Music rec: Psylosia. Beauty in you.
•
It was no secret that commoners were never taught to swim. Arabella had always harbored a deep, inexplicable hatred for large bodies of water. She did not fear lakes or rivers outright, yet something about them filled her with quiet, simmering unease. She avoided them instinctively, never questioning why, never daring to step too close. Unlike her sister, Ariel, who had easily taken to the water, Arabella had never once attempted to learn how to swim.
And why should she? She had never believed she would need to.
But now, as she thrashed against the freezing grip of the lake, she regretted every moment she had ignored her sister's insistence.
