11
I gargled my way through the rest of the morning until I understood what a drowned rat felt like. I lost count of how many times Abha dunked me, but it was enough that by the time we were finished my lungs burned like a forest fire.
Abha dragged my aching, tired body to the shore and set me down. I kissed the sand, then spit it out. Xander rose from his resting spot on a log and walked over to my sandy spot. He knelt beside me and rubbed my back as he studied my crest-fallen face. “How do you feel?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Homicidal.”
He chuckled. “I, too, felt very frustrated after my first lesson.”
I froze. “First lesson? You mean there’s more?”
“The swimming you are not doing yet,” Lady Abha spoke up as she slithered closer to us. “Though much progress you have ma
