Chapter 89: It’s Not A Kiss, Damnit!

Aina

Aina spat out a mouthful of murky, freezing river water, her lungs burning as if someone had laid a bed of hot coals inside her chest. She dragged herself out of the shallows, coughing violently, each racking gasp tearing through her throat until she was slumped on her knees in a muddy heap. The world spun in nauseating, grey circles. Her chest tightened, a sharp, suffocating squeeze that made the air freeze in her throat. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs, but no matter how wide she opened her mouth, nothing was coming through.

Desperate, her dripping, muddy fingers fumbled frantically at the leather pouch strapped to her waist. Her breath was coming out in pathetic, wheezing whistles now. She unzipped the pouch, her hands shaking so hard she nearly dropped the small inhaler, into the dirt. With a frantic motion, Aina brought the inhaler to her lips and pressed down hard.

Pfft. Pfft.

She held the chemical mist in her lungs, closing her eyes as the medicine slowly expanded her constricted airways. She let out a long, shuddering exhale, leaning forward with her forehead almost touching the wet stones, coughing until her vision finally cleared.

"You’re asthmatic?"

Aina flinched, snapping her head up to see Keali standing a few feet away. His clothes were soaked but he looked completely unbothered, watching her with those eerily calm, observant eyes. Aina swallowed hard, forcing a weak, sarcastic grin over her pale lips. "Yeah... aren’t we all?"

Keali didn’t smile. He just stared at her. "No." Aina immediately looked away, wiping her dripping chin with the back of her wet sleeve. She turned her attention to their surroundings, her eyebrows drawing into a confused knot. They were sprawled out along a narrow, stony bank on the edge of a dense, shadowy forest. The water behind them opened up into a massive, glass-like lake, far too wide and far too deep to be anything she recognized.

Where in the world were they? She had memorized the maps of this forest during her free day, and she didn’t know of any second lake near Lake Tosh. At first she thought it was a river because a waterfall can only ever link to a river, not a lake. Her eyes drifted down the shoreline, and her jaw tightened.

Spread out across the mud like drowned rats were the rest of the princes. Malric was out cold. Theo was sprawled face-down in a clump of reeds. Vance was lying motionless on his back, his legs still dragging in the water. All the big-mouth, arrogant royals who had spent the entire month torturing her were completely out.

A slow smile spread across Aina’s face. She stretched her arms, ignoring the dull ache in her bad ankle, and pushed herself to her feet.

This is probably where I should leave them, she thought, her eyes narrowing as she glared down at Malric’s unconscious face. It was entirely his fault those ghoul bears had chased them over a cliff in the first place. If she ran now, she could escape their endless games once and for all.

"If you’re thinking of leaving, don’t it’s stupid, you won’t survive a second out there," Keali’s soft voice cut through the air. He hadn’t even moved an inch, but his eyes were fixed on the deep tree line ahead. "I can feel that there’s a pack of ghoul bears not so far from here."

Aina paused, frowning at him. "A pack? Bears don’t travel in packs." Keali shifted his gaze back to her, his expression utterly blank. "Come on. It’s ghoul bears." Aina let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. "Okay. Point taken."

"Your best bet is just to stay with them," Keali continued smoothly, gesturing with his chin toward his unconscious brothers. "I know my brothers may seem mean and vicious, but they are strong, and I think they would be willing to shift at some point to protect their life and not care about the competition which will be what keeps us alive. You... I do not think you’re capable of shifting."

Aina’s shoulders slumped. She hated to admit it, but the quiet prince was right. He might be the weirdest one out of the whole bloodline, sitting silently while the others barked orders, but he was undoubtedly the smartest of his brothers. If she ran into one of those undead monsters alone without a bow or a wolf, she was dead meat.

"Fine," she muttered under her breath.

If she was forced to stick around, she might as well get some petty revenge while she had the upper hand. At this point, Aina didn’t even care if they decided to kill her later. They were already planning to put her through a living hell anyway, so she might as well have a little fun. She was thoroughly, completely tired of all of this.

Aina marched straight over to where Malric was lying like a fallen king in the mud. She stood over him, pulled her boot back, and kicked him hard in the ribs. "Ow!" Malric groaned, his eyes snapping open as he recoiled, clutching his side. He grunted, turning his head to glare up at her through his wet, black hair.

Aina crossed her arms, offering him a sweet, venomous smile. "Happy for you to finally join us, huh?" Malric glared at her with pure murder in his eyes, but Aina didn’t wait around to hear him bitch. She turned on her heel and strode over to Theo, pulling her foot back and landing a solid kick against his thigh.

Nothing happened. Theo didn’t even twitch. Aina scowled, pulling her foot back again and kicking him twice as hard in the hip. Theo gasped violently, rolling over and clutching his hip, cursing up a storm as he dragged himself up onto his elbows. "Who kicked me?!"

Aina offered him a mock salute. "Welcome. You finally joined civilization again."

She moved down the bank, stepping through the shallow water toward Vance. His upper body was resting on the wet mud, but his feet were still fully submerged in the lake, his skin deathly pale and his lips tinted a faint shade of blue. "Wakey Wakey," Aina said, nudging his shoulder with her boot.

