Page 53 of Forsaking All Others

As Catriona gasps and spouts water from her mouth like a fountain, I frown at Starlen’s summation of Thorun’s determination to save her roommate. I’d seen the pair together, but I hadn’t heard anything from Catriona to suggest she was protecting Thorun. Frankly, the Italian didn’t seem like the kind who had the time or inclination to look out for anyone but herself.

But I don’t have time to ponder this as Thorun, ignoring Starlen and everything around her, shouts to Evelyn to turn Catriona onto her side and, quite inexplicably, dives back down into the river.

“Well, here’s a strange thing,” Starlen says, looking wide-eyed at the camera.

41

My chest feels like it’s on fire, and vomit spurts from my mouth in torrents as I lie heaving on the paved riverbank.

“You’ll live,” Evelyn says matter-of-factly, “get up.”

Gasping, I turn my head to the side to vomit some more and notice the bachelor staring at me from just metres away. His eyes, when they meet mine, are so intense I can’t look away.

‘What? Why is he looking at me that way? Is he concerned I’ll die? Surely not; he almost killed me himself just a few days ago.’

“Get up!” Evelyn repeats, giving me a swift kick in the side and forcing me to pull my eyes away from the Viscount.

“Ugh, fuck, Evelyn,” I groan.

“Give her a moment,” Sona laughs, hopefully in relief that I’m alive and not at the fact I’m a vomit volcano on international television. “We’re still way ahead of the pack.”

Struggling to a sitting position I look around and realise she’s right. Some people are still trying to solve the puzzle on the platforms, despite knowing their teammates are most likely drowned. Others are still coming out of the water, and still others are being revived, just as I had been.

“Where’s Thorun?”

Sona and Evelyn look around wildly before turning to look to the bottom of the river.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Evelyn screams, grabbing a startled Sona by the arm and pulling her into the water.

Gasping and still coughing up water, I crawl to the river’s edge and look down to where Thorun is now receiving aid from my other two teammates to bring up the French contestant Valérie.

I don’t know her well, and I hadn’t been aware that Thorun did either. All I know about her is that she’s a professional ballet dancer with a tendency towards overly emotional arguments with fellow competitors, mostly about who the bachelor favoured and why a French wife is going to be his natural choice.

“Why?” I groan as the three haul the girl up and begin, at Thorun’s command, to revive her as they had me.

When she wakes, vomiting nowhere near as much as I had, Thorun pushes her towards her teammates, the very ones who had left her to die, and turns back to help me to my feet.

“I got Mahsa too,” she says, turning to spit out some mud, “but she’s beyond help, I’m afraid.”

“You are something else,” I cough, staggering to my feet. “You should have left her to the fishes.”

“Don’t you realise that you just gave up our lead?” Evelyn screeches. “The time you took saving them might have cost us the competition.”

“No,” Thorun smiles, pointing to where Sona is crouched on the pavement studying not two, but four, clues. “I don’t think so.”

42

“Are you ready, Viscount?”

“Yes.”

I tear my eyes away from the bodies dragged from the river.

All the teams have left to run towards the Inquisition dungeons for the next part of this demonic challenge, their dead teammates lying like discarded dolls on the paved riverbank.

The director wants a quick update on my thoughts about how things are going. I don’t think he’s going to want to hear what I have to say.

I look back down at the bodies of Mahsa and Dinkinesh. The Ethiopian I hadn’t known well; I’d only spoken to her twice and the conversation had been stilted and fake. She’d seemed extremely intelligent and had led a very interesting life, but she wasn’t anyone I was drawn to. Mahsa, I’d liked. Although quite forceful in gaining extra time with me, she’d been gentle in her insistence that she’d make a helpful and loving wife if I gave her the opportunity.