Aladdin and Krya battled through more of the undead but they were mounting up fast. More and more were dragging themselves out of the tombs in the walls, causing stone and mortar to cascade around us. We were in hell, pure and simple. And there was only so long we could hold out.
We were driven closer and closer to the river and I soon found myself shoulder to shoulder with both Aladdin and Rapunzel as my heels caught on the edge of the drop.
My arms began to shake with exertion as I cut down every monstrous being who lunged toward us. Yellow teeth and hollow eyes came at me again and again and I fell into a frenzy as I held them off, determined not to let them near the others.
Rapunzel cut them down with near-perfect skill, but the sheen on her brow said she was tiring fast.
“Kyra!” Aladdin panted. “I wish I wasn't exhausted.” His arms were tensed and his shirt ripped. The moment the wish was cast, his strikes regained full power and he slashed through another tide of the dead. But they were piling up like a wave of hellfire, those who'd fallen dragging themselves beneath the feet of those above.
Rapunzel caught my arm, crying out as her heel slipped over the bank toward the raging river that cut through the rocks below.
“We're screwed!” Aladdin bellowed as I dragged Rapunzel under my arm, my heart hammering as I lost control of our situation. More of the dead piled up and I saw only one option as the space to swing my sword evaporated.
Teeth gnashed millimetres away from the Princess's arm.
My heart nearly stopped as one caught a handful of her hair.
I saw her end closing in and made a fast decision, adrenaline flooding my muscles. I scooped her against my chest and threw us over the ledge. The dead tumbled after us as Aladdin dove forward with Kyra at his side.
The wind rushed up to meet us as dust and broken bones tumbled around us.
We hit the water hard and Rapunzel's fingernails dug into my neck as she held onto me. I had one arm locked around her waist and I wasn't going to let go even if it killed me.
We dunked beneath the ice-cold depths and were spun wildly in the clutches of the speeding current.
I kicked upwards, determination mounting in my muscles. I'd been trained for all situations. And this was one I could handle. I just had to get Rapunzel to air. Nothing else mattered.
We breached the surface and I dragged her higher, forcing her to wrap her legs around my waist so she could keep her head above the waves. The weight of her fine dress was dragging us down and I used my blade to sever away the heavy underskirt before sheathing it at my hip.
We careered down the rapids, speeding toward a dark cave where the water met its roof. When we reached that, we'd have no air supply. And who knew how far it was until the river came above ground again. I could hold my breath for several minutes but I doubted Rapunzel could do the same. Panic seized my chest and I kicked wildly to keep us above the surface for as long as possible.
I am made of steel.
“Cassian!” Rapunzel gasped in fear, her hair plastered to her face as she held onto me for dear life. “I can't swim!”
My heart clenched into a tight ball as I crushed her to my chest. “I've got you,” I promised. “I won't let go.”
She clung onto me with her whole body, but the water jostled us around and I feared how long it would be before it tried to tear us apart.
“Kyra!” Aladdin yelled, his voice reverberating off of the cave roof.
I hunted for the genie, spotting a swirl of purple light in the water. It gathered together, twirling and twisting then Kyra burst from the waves, reaching for Aladdin. She swam toward him, clasping his arms.
“I wish I was unable to drown,” he begged and she nodded as the wish was granted.
Rapunzel and I were closing in on the underwater tunnel and I turned to Aladdin with a desperate plea in my eyes.
“Them too!” Aladdin cried.
“Agree,” I commanded Rapunzel before Kyra could say a word.
“Do you?” Kyra called.
“Yes!” we yelled at the same time. The water dragged us under and I took a final breath on instinct.
We were tossed beneath the waves and darkness enveloped us. A vague purple glow shrank away into the distance as we were separated from the others.
I waited for the burning in my lungs to come, but it never did. My lungs felt light and buoyant. Kyra's magic had saved us once more and relief seeped through me.
We'll be okay. We can survive this.
The rapids grew more violent and we were tossed about like ragdolls in the river, moving at a furious pace. Rapunzel lost her grip on me more than once but I never let go, my arms locked around her like an iron vice. And they would stay that way unless death dragged me from her.
And I suspected that even then my body would hold on.
Water. All around me. Above, below. Everywhere. It was terrifying and crazy exhilarating. The breath I’d taken just before I’d been tossed beneath the surface and dragged into the depths of the underground river still remained loaded in my lungs. I knew I should have taken another breath already but Kyra’s magic wrapped around me like a sweet balm of protection and somehow I found myself without the desperate need to fill my body with fresh oxygen.
The river had me in its grasp, icy fingers dragging me along with no way for me to fight it, so I didn’t even try.
It was pitch black and the whoosh of the current battered against my ears and made my pulse sound like a pounding bass I couldn’t escape. This should have been it. I shouldn’t have been able to survive such a thing. And yet, somehow, Kyra had saved me yet again.
A purple glimmer appeared beyond the confines of my eyelids and I peeled them open, searching for the source of the glow.
The light moved against me, surrounding me with the warmth of her presence as we sped ever on.
