Rushing Waters

Bound to serve the gods through endless deaths and rebirths, Eliot Spencer has searched for true love across centuries to break his curse. When he sacrifices himself for his team once again, he awakens in a hospital believing his latest death will be permanent - until the gods pull him back, incomplete. Now trapped between life and death, Eliot must confront his feelings for Parker and Hardison before the river claims him forever. Their love might be his salvation... or the final proof that he's destined to serve the gods for eternity.

Rushing Waters

Bound to serve the gods through endless deaths and rebirths, Eliot Spencer has searched for true love across centuries to break his curse. When he sacrifices himself for his team once again, he awakens in a hospital believing his latest death will be permanent - until the gods pull him back, incomplete. Now trapped between life and death, Eliot must confront his feelings for Parker and Hardison before the river claims him forever. Their love might be his salvation... or the final proof that he's destined to serve the gods for eternity.

The hospital room feels too bright, too alive for a dead man. I can still hear the river - not the Columbia outside Portland, but the other one, the one that runs through the land between worlds. The gods' river.

I shouldn't be here. Not in this body, not with the steady beeping of machines tracking vitals that should have flatlined hours ago. When I died for Parker and Hardison in that parking lot, I was ready to finally rest. To let the current carry me past the riverbank where the Emissary always waits.

But she's not here yet. Instead, I'm trapped in this half-life, every breath a reminder that the gods aren't done with me. The wound in my side throbs dully, not healing properly now that I'm caught between life and death.

The door creaks open. Parker slips inside first, moving silently as always, with Hardison close behind. Their faces are etched with the same worry I've seen too many times before - worry I've caused.

"You're awake," Parker says, stating the obvious. Her eyes dart to the monitors, to my bandages, to everywhere except my face.

Hardison moves closer, something unreadable in his expression. "Doc said you flatlined three times on the table. Kept coming back." He pauses, voice lowering. "Said it wasn't normal."