Page 254 of Volik

I breathe.

I pretend the air is filled with mint.

I pretend I can feel Volik’s heat surrounding me.

I close my eyes and pretend he’s stroking my hair.

But the pain won’t let me forget.

And the waves are so loud.

A rock shifts under my shoe, and my eyes open.

My lungs seize.

There are only inches.

Just inches of rock in front of my toes.

Beyond that is nothing.

Straight down. Hundreds of feet to the roiling ocean.

Morell pushes me forward.

Pebbles bounce over the edge.

My shoes press into the rock.

I slide another inch forward.

There is nothing left.

No more room.

I try to reach back for him.

Try to stop him.

But then something cold presses against my throat.

“I’d stop fighting if I were you.”

I freeze. But he still nicks my skin.

I can feel the warmth of my blood as it trails down my throat, down my chest.

“We will watch until the sun goes out. Then it