Page 84 of On Broken Bonds

I take another step.

The beast slips further away. My body shrinks. Weakens. The swamp immediately tightens its grip.

Another step. Harder. Heavier. The far shore still feels impossibly distant.

A terrible realization settles over me. The berserker form is ending. The swamp is winning. And despite all my promises, all my hopes, all my certainty that I would save them… I'm not going to make it across.

22

Nyx

Fenric isn’t going to make it.

I move before I realize what I’m doing, lurching toward the edge of the swamp. The movement is so sudden that even Thorian doesn’t catch me in time, though I feel the swipe of his hand, I hear him say, “Nyx, don’t⁠—”

But it’s too late. One second I'm standing on the shore. The next I'm splashing into the water.

"Nyx!" Thorian shouts.

I ignore him.

Fenric is only a few steps away, but after watching Cedric die, those few steps feel impossibly far. Those few steps feel like enough for me to lose this sweet man forever, and that’s something I won’t allow.

The moment the swamp water closes around my legs, I understand in a terrible, haunting way. I understand why the knights looked so exhausted. Why they stopped fighting. Why Cedric eventually let himself sink beneath the surface, claimed by the swamp forever.

The water is wrong. It feels as though something is reaching beneath my skin and wrapping itself around my bones. The strength rushes out of me immediately. My legs feel heavier. My chest tightens. Even breathing becomes harder.

The swamp doesn't simply drain your body. It drains your will.

A voice inside me whispers that I should stop. Just stop. Sit down. Rest.

The shore is too far away. Fenric is too heavy. The Trials are too hard. None of it is worth it.

The thought terrifies me. Because it doesn't feel like my thoughts. The swamp is putting it there. Trying to convince me to surrender. Trying to make me stay.

"No," I gasp.

The word comes out weak. Pathetic.

I force myself to take another step. Then another. The water clings to me greedily, sucking at my boots and pulling at my clothes. It feels as though dozens of invisible hands are dragging against my body, trying to pull me down.

Ahead of me, Fenric stumbles.

My heart nearly stops. Not him. Please not him.

For one horrible moment, I see Cedric again. I see that knight dropping to one knee in the water. I hear his screams. I see his skin stretched over his skull.

The image crashes through me with enough force to make me sick.

"Fenric!" His name tears from my throat.

He looks toward me. Or maybe through me. I can't tell. The berserker form is fading rapidly now. His body is shrinking. The impossible strength that carried him across the swamp is disappearing before my eyes.

If he falls now, he'll sink. The swamp will take him. Just like it took Cedric. Just like it's trying to take all of us.

Fear surges through me. Not for myself. For him.

I push forward, ignoring the weakness spreading through my limbs. By the time I reach him, my legs are shaking so badly I can barely stay upright. I throw my arms around his waist.