Chapter 15 · Bait For A Throne

"Don't you dare let go, you idiot!" Lyra's scream was a muffled vibration in the crushing weight of the deep, but it hit Cane like a physical blow.

He was falling. Not the slow, drifting descent of a diver, but a violent plunge into a black maw. The lifeline that had been his only connection to the surface—and to her—hadn't just snapped. It had been severed. A clean, surgical cut. He could still see the shimmering fragments of the cable dancing above him like silver needles in the dark.

"Cane!"

Lyra didn't wait. She didn't calculate the pressure or the remaining oxygen in her tank. She just launched herself into the void, her body a streak of desperate silver against the oppressive ink. She caught him mid-fall, her arms slamming around his chest with a force that knocked the remaining air from his lungs.

He gasped, the sound rattling in his regulator. He gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him. The friction of their diving suits was the only thing keeping them from spinning into a chaotic spiral.

"Why the hell did you jump?" Cane managed to choke out, his voice rasping through the comms.