no longer give. I was sinking. The surface dimmed. My movements slowed.
And then—
everything began to feel calm.
The burning dulled.
The panic softened.
Darkness crept inward.
Until—
something grabbed me.
Hard.
My arm jerked sharply as my body tilted upward, a hand wrapping firmly around my waist, pulling me through the water. Through the haze, I saw her—cutting through the current toward me, focused, strong, alive.
I tried to breathe again—
water flooded in.
My vision flickered.
Then her face was suddenly in front of mine.
Close.
Too close.
Her eyes locked onto mine, and before I could understand—
her mouth pressed against mine.
The shock snapped through me.
Warm.
Solid.
Real.
For one insane heartbeat—
she's kissing me.
The thought struck like lightning.
Then—
air.
Forced into my lungs.
My body reacted instantly, dragging in the breath she gave me as I coughed against her, disoriented, the oxygen burning its way back into me. She pulled back briefly, only to press her mouth against mine again.
Another breath.
Her hand tightened around my waist, holding me steady against the current as the cold water pressed around us. But where she touched me—
it felt different.
Grounded.
Anchored.
My heart pounded wildly, not just from fear, but from the shock of it—the closeness, the impossible intimacy of sharing breath beneath the surface of a river that had nearly taken me.
It wasn't a kiss.
I knew that.
It was survival.
But my body didn't understand the difference.
All it knew was her mouth on mine.
Her breath inside me.
Her hands holding me as if I might disappear.
She pulled me upward with powerful strokes, the light growing stronger above us until suddenly—
we broke through the surface.
Air tore into my chest as I gasped violently, coughing and choking, the river slapping against us. Her arm remained around my waist, steady and immovable.
I clung to her without thinking.
Not because I was weak.
Because I needed something solid.
Her face was inches from mine, water streaming down her skin, her eyes sharp and unwavering.
But even above water—
I could still feel it.
The imprint.
The heat of her mouth.
My lips tingled.
My thoughts scattered uselessly.
I couldn't even look at her properly.
Because I knew—
for one heartbeat—
I had thought it was something else.
And that realization was more dangerous than the fall.