He didn’t move. She frowned, kicking his arm a bit harder. "Vance. Get up." Still nothing. No groan, no breath, no movement. Aina pulled her foot back for a third, massive kick, but before her boot could make contact, a rough hand grabbed her wrist, yanked her back, and released her.

"Would you stop kicking my brother?!" Malric barked, staggering on his feet as he rubbed his aching ribs.

Aina whirled around, snapping right back into his face. "If your brother would wake up, then maybe I wouldn’t kick him! We need to get moving or we’re all going to be disqualified! If you can’t see, the sun is coming down!" Malric looked up at the sky, his jaw clenching as he took in the dimming, amber light filtering through the trees. He shook his head in exasperation and turned toward Theo. "Theo, wake Vance up."

Theo grumbled a string of foul curses, dragging himself off the ground. He stalked over to Vance’s unconscious form, leaned down, and brought his heavy hand flying down across Vance’s face with a loud, ringing SLAP. Aina’s jaw dropped. She stared at Theo in absolute shock, then whirled around to point a furious finger at Malric. "But him slapping him is fine?!"

Malric didn’t even blink. "Yes."

"Yo, Malric..." Theo’s voice suddenly lost all its cocky edge. He was kneeling beside Vance now, shaking his shoulders, but Vance’s head just lolled uselessly to the side. "Something’s wrong here." Malric’s eyebrows knit together. "What?"

"Vance isn’t waking up," Theo said, his voice tightening as he pressed two fingers against Vance’s wet neck. Aina rushed closer, her eyes scanning Vance’s limp chest. It wasn’t rising. Not even a little bit.

"There’s probably water in his lungs," Aina said quickly, taking charge before she could stop herself. "One of you give him CPR, he probably needs air into his lungs!"

Malric, Theo, and even Keali, who had finally wandered over, all stopped and stared at each other. A look of utter horror crossed Theo’s face. "Oh, come on," Theo scoffed, taking an immediate step back with his hands raised. "We’re not going to do that! Vance would literally kill us if he woke up and found out we kissed him!"

"It’s not a kiss!" Aina shrieked, throwing her hands up in utter disbelief. "Save your damn brother!" Malric crossed his arms, looking down at Vance’s blue lips with an expression of refusal. Theo shook his head violently. Keali just blinked, utterly motionless. They looked at each other, nodded in silent, unison agreement, and Theo muttered, "You know what? It’s probably his time. It’s probably just his time."

"You wusses!" Aina roared, her voice echoing over the quiet lake. "You absolute bunch of wusses!" She shoved Theo out of her way so hard he nearly tripped over his own boots. She dropped down onto her knees beside Vance’s motionless body, glaring up at the three idiots standing around like helpless statues.

The things I do because I love life and I wish to see Roiner again and not die here.

Aina leaned down, pinching Vance’s nose shut with one hand and tilting his head back with the other. She took a deep, filling breath, pressed her lips firmly against his cold ones, and forced a hard burst of air straight down into his lungs. She pulled back, locked her hands together over his sternum, and pumped his chest hard.

One, two, three, four, five.

She took another deep breath, forced her mouth back onto his, and blew air into his lungs again.

One, two, three, four, five.

She pressed down hard on his chest for the third time, her muscles straining—

Cough!

Vance violently jerked upward. A massive wave of lake water erupted from his mouth, splashing directly onto Aina’s face and chest. He sputtered, gasping for air as his lungs revolted, coughing up mouthfuls of clear water onto the mud. Aina sat back on her heels, wiping the cold lake water and vomit off her cheeks with her sleeve, gasping for her own breath.

Vance’s eyes blinked open, hazy and panicked, locking directly onto hers. They stayed like that for two frozen seconds, gazing right into each other’s eyes, inches apart, breathing the same damp air. "Great of you to finally join us," Aina snapped. She raised her fist and slammed it hard right into the center of his wet chest before scrambling back up to her feet.

"Ow!" Vance wheezed, rubbing his sternum as he sat up, looking around in utter confusion. "What... what happened?" Theo let out a loud, booming laugh, clutching his stomach as he pointed a finger at Vance. "Travis just kissed you!"

Vance froze. His head snapped around, his eyes going wide as saucers. "What?!" He instantly slapped a hand over his mouth, looking at Aina as if she had just handed him a cup of poison. "Why would you do that?! What is wrong with you?!"

You’re welcome, Aina screamed in her head, rolling her eyes so hard it hurt. You would have died if it wasn’t for me, you ungrateful jerk!

"I was ready for death," Vance dramaticized, scrambling backward in the dirt away from her, still clutching his lips with a horrified expression.

Aina threw her hands in the air, turning her back on all of them. "You’re welcome, by the way! Your brothers are wimps who didn’t want to save you. Let’s just get out of here before anything worse happens to this day!" Right on cue, a jagged bolt of white lightning split the darkening sky above the canopy.

BOOM!

A deafening crack of thunder shook the ground beneath their boots, and within seconds, a freezing downpour burst from the clouds, soaking them to the bone in an instant. Aina stared up at the sky, rain streaming down her face, and groaned from the absolute bottom of her soul.

"Oh, gosh..."

Only then did it seem to strike her, water and her de-scenting cream do not mix. FUCK!