Her heart had stopped.
Cassius's mind raced, faster than the night his limbs were severed, faster than the night he fought with nothing but a broken dagger and his teeth at seventeen. That battle had been over a decade ago, yet the raw terror of it still clung to him like an old scar. He had felt death's breath then, cold and inevitable.
But today... Today was worse. He wasn't dying, yet something inside him felt like it was. The flood of emotions crashed into him like a tidal wave, violent and unrelenting, as if death itself was standing over him, waiting for him to fail.
The book had warned him: a human who drowned too long would not return. He knew what he had to do. Press against her chest. Force her heart to beat again. But the moment his hands hovered over Arabella's still body, his breath caught.