The fear left me as I felt the essence of her coiling around me. It was like her soul was brushing up against mine, clinging close and refusing to let go. I knew I never wanted her to anyway. And not just because of her magic.
The brush of fingers against mine drew an erratic leap from my heart and I twisted them through my own, gripping tightly as she clung to me.
We were alone in the dark, a purple glow in the depths of the abyss as the water carried us ever on.
The light of the moon suddenly punctured the darkness, seeming brighter than the midday sun after our time lost beneath the earth.
I kicked for the surface, my grip on Kyra never lessening though she was hardly corporal. But I refused to release her. I wouldn’t be separated from her now. Or ever, given the choice.
The current still held me at its mercy as the river raged on through the city. High sandstone walls contained it on either side to save those living in the noble sector from the risk of flooding and we swept between them.
Bridges flashed by overhead but we were moving too quickly to even attempt to grab one of them.
The current sped us around a bend and we were tossed back down, the water battering us to the riverbed before spitting us out again and my head finally breached the surface.
I released the trapped, stale breath I’d taken back in the catacombs and sucked down fresh, clean air despite the fact that Kyra’s magic saved me from needing it.
My grip on the genie’s hand tightened and the purple glow surrounding me solidified until I found her in my arms instead.
She wrapped her hands around my neck, pressing her face to my skin, her body flush with mine.
The roar of the river stopped any words from passing between us and we were tossed beneath the water more times than I could count before the current finally began to slow.
We were heading further and further north. The buildings lining the riverbank were growing ever smaller, dirtier as we made it through the highborn sectors and into the poorest areas of the city. My old haunts. Egos’s Realm. Land of The Forty Thieves.
The people here may have come under the kingdom’s rule but the
only law they followed here was that of the cutthroats. It was survival of the fittest. Dog eat dog. And I wondered what the Princess would make of seeing the bowels of her beloved city.
The river widened and finally, the current released us from its clinging embrace.
“Cassian?” I called. “Rapunzel?”
No reply came and Kyra held on to me, releasing a breath of fear.
“They’re still alive,” she murmured. “I can feel my connection to them.”
I nodded as the water lapped against us, slapping me in the face before I could reply. Alive would have to be good enough for now. We’d find them once we made it out of the river.
I swam towards the shore, dragging Kyra with me as she clung on. She kicked to help me but didn’t let go and a soft warmth built in my skin at the contact as her magic sizzled between us. I kept going, pushing myself upright as I managed to get my feet on the soft riverbed.
Kyra was so much shorter than me that she was still firmly out of her depth and I hoisted her higher into my arms as I paused to let the adrenaline fade from my limbs. She wrapped her legs around my waist, her body pressed to mine in a way that drew an ache of longing from me, but I wouldn’t act on it again. I knew how she felt about me. And though she felt this bond between us too, I knew she didn’t want any more from it than what we had now.
Kyra shivered against me, leaning back to blink up at me through waterlogged lashes which framed her green eyes.
“I was so afraid I’d lose you,” she breathed.
“Never,” I teased, pulling her closer as I adjusted my footing. “You’re stuck with me now. For as long as you want me.”
She stared up at me like she wanted to believe that more than anything in the world and my heart lurched at the emotion brimming in her eyes. I didn’t think anyone had ever looked at me like that before. Like I was more than just the man I let the world see. I felt like she was looking right upon the depths of my soul and instead of the contempt or disappointment I’d always thought someone might find if they looked at me too closely, I found something else lighting her up instead.
Her dark hair spread out all around us in the water, the tips of it glowing with a faint purple energy that made the river glimmer with the essence of her magic.
“Do you mean that?” she whispered, her hand shifting around my back, her fingertips sliding into my hair and sending a shiver down my spine.
“Yes,” I replied, compelled into honesty by the look in her eye. “I never want to be without you Kyra.”
“I’ll grant your wishes forever,” she murmured.
I shook my head a little. “I don’t care if you never grant me another wish. I’d still want to spend every moment with you.”
Her lips parted, a soft inhale passing through them and drawing my gaze for a moment but I didn’t move towards her. I wouldn’t do that to her again. No matter the fact that my heart was pounding faster than it had while we fought our way out of the palace or the fact that my grip on her was tightening.
I didn’t want to let her go.
If I had to spend eternity locked in one moment it may well have been this one I chose.
I blinked, aiming to break the spell which was building between us as I drew back an inch.
Instead of responding the way I’d expected, Kyra’s grip on me tightened, her ankles locked together behind my back and she pressed herself even closer to me.
My eyes barely managed to fall shut before her lips brushed against mine.
For a moment I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think or breathe as the essence of her overwhelmed me.
The kiss was hesitant, the slightest touch of her lips to mine but the heat from it coiled through my blood like a drug.
My hands were on her waist, her bare skin sending a flood of energy through my palms as I pulled her even closer to me.
