His hands clenched into fists. “You’re not being fair.”
“Neither are you! I bled myself raw trying to earn your trust, and you shut down and glare and pretend I’m some wide-eyed child who can’t manage shadows!”
His jaw flexed. “Because I’ve seen what shadows do, Princess!”
“And I’ve seen what silence does!”
We were both shouting now, and I didn’t care if the others heard. Let them. Let the trees hear too.
“Gods,” he hissed. “Do you always have to argue like it’s a duel?”
“Do you always have to retreat like a coward?”
His eyes blazed. “I’m not a coward.”
“You fear me.”
“I’m scared for you!”
“Same thing!”
“You drive me insane!”
“You make me feel like nothing I do is ever enough!”
“You hum like a godsdamn beehive when you’re thinking!”
“You breathe like you’re judging the air!”
“You stomp like a bear!”
“You smell like—like pine!”
He blinked. “That’s not even—”
I gasped. “That is not an insult.”
“No,” he said, stunned. “I don’t think it is.”
Silence fell between us; wild, messy, and far too full.
And then the ground beneath me shifted.
At first, it was just a shiver underfoot, a faint crack like glass under pressure, then the stone gave way with a hollow snap. My boot plunged through loose shale, the edge crumbling outward in a sudden spray of dust and rock.
One leg dangled in the open air. My weight pitched forward, with nothing solid beneath me. The void yawned below, black and endless.
I clawed at the edge, but my fingers only scraped shards of crystal. My balance tipped. My stomach dropped.
I screamed.
And then—he was there.
A flash of movement, and his hand slammed around my wrist with bruising force. My shoulder wrenched under the sudden stop, the rest of me still sliding toward the drop. Pebbles rattled away into the mist.
“I’ve got you,” he gritted, his arm trembling with the effort as he heaved me upward. My chest scraped hard against the ridge, knees buckling under until we both lost our footing and tumbled backward.
I landed half on him, half sprawled on the cold stone, my heart hammering so violently I could taste metal. Air burned in my lungs, coming in ragged gasps.
