The icy liquid slid down her throat, and for one suspended second, River tasted nothing.
Then the pain began.
It wasn’t a pain of the body. Not at first.
It was a pain of the soul—deep, scorching, searing her spirit like it was being torn from the inside out. Her knees buckled, splashing the sacred water as her body convulsed.
A strangled gasp escaped her lips.
And then came the agony.
A thousand knives carved through her veins. Her heart pounded like a war drum, louder and louder, threatening to burst from her chest. She clutched at her own ribcage, her eyes wide with terror. Each beat felt like it might be her last.
Her breathing faltered.
She was burning alive… and yet freezing from within. The pain was relentless, brutal, inhuman. It tore through her every thought, every defens
