"Not much," he commented. "Like a babe. Tell me"—the flat edge of the sword dug into the bones of her wrists—"have you ever been fucked before? Or will I be the first?"
She didn’t answer.
"Answer me now, because I don’t have to fuck you when you’re alive. I can just as easily kill you first. A body is a body."
Her mind struggled to make sense of his meaning, but when she realized, her whole body went cold. She had never heard anything so grotesque before.
Luella lifted her chin, feeling the wind in her hair. "I don’t—answer to y-you." It was tremulous and shaky, but at least she stood her ground.
He took a step forward. She took a step back.
Her heels hovered over the edge.
The Umbra’s shadowed eyes dipped down to her feet and the chasm at her back. "I bet you’d look so pretty in pieces, but if you’re too broken, I won’t be able to play with you anymore."He paused, contemplating. "At least my master won’t be able to have you."
Violent glee flickered over his face, and the stark reality of her situation finally set in.
She would be raped, mutilated, killed—and she didn’t know which would come first.
Or she could jump.
Tortured and used by the Umbra before her, or splattered on the rocks below?
The choice was easy.
She only had one breath of time to mourn what could’ve been. A crystalline tear slipped down her cheek, dropping from her jaw. She tried to control her expression so as not to let him know her plans.
Luella’s lips parted, brows winged in sorrow.
The Umbra’s eyes darkened with triumph and?—
She stepped off the cliff.
She barely saw the Umbra’s eyes widen in shock before the air rushed up around her, and she gasped.
Falling…
Falling…
Her wings fluttered uselessly. The jagged rocks flashed by. The sound of waves grew nearer?—
She let her eyes drift shut, felt that tether around her midsection, snapped her wings out, felt the air catch in them, and she was airborne.
Luella opened her eyes, legs kicking out as her fall was stalled. She struggled to move her wings; it wasn’t quick enough.
"No!" she gasped, wind howling around her.
She twisted her body at the last moment, seeing the rising sea and deadly rocks below her. Her wings worked, fluttering to lift her, and as she gasped a solemn, "Please," the current of the air began to shift, no longer working against her—but with her.
She felt the currents beneath her wings, helping her catch the wind.
The sea loomed.
Her legs slammed into the rocks, crushing her left ankle. She screamed, upper half rising as her wings beat stronger, lifting her, instead of merely softening her fall.
Water misted her cheeks, and she saw her wide-eyed face reflected upon the dark surface of the sea.
Her wings unfurled behind her, and she closed her eyes, knowing she’d slam into the surface.
