Hard.
I stumbled back, heels slipping on the slick grass, arms flailing.
My back hit the water. My head followed, and in the next second, icy cold swallowed me whole as I plunged beneath the surface of the koi pond-
SERAPHINA’S POV
The world above was a blur of ripples and shadows, but all I could feel was the suffocating cold.
My limbs flailed, heavy and useless, tangled in the wet fabric of my dress. Panic gripped me, more vicious than the chill. My lungs screamed, but my mind screamed louder.
‘Not again. Not again!’
The koi pond might’ve looked ornamental, and it wasn’t all too deep. But water-any body of water-had always terrified’me. They were all the same-dark, unpredictable, and greedy.
I was a child again, caught in a flashback I couldn’t escape-cruel hands shoving me from behind into the lake behind the Lockwood estate, struggling under the weight of my own clothes, the absence of air.
The slow suffocation and the frightening clarity that I was going to die, never really having lived.
Back then, my father had pulled me out. This time, I didn’t know if anyone would.
Then something broke through the cold.
My eyes were squeezed tight, but somehow, I felt the pull, and then-arms, warm and strong and steady, wrapped around me.
I reached out without thinking. Held on for dear life, desperate fingers finding purchase in a soaked shirt and broad shoulders.
I didn’t need to see to know who it was. Kieran.
We broke the surface together, and I gasped, choking on air and dirty pond water. I heard another splash nearby and another head broke through the surface-Lucian-but I was already being dragged toward the shore.
People crowded the edges. I heard voices shouting-Maya screaming at someone-feet pounding.
My vision swam. My chest burned.
Kieran carried me up the embankment like I weighed nothing, his breath ragged. He pulled me into his lap the moment we were out of the water.
“Sera?” His hands, trembling, yet warm, grabbed my face. “Sera, look at me.”
I blinked up at him, coughing. My fingers curled into his shirt like I still needed anchoring.
Like if I let go, I would slip back into that dark, scary depth.
Lucian stumbled onto the bank just behind us, drenched and heaving.
“Is she okay?” he panted, appearing by my side.
“She’s breathing,” Kieran said, voice tight. His eyes never left mine, his arms tightening around me. “You’re okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
My teeth chattered too hard to speak. Kieran wrapped his jacket around my shoulders. He must have taken it off before diving in because it was dry and warm and smelled like him, and my trembling hands pulled it tighter around me.
That’s when I heard the sardonic bark of laughter.
“Of-fucking-course,” Celeste’s voice rang out, venomous and loud enough to gather every onlooker’s attention, “you’d fall straight into the arms of my mate. You really just can’t give it a rest, can you, Sera?”
I closed my eyes. Not tonight. Not now.
“Celeste,” Lucian warned, stepping between us, but Kieran stood first.
“Back off,” he said sharply, brushing damp hair away from his face. “She just nearly drowned.”
“Yeah,” Lucian chimed in. “Thanks to your friend.”
“It was an accident,” Emma’s shaky voice chimed in. All her bravado seemed to have drained out of her, and she looked like a child in danger of being whooped. “I tripped and-“
“One more word out of you and you’ll become koi food,” Maya hissed. “And I promise you, no one is jumping in to save you.”
I forced myself to sit up. All the back-and-forth was worsening my throbbing headache.
“Next time,” Celeste hissed, lip curling, “you let her fucking drown.”
I heard Kieran’s sharp intake of breath. “Celeste!”
“What?!” she snapped. “Why the fuck would you jump in and save her?” Her arm swept behind her to her rapt audience. “Right in front of everyone.”
She turned her gaze, colder than the depths of any body of water, on me. “Must be nice, having your ex at your beck and call, huh, Sera? You must be so proud of yourself.”
I rose to my feet, swaying slightly. Kieran was immediately by my side again, one hand on my arm, the other locked firmly around my waist.
That vein in Celeste’s forehead was seriously going to explode.
“Don’t,” I said hoarsely. I didn’t know who I was talking to-Kieran or Celeste. “Just… don’t.”
Celeste took another step forward, eyes gleaming with self-righteous fury. “What, am I lying? Or have you suddenly grown ashamed of how you continuously throw yourself at him? Oh, what am I saying? Everyone knows you have no fucking shame. You can’t get a man to fall in love with you because you’re worthless and unlovable, so you scheme and you manipulate because that’s the only way you-“
Something in me snapped.
I slapped her.
Gasps echoed across the garden. Even Maya froze mid-stride.
Kieran’s eyes widened, and I half expected him to come to Celeste’s aid yet again, but he seemed just as frozen.
Celeste clutched her cheek, blinking in disbelief.
“You fucking bitch-“
“I am done,” I hissed. “Done listening to you spew ugly vitriol, as if you’re the only one who’s been hurt.”
“What?” She barked a laugh, sharp and grating. “You’re going to stand there and pretend like you were hurt?”
“Yes,” I replied firmly. “It was a mistake, Celeste. And I have paid the consequences long enough-“
“Mistake!” she shrieked, and I winced.
“You got my chosen mate drunk and seduced him, trapping him with a child for the last ten years, and you want to stand there and call it a fucking mistake?!”
I closed my eyes, as the memories of that night I’d tried to block out came flooding in.
“Stop it,” I whispered, trembling all over again from what wasn’t cold.
“No,” Celeste snapped, and I felt her step closer. “Let them all know. Let your new friends know your true colors. You knew Kieran chose me-loved me-and you got him drunk. You dragged him into that hotel room with you-“
“I didn’t drag him anywhere!” I screamed, my eyes flying open.
The air was tense around us, like everyone was holding their breath. Except for me and
Celeste-we were hyperventilating.
“I didn’t drag Kieran anywhere,” I repeated, my voice wobbling. “I-“
The memories were unlocking, hazy thanks to the alcohol, but-
I frowned. “I went into that room all on my own, because-“
The blood drained from my face. My eyes snapped to Celeste’s. “Because you sent me a text to meet you there.”
The words slipped out of my mouth softly, but by the time the sentence was complete, I knew they were true.
“I-I’d been drinking, miserable, keeping to myself, and then you-“
“Shut the fuck up, you don’t know what you’re saying.” But her voice was shaky, her eyes darting around like a trapped animal.
“No.” I shook my head, wet strands of hair slapping my cheeks. “You texted me. Said you had a dress emergency and I should come meet you in a hotel room-in the hotel room.”
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