Chapter 130 ON THAT BRIDGE, TWO YEARS AGO
CORMAC.
AGE 16
Valtor and I had just gotten back to the palace after the gym.
We were still in our workout clothes, sprawled out in one of the sitting rooms when his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen, then looked at me.
“Who is it?” I asked, reaching for my water bottle.
“Lor.” He brought the phone to his ear, and after a second, his brows furrowed. He mouthed something at me. She’s asking if I’m with you.
I straightened up. Lorelai calling Valtor wasn’t unusual, but something about his expression told me this wasn’t a casual call.
After another moment, he held the phone out. “She wants to talk to you.”
I took it. “Lor?”
“Okay, don’t freak out.”
My stomach dropped. “What did you do?”
“Promise me you won’t freak out first.”
I exhaled through my nose. “Lorelai.”
“Fine.” She took a breath. “We kind of stole Mom’s car.”
I stood up. “Which one?”
Silence.
“Lor. Which car?”
“The latest one,” she admitted, her voice small.
“Fuck.” I rubbed my hand over my face. If Dad found out, it would be hell. Pure hell. “Let me guess—it was your idea.”
“Does it matter whose idea it was?”
It didn’t. I already knew. “Where are you?”
“That’s the thing.” Her voice got nervous. “The roads are too slick. We’re stuck. We need you to come get us.”
I stopped pacing. “You’re stuck where?”
“Near the old bridge. We tried to drive back but the ice—”
“Stay where you are,” I cut her off. “I’m coming.”
“Okay. But hurry.”
I ended the call and tossed the phone back to Valtor. “We need to go. Now.”
He was already standing. “What happened?”
“They took my mom’s car and got stuck on ice.” I grabbed my keys. “If Dad finishes his meeting before we get them back—”
Valtor was already heading for the door.
We drove fast, hoping to beat my father’s meeting.
The first few minutes were quiet. My hands stayed tight on the wheel while Valtor sat beside me, staring out the window.
Then he started shifting. Adjusting his position. Tapping his fingers against his knee.
I glanced over. “You good?”
“Yeah.” Well that didn’t come out too quick.
I didn’t push it.
But the shifting continued.
“Alright, what’s going on?”
Valtor let out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m asking Lorelai out tonight.”
I looked at him fully. “What?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, still looking nervous. “I’m doing it.”
“About fucking time.” I couldn’t help the grin. I’d been pushing him toward this for years.
He shot me a look. “Don’t.”
“What? I’m just saying." I shrugged.
“I have the whole thing planned,” he interrupted, words coming faster like he needed to get them out. “Dinner reservation. Movie. The entire night.”
I waited.
“I rented a yacht. Got a live band to follow us around.” He looked at me. “I know she’s going to love it.”
My sister was going to lose her mind over the band.“I’m happy for you, man.”
He glared. “Don’t jinx it.”
“How am I—”
“I’m not even sure she’ll say yes.”
I bit my tongue. Because I knew Lorelai. And I knew she would.
My phone rang through the speakers before I could respond.
I hit the button. “Yeah?”
“Where are you guys?” Lorelai’s voice filled the car.
“On our way.”
“Well, hurry up. I don’t want to miss my soap at six.”
My hands tightened on the wheel. She steals a car, gets stuck, and she’s worried about her soap opera.
“We’ll get there when we get there.”
She hung up.
I glanced at Valtor. He was smiling sheepishly.
I shook my head. “You’re really going to ask her out after this?”
He shrugged. “What can I say? She’s all spice and everything nice."
Very slowly, I turned to glare at him.
“Yeah, you may want to kill me for saying that but eyes on the road or we both kick it.”
We drove for another couple of minutes before the bridge came into view.
Another call.
I answered, expecting Lorelai. “What now—”
“Cormac?”
My brows shot up. Not Lorelai.
“Merrielynn?”
“We’ll just drive up to you—” Panic cut through her voice, sharp. “Oh—oh no—”
I sat up. “Merrielynn, what’s happening?”
“The brakes—” She sounded strained. Scared. “The ice—I can’t—”
Valtor leaned forward. “Merrielynn, stay put! Do not move the car. We’re coming to you.”
“Did you hear that?” I asked, my heart starting to pound harder.
“I—yeah. Okay.” She sounded shaken. Distracted.
“Stay on the line.” I rounded the curve.
And I saw my mother’s car sitting in the middle of the bridge. The wheels buried in ice.
“I see you,” I said. “Just stay where you are. I’m coming—”
The headlights flashed, and the car started moving toward us.
“What the hell is she doing?” Valtor’s voice rose.
“Mere, stay put!” he shouted. “Your wheels are covered in ice!”
Her voice came back staticky, panicked. “I’m not—I’m trying to stop—”
The car kept sliding. Swerving.
Valtor cursed.
