“Right now, I’m focusing on the feel of your heartbeat under my fingertips. It reminds me that I’m not alone. That you’re here with me.” He ended rather lamely, his voice echoing off the water’s surface.

My lips tightened, but I took his advice as my brain screamed at me to get the fuck away from the water. I strengthened my resolve and pushed away those thoughts. I wouldn’t drown. I wouldn’t fall. Thad was here, with his arms still around me. He’d be in deep shit with Severn if he let me die. That water wasn’t even deep. I closed my eyes and only let out a hiss of displeasure as Thad lowered me further, the water rising to my chest.

“Fine?” Thad asked cautiously.

I blew out a shaky breath. “Fine.”

He immediately walked further out, the water rising up to my neck. I shrieked and clutched him tight, even as his voice was in my ear whispering reassurances. After a few minutes of not dying, I forced myself to relax. Slightly.

“See? Nothing to worry about.” Amusement dripped from his voice. “Do you know what I think your problem is?” Thad continued, his hands reflexively gripping around me. It was clear he was about to tell me, regardless of what I thought. The collar around my neck heated, reminding me who he was, and what he’d done to me.

“What?” I snapped back.

“Those drakens coddle you. You won’t grow any stronger with them running around you like little lap dogs simply because you’re the only female. You’re a queen. Act like it.”

Then he dropped me.

My gasp was lost as the water rushed up to meet me, flowing over my head and rushing into my mouth, my nose, and my ears. I couldn’t even scream as the chains and collar weighed me down, keeping me under the water as I thrashed uselessly, unable to tell what direction was up or down in the darkness. Bubbles escaped my mouth and I lunged out, desperately hoping I would catch Thad and he would pull me up.

He didn’t.

What would Kieran and Ronan think to see me helpless like this, chains around my body and trapped in the dark? What would Benedict think? They’d realize what a mistake they’d made in picking me, in making me their queen. It was only because I was the only living female draken anyway, wasn’t it? Nobody wanted me, they just wanted the babies my body could produce. I stopped fighting and sank to the bottom of the pool. I vaguely realized all I had to do was stand up, since the water wasn’t deep. Why take the hard road now? Now all I had to do to end it all was breathe in. It would hurt for a minute, but then—

Strong arms seized me under my armpits and pulled. I was rising, rising upwards. My body broke the surface of the water and I gasped in air, coughing and sobbing as Thad hauled me over the pool’s edge. I rolled over on the cold stone and didn’t move.