Rafe yelled for us to get to the raft, that they would catch up, and Orrin pulled me along a bank and down a trail of rocks, with Tavish following close behind. We came to an outcropping of rocks, and panic gripped me. I saw no raft, but Tavish jumped. I thought he’d gone straight into the river, but then I saw him on the raft nearly hidden by mist and rock.

“Jump!” he ordered.

“Not without Rafe!” I said.

“He’ll be here! Jump!” The raft strained against the ropes that secured it to the bank. Orrin gave me a nudge, and we both jumped.

“Stay low!” Tavish said, and told me to grab one of the knotted ropes to hold on.

The raft pitched and rolled, even in the calmest waters near the shore. I stayed low as Tavish ordered, gripping the rope to stabilize myself. Even through the mist, I could see the high cliffs above us, guards and soldiers traversing the trails downward. They seemed to multiply like feverish insects determined to swarm over us. Everywhere we looked, we saw more coming. They spotted us as well and arrows began flying, but they fell short and landed on the shore. Jeb and Obraun arrived and jumped down with us. “Rafe’s coming!” Jeb said. “Get ready to lift the ties!” His shoulder was bleeding, and blood drenched Obraun’s arm. Orrin and Tavish reached for the ropes securing the raft.

“Not yet!” I said. “Wait! Wait until he’s here!”

The soldiers scrambling down the wall of rock to the river were getting closer, their arrows falling dangerously near, but suddenly arrows started flying in the other direction, toward them. I turned to see Orrin letting loose a firestorm of arrows. Soldiers tumbled from ledges. Orrin managed to slow their assault, but there were always more to replace the men he took down.

We heard a terrifying scream through the mist and every drop of blood in me burned with fear. I saw Jeb and Obraun exchange an anxious glance.

“Free the ropes,” Obraun ordered.

“No!” I cried.

But just then, Rafe broke through the haze and was running toward us. “Go!” he yelled, and Tavish set the ropes free. A powerful explosion ripped through the air. Rafe leapt to the raft as it was already moving from shore, barely crossing the expanse, and pieces of rock rained down around us. He grabbed the knotted rope I shoved in his hand. “That should keep the bridge out of commission for at least a month,” he said. It was more than I had expected of the small flask of clear liquid.

We were rapidly swept into the current, and the raft pitched and jumped in the violent waters. With Obraun and Jeb both injured, Tavish and Orrin took over the rudder and somehow managed to steer the bobbing barrels through the treacherous current, away from shore. But we weren’t far enough away yet. I spotted Malich perched on a boulder, easily within range. Dear gods. What had happened to Kaden?

Malich’s bow was loaded and aimed at Rafe’s back. I jumped forward to push Rafe down as the raft spun in an eddy and I was tossed to the side. A fiery pain jolted my thigh. Even through the violent rocking, I saw Malich smile. It wasn’t Rafe he was aiming at. It was me.

“Lia!” Rafe shouted, and scrambled toward me, but not before another arrow hit my back. It burned like a glowing ember searing into my flesh. I couldn’t catch my breath. Rafe’s hand grabbed my arm, but I still tumbled backward as the raft rolled and pitched. I plunged into the icy water. Rafe’s hand held tight, fiercely digging into my arm, but the current was strong and my heavy dress quickly became weighted with water like an anchor pulling me down. I tried to kick it away, but it circled around my legs, binding them as tightly as rope. The river was numbing and wild, water rushing into my face, choking me, and the current was too much for Rafe’s grip. The fabric of my sleeve began ripping loose. I tried to lift my other arm, but it wouldn’t move, as if the arrow had pinned it to my side. Two sets of hands were grappling at my arm and shoulder, trying to get a better hold in the wild swirl of water, but then a quick suck of gushing water pulled me free from them. I was swept into the icy waters away from the raft. Rafe jumped in after me.

We tumbled through the current, his arms reaching me again and again but being pulled away as many times, the water covering our heads, both of us gasping for air, with the raft nowhere in sight. He reached me at last, his arm circling my waist, trying frantically to rip the dress off. “Hold on, Lia.”

“I love you,” I cried, even as I choked on water. If there were to be last words he heard from me, I wanted it to be those. And then I felt us sliding, tumbling, the world turning upside down, and I lost sight of him, lost sight of everything, the wretched dress the Komizar had made me wear pulling me under as if he were tugging at me from beneath the water himself, getting the last say, until finally I couldn’t fight against its weight any longer, and my icy world went black.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

RAFE

I had walked the riverbank for miles, searching everywhere. I wouldn’t accept that she was gone. I was numb with the cold and uncertain how much time had passed. I never caught sight of the raft again and wondered if the others had made it. With every step, I retraced the events, trying to understand how everything had gone wrong. I saw the child, Aster, again, her body lying in the snow, and the knife in Lia’s hand. I saw the Komizar too, slumped against the wall and bleeding. There hadn’t been time to put the pieces together then, and I still couldn’t.

My thoughts just kept going back to Lia. I’d had her. I’d had her in my arms and then we were tumbling in the falls and she slipped from my grasp. I’d had her, and the river ripped her away.