Auren POV

“No!” I tore through the water, lungs burning, fingers clawing for her. The crystal-clear lagoon that had been my guide slo­wed and frosted before my eyes; Lorien vanished into a soup of fog and silence. Panic was a physical thing, a weight that pulled at my ribs even as hands pried at my arms. I kept going until they dragged me up hard and hauled me out onto the slick bank.

Two guards held my arms like iron clamps; a third looped an arm cruelly around my throat and hauled me ...