Kiva focused on her breathing, vaguely aware of Naari stepping up beside her, the guard trembling slightly—whether from what Kiva was about to face, or the poison reveal, Kiva wasn’t sure. She didn’t have any room left in her to be afraid, couldn’t spare the oxygen required to feed her anxiety. All she could do was breathe.

“One,” Rooke said.

Kiva inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled.

“Two.”

This was it.

Kiva filled her lungs, sucking in more and more air, her diaphragm extending to the point that it was painful, lightheadedness making her vision spin.

“Three.”

The Warden shoved Kiva from behind, and she struggled to keep her mouth closed on the air she’d so carefully trapped, every part of her wanting to scream as she plummeted down the side of the cliff face and—

Splash!

Into the water.

The shock of it had her dropping the boulder, her hands rising to cover her mouth, her nose, as she was pulled under, under, under. She could barely process the pain of her body slapping into the surface, the height of her fall nearly forcing the breath from her. But she didn’t yield it, nor did she release anything but the smallest of bubbles as she descended down into the quarry depths, the turquoise water turning darker the lower she was pulled, the sun struggling to penetrate this deep.

Kiva felt as if her ears were bleeding, the pressure of her swift descent like daggers stabbing into her brain. And the cold—the cold.

She hadn’t noticed in those first few seconds, adrenaline and pain from her brutal landing driving away all thoughts other than to keep holding her breath, but as that shock faded, a different kind of shock set in.

The water was like ice.

Fifteen minutes—it was too long, too deep, too cold.

A hollow echo sounded, and Kiva jolted to a stop, the boulder having finally thudded against the bottom of the quarry, or perhaps some fortunately placed outcropping that kept her from sinking further.

It didn’t matter. She was still too far down, the water around her dark enough that she struggled to see anything but blurry, distorted shapes. No one watching from above would be able to see anything, with tons and tons of water blocking their vision of her.

Cold—she was so cold.

Kiva released another few bubbles, her lungs already begging for fresh air. She drew her arms in and hugged herself, as if doing so would help retain her body heat, but it was useless. The frozen water was piercing straight into her flesh, into her bones. Her extremities were already beginning to turn numb, all of her blood rushing inward to protect her vital organs, her heart, her brain. Perhaps Mot’s potion was helping her, but it wasn’t enough.