Give it to me or she goes into the river.” The blackguard twisted her to the side of the bridge, leaning her above the churning water. No railing. Nothing to grab onto.
The water swollen, angry, waiting to churn her into the depths.
Wes’s feet slowed, his boots going light on the worn wooden boards of the bridge.
Laney clawed at the brute’s arm around her waist, trying not to lean into the blade at her neck.
“I think not.” The words hadn’t even fully left Wes’s mouth and he was to her in a breath, one fist slamming into the man’s face as his other hand yanked the blade away from her neck.
Wes ripped the man away from her, but the brute’s grasp on her waist spun her to the side of the bridge, her feet teetering on the rough edge.
A crack of bones. A piercing scream from the cutthroat’s mouth. She couldn’t tell what Wes had just broken on the man, and before she could figure it out, Wes swung the brute around in a circle and the man’s heel hit her hip, knocking her off balance.
And then they were gone.
Dropped off the side of the bridge, Wes and the cutthroat, going over together, crashing into the river. And she was spinning, arms flailing, desperate for balance.
Into the air, weightless for one tiny second and then the water hit her full force.
Seeping around her.
Pulling her down.
{ Chapter 24 }
Laney’s arms fought the rush of water spinning her, twisting her. She found her way upward and stretched. Her face cut to the surface.
Air.
One gulp of air and the water snatched her downward.
Tumbling through the furiously swirling waters.
Crunch.
Her spine cracked into a wall.
No. Not a wall. A rock. A boulder.
She twisted her body, rolling against the boulder in the direction that she hoped air waited. Up the rock, she flipped onto her belly, the water pounding at her limbs. Flip onto her back. Belly. Back.
She broke free, air hitting her face, and she gulped two quick breaths. Her arms splaying wide, she hugged the boulder the best she could as the rush of water pinned her to the hunk of rock.
The water churning around her, she searched the river. Just past her, floating fast and far away, a head. A dark head.
Above the water, the head wrenched to the left and back and his eyes locked onto hers. Wes. He was still above the grip of the water, thank the heavens. But far away—too far to help her.
Her left hand slipped on the boulder and she shifted, the water threatening to swallow her once more.
Her look jerking around, she found the shore closest to her. A distance, but if the riverbed moved upward through the channel she might just have a chance.
She rolled sideways on the boulder, landing hard on her belly. With just her chest above the roiling water, she wedged her right foot up, bracing it against the rock, teetering on the balance between the water snatching her away and getting enough leverage to launch herself toward the bank.
One gasp. Two. Three. And she kicked herself off of the boulder and toward the riverbank with as much force as she could muster into her right leg.
Enough for halfway to shore. Nothing more.
The water rushed over her head again, her skirts so heavy about her legs she couldn’t even kick through the tangle of them.
Her arms flew, clawing through the water, stretching out to the bank of the river.
Down further. Further.
Water seeping into her mouth.
Solid. Her left knuckles slammed into something solid. Her hand instantly flipped over, grabbing a hold of the rope in the midst of the churning waters.
Not a rope. A root. So fat and slick she almost lost grip on it.
Her right hand battled against the rushing water and she managed to get her right fingers wrapped around the root.
Up. Up. Up.
She pulled her body upward through the water until she found air again. Hand over hand until she’d dragged herself up onto the steep bank, her fingers and toes clawing at the loose mud until she found solid ground under her chest.
“Laney!” The roar from Wes’s lungs shook the dirt under her.
She flipped onto her back, her calves still hanging over the crumbling edge of the riverbank, and she shoved the matted hair away from her eyes. Wes was running up along the opposite side of the river, pure panic on his face. She searched around her. “The blackguard, where is he?”
“Gone under. Washed away.”
She collapsed back onto the