Kiva’s heart leapt in her chest as Naari loosened her pincer-grip and moved into a crouch, reaching for the coiled rope and tying the end closest to the boulder around Kiva’s ankle. Realizing this was her last—and perhaps only—chance, Kiva waited until Rooke was issuing a command to one of the other guards before she bent and whispered in Naari’s ear, “It’s poison, Naari. They’re not sick, they’re being poisoned.”

She didn’t have time to say more, to explain about Olisha and Nergal and the “immunity booster,” because Rooke turned back and narrowed his eyes at her, asking, “What was that?”

“I told her she’s hurting me,” Kiva lied. “The rope is too tight.”

“It needs to be tight,” Rooke said. “We can’t have you undoing it while you’re down there. And besides, how will we fish you back out if it slips off?”

Kiva didn’t respond. But she did look at Naari as the guard slowly rose, her amber eyes alight with understanding. And horror.

“You’re sure?” Naari breathed.

Kiva looked at Rooke, then back at the guard. “Yes.”

“I told you, it needs to be tight,” Rooke growled, oblivious to Naari’s true question and Kiva’s answer.

The Warden grabbed Kiva’s shoulder and pointed to the boulder, indicating for her to pick it up. When she did, uttering a quiet “oof ” at the solid weight of it in her hands, he seized the other end of the rope and shuffled her toward the edge of the cliff. A sound similar to a collective indrawn breath came from the audience above.

“I’m not sure how deep this is,” Rooke said, scratching his short beard as he looked down at the water. “Guess you’ll have to find out for yourself.” His voice lowered so that only she could hear, the smallest hint of empathy in his tone, but Kiva knew better than to believe it was for her—he was just worried about losing his best healer. “This is the part where you hold your breath. Ready?”

No. Kiva wasn’t ready. She would never be ready. But she didn’t have a choice, so she quickly called to mind everything she knew about lung capacity and controlled breathing, and slowly began to hyperventilate. She knew doing so could reduce her blood pressure enough to cause hypoxic blackout, but if she couldn’t expand her lungs before entering the water, she was going to fall unconscious soon enough anyway. She had to do everything she could to give herself a fighting chance. If free-divers could do it, maybe she could, too. She had to at least hope there was a possibility of success, otherwise she might as well give up now.

“On three,” Rooke said.