Zane pov.
We couldn’t stand here and wait for my guards. The water had already reached my waist. If we stayed any longer, we’d drown before they even managed to break in.
I looked around for something, anything, we could use to hold on to, but the walls were slick and the space was too tight. There was nowhere safe to climb.
“Zane…” Tessa’s voice came out shaky but steady enough.
“Hold onto me,” I said, moving closer.
She hesitated. “No—there’s smoke.”
I turned sharply. She was right. A faint grey haze had started to roll in, thickening fast.
“Damn it,” I muttered. “They’re trying to make us dizzy. We’ll lose consciousness before the water gets us.”
The situation was closing in from every side, but Tessa didn’t panic. She wiped her eyes, coughed once, and said, “There has to be ano