I slammed the brakes.
But the sports car spun.
It happenedsofast.
One secondit was sliding. And in the next,the metal hoot hitting the railing.
Then it went over.
The sound of it—metal tearing through the barrier, the screech and crash—it echoed across the bridge and I just sat there. My hands were still gripping the wheel tightly.
I couldn’t move.
Couldn’t even process what I’d just seen.
Valtor didn’t freeze.
His seatbelt was off before I could blink, the door already flying open. He was out and running before my brain could catch up.
The shock broke.
I threw my door open and stumbled out, my feet immediately slipping on the frozen ground. I caught myself, barely, and started running. My boots slid with every step but I didn’t slow down.
When I reached the edge where the railing had been torn apart, twisted metal hanging at odd angles, I looked down.
The car was already halfway submerged. Sinking fast.The water was black and fucking endless.
Valtor didn’t hesitate. He jumped in, and I dived in right after him.
The cold hit me like a physical blow. It knocked every bit of air from my lungs, seized my muscles, made my entire body lock up for a split second. I forced myself to move anyway, kicking hard, eyes straining to see anything in the murky darkness.
I couldn’t see shit.
The water was too dark, too clouded with debris and silt kicked up from the crash.
I swam deeper, my arms already burning from the cold, my chest screaming for air I couldn’t give it yet.
I had to find them. I had to—
My lungs were on fire by the time I broke the surface, gasping and choking on the frigid air.
I whipped my head around, looking for Valtor, for the car, for anything.
“Cormac!”
I turned toward his voice.
He was there, maybe twenty feet away, treading water. And he was holding Lorelai.
Her body was completely limp in his arms, her head lolling back against his shoulder. Even from here, I could see the blood. It was spreading across her white top, dark and stark against the pale fabric. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“I can’t find Merrielynn!” Valtor shouted, his voice cracking. “Cormac, I can’t—”
I lkept looking at my sister.
Her skin was too pale. Her lips had a blue tint to them.
Why wasn’t she moving?
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Cormac!” Valtor’s voice broke through again, desperate.
My jaw clenched. I sucked in a breath and dove back under.
The cold was worse this time, like my body was rejecting it, but I pushed through. I swam deeper than before, searching frantically for the wreckage, for any sign of movement.
And then I saw her.
She was sinking. Slowly. Her body drifting down toward the darkness like she weighed nothing.
No.
Fuck no.
I kicked harder, pushing through the water, reaching for her. My fingers stretched, straining, inching closer and closer until finally—finally—I caught her arm.
I wrapped my hand around her wrist and pulled, dragging her toward me. She was dead weight, not fighting, not moving, and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst as I kicked toward the surface.
We broke through and I gasped, pulling her head above water, holding her against me as I swam for the shore.
There were people everywhere now. A crowd had formed on the bank—someone must have called for help, someone was shouting about ambulances. I didn’t care about any of it.
I hauled Merrielynn onto the cold stone and immediately rolled her onto her back.
Her lips were blue. Her skin was greyish.
I tilted her head back, checked for breathing.
Nothing.
“Valtor!” I shouted, pressing my hands to her chest and starting compressions. “How is she? Is Lorelai breathing?”
No answer.
I kept going. Thirty compressions, fast and hard, feeling her ribs flex under my palms.
I leaned down, pinched her nose, and breathed into her mouth, doing it twice and then switching back to compressions.
I glanced over at Valtor. He was hunched over Lorelai, his back to me, completely still.
“Valtor, talk to me!” I shouted, pumping Merrielynn’s chest again.
Still nothing.
I looked down at Merrielynn. Blood was pooling beneath her head, spreading across the stone. There was a wound back there somewhere, hidden in her hair, and I couldn’t see how bad it was.
My chest tightened. My eyes started to burn.
I leaned down again, sealed my mouth over hers, and forced air into her lungs.
More compressions.
“Valtor!” I roared, every bit of patience I had left completely gone. “How is Lorelai? Is she—”
He turned around.
Slowly.
His face was streaked with tears. His hands were covered in blood—so much blood I couldn’t tell where it ended and the water began.
And in that same moment, Merrielynn convulsed.
She coughed, violently, water spewing from her mouth as her body jerked. She gasped and choked, hacking up what felt like half the river.
I pulled her up immediately, gathering her against my chest and turning her on her side so she could breathe. She was shaking—or maybe I was shaking—but she was coughing and that meant she was breathing and she was alive.
But I was still looking at Valtor.
At the tears on his face.
At the blood on his hands.
And then I looked past him.
At Lorelai.
She was lying on the stone. Her skin pale. Her eyes open by the smallest sliver.
She wasn’t moving.
I held Merrielynn tighter, one hand cradling the back of her head as I rocked her against me.
The realization settled over me like ice.
My sister...
She was...
Goddess.
No.