Page 181 of Suncursed

He was still down there. I’dlefthim down there.

I studied the ring adorning my finger. Raithe’s talisman.For some reason he’d given it to me, rendering himself powerless and incapable of resurfacing.

I didn’t know how much longer I could maintain this surge of power and control of the water, but I refused to let anything happen to him. I listened for the music still emanating from below—the hums and eerie whispers—and reached for it like an outstretched hand. I had no idea if this was howhudroworked, but my instincts had taken over.

I tugged at the chorus of whispers, wrenching an invisible force skyward as though pulling on a stationary rope. I screamed, clawing with my mind and with my hands down at the basin that seemed so impossibly far.

I was sobbing, choking on my own desperation.

A wave of black water erupted from the basin, separate from the funnel holding me in place. Still, I did not see Raithe. I pulled at the force harder, willing the endless pool toemptyitself to get to him.

Water blasted through the ceiling of the temple. Boulders of stone crumbled, revealing the cloudless sky. I didn’t care about the destruction I caused.

When I finally caught sight of Raithe floating face down, I conjured a wave of water to carry him over the edge straight into Felaf. He remained still in her arms. Lifeless. She attempted to resuscitate him, sliding her ring off and slipping it on his finger instead. Alekko and Vesperah sprinted over to them, hovering with urgency.

I forced the water to guide me down, landing gracelessly on my stomach a few paces from them. Felaf appeared in an instant, wrapping my robe around my naked body. With jittering hands, I sought thecommunicafrom its pocket, grateful it was still there. I slipped the necklace over my head.

“How are you alive?” Felaf wondered aloud, as if in awe. “You were… you weredead.”

I didn’t have time to ponder her meaning. I scrambled toward Raithe, my weakened limbs painfully sluggish. Maryn, Gregorios, and a horde of guards advanced in a circle around us.

“Help him,” I pleaded. My entire being twisted wrongly at the sight of his unconscious, unmoving body. I slid my fingers up his chest to his neck, waiting for a pulse. “Felaf!” I exclaimed frantically, my vision tunneling.

I peered up at the somber faces around me. Felaf shook her head. It was Alekko who moved first. He bent to fasten chains around Raithe’s wrists before hauling him upright. Raithe’s head lolled backwards.

“What are you doing?” I demanded. “Unchain him.”

Alekko’s grim expression had my stomach sinking.

Felaf held me tightly in place as Alekko dragged Raithe away. “He… broke the treaty,” she said.

Maryn and the guards followed, but not before the regent flashed a gratified smirk over her shoulder.

“How? Hesavedme!” I bellowed incredulously. This couldn’t be happening.

“By interfering in your trial. No one has ever done such a thing and lived.”

“No!” I screamed. I twisted his ring that had conformed perfectly to my finger. We needed to get him to Gertah, not toss him in the dungeons to die. “Please, Felaf, stop this!”

“I can’t,” she whispered. “And neither can you.”

I tried to wrench myself from her unyielding grip. “Blood Healing,” I rasped. “Maybe our blood can somehow help him!”

“It won’t matter. The Treaty is the law, and the law is the Treaty.” Felaf gently released me. She sank to one knee and lowered her head. “Your Majesty.”

Your Majesty.

I stilled, slowly facing the temple. Facing the aftermath of my trial and the power I’d wielded.

The barons, the nobles, the acolytes—all of them stood speechless. Wide-eyed. Awed. In a single, collective breath, their heads dipped as their knees bent. They dropped into unanimous bows forme.

For I had emerged from the depths alive, powerful—and queen.