She drew back and our breaths mingled in the inch of space between us as my eyes snapped open again. She seemed afraid and for a moment I thought she regretted what she’d just done but then I read something else in her green eyes. A flicker of vulnerability. I’d barely reacted to her kiss, my shock freezing me in place as her lips had brushed mine.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked, my voice rough with desire as I tried to hold myself back. If she refused me now I wasn’t sure I could take it a second time. My heart was beating an unsteady rhythm and I couldn’t keep my eyes away from her full lips, the memory of them touching mine skittering through me like a secret I wanted to share again.
Kyra met my eye and I knew in that moment that the fractured pieces of her had come together. She was whole. A girl who owned her body and her mind and whose magic only made her more incredible than she’d been before she’d been gifted it.
Her teeth pressed down on her bottom lip and she nodded, her gaze never leaving mine.
My pulse galloped into overdrive and I stopped trying to hold myself back from her. I’d never wanted any woman like I wanted her. She was a need in the pit of my soul, a hunger for something so much more than I deserved.
I claimed her lips once more, a groan of longing escaping me as the sweetest taste of pleasure danced over my tongue. Kyra met my desire with the heat of her own, her hands pushing through my hair, her legs tightening around my waist.
Now that I finally had her in my arms I didn’t think I’d ever let her go. She was the epitome of all that I’d been missing in my life, a perfect combination of all things light and free and pure. She’d seen beneath the mask I showed the world and I’d found her lost in the dark.
We were two souls destined to pull each other out of the abyss and I was determined to bring her back to the light.
We broke apart and I couldn’t help the grin that spilled over my features.
Kyra smiled at me too, her fingertips skimming my cheek as she looked at me.
“It’s a shame you’re so ugly,” she breathed, pressing down on one of my dimples.
I barked a laugh, shaking my head at the jibe. “Well you must really like my personality if you still think I’m so terrible to look at.”
Kyra bit her lip again and I had to fight off the urge to kiss her for a second time. We were standing in the river in the shittiest part of the city with no sign of the others and yet in that moment it felt like the rest of the world just didn’t exist at all.
“No, your personality is almost as bad as your face,” she teased, her thumb brushing the line of my jaw. “You’re rude, arrogant, crass, full of yourself-”
“Don’t forget vain,” I added.
“Perhaps you have reason for that one,” she conceded, her eyes roaming over my features hungrily, almost as if she’d never really looked at me before.
“If you finally admit that you find me attractive, I’ll never stop reminding you of the fact,” I warned her as I began to wade towards the shore, carrying her in my arms.
“I think I might have given myself away in that opinion,” she admitted.
“Just make sure you don’t forget it,” I said.
Kyra laughed as she pushed herself out of my arms and I released her reluctantly so that she could walk at my side. I kept hold of her hand though and she smiled at me as I felt her magic dancing against my skin at the contact.
We made it out of the river and I glanced around, getting my bearings. We were in the thick of Egos’s territory and I wouldn’t have been surprised to spot one of The Forty at any moment. This wasn’t good. I’d wanted him to believe we were dead and yet now we’d stumbled into his clutches like a mouse headed straight for a trap.
“We need to find Cassian and Rapunzel,” I said, looking around once more for any sign of them but they were nowhere in sight.
Kyra’s magic had saved them from drowning but they could have washed up anywhere.
“I can find them,” Kyra assured me, lifting her hand as I nodded my agreement.
A sparkling golden arrow appeared on her palm, spinning around several times before pointing into the d
arkness to our left.
“You’d better be careful to hide your magic while we’re out here,” I murmured as we started up the bank. “And perhaps you should dress us like the locals too?”
“Okay,” Kyra agreed.
We slipped between two large, stone buildings at the edge of the river, hiding ourselves in the shadows.
Kyra’s magic wrapped itself around us like a gentle caress, drying us and cladding our bodies in simple, cotton clothes which reminded me all too sharply of my life before I’d found her.
“Come on,” I breathed. “We’d better find them before anyone else does. A royal guard and the Princess of Osaria will not blend in around here.”
We were finally washed up somewhere in the city and Cassian carried me up the river bank, laying me gently down on the sand before flopping down beside me in exhaustion. He'd never let go of me, not once. And the set of his jaw told me he didn't even want to release me now.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
Water droplets clustered in my eyelashes and I blinked them away, able to see him better now as I turned my head. His muscular chest rose up and down in time with mine, his gaze angled toward the sky.
“I'd never have let go,” he said at last and I reached out to him, brushing my fingers over the exposed muscles of his arm. His shirt was torn and bloodied and I doubted I looked much better.
His gaze moved to where my hand lay against his skin, but he didn't flinch away like a royal guard should. And I secretly liked that about him.
I fell back against the sandy bank, gazing up at the cloudless sky as I tried to quiet my racing heart. The stars glittered, quietly watching from their faraway perches. Useless and beautiful.
It hit me in a long, unending moment that I was out of the palace. Somewhere in the city. And everything seemed so...open. So vast.
Cassian took only one more minute to rest before he rose to his feet, assessing our surroundings. The steep bank led up to a dark street where shadows seemed to flicker between the houses. He offered me his hand and I took it, rising to my feet. As I stood at his side, he tried to release me but I held on tight for a moment.
Forbidden Fairytales- The Complete Series Page 56