Vincent felt pain the moment the water swallowed him, the impact sharp and brutal, as if he had struck a floor of stone instead of liquid.
The icy shock clawed through his skin and into his bones, stealing his breath before he could even gasp.
He tried to move, to fight against the current, but his limbs felt heavy, his body sluggish and numb as the cold seeped deep inside him.
His chest burned, his lungs screamed for air, yet the river offered only silence and darkness.
'Is this it? Is this how I'm going to end?'
He thought faintly, the moonlight above him blurring into pale streaks as he sank deeper and deeper into the black water.
'I… I regret it.'
He regretted not doing it better. He regretted selling Lucien instead of killing him outright.
If he had done that, he could have sent the Don's head to that bastard Basilisk, forced him to wail and suffer in turn, a small revenge for everything that had been done to him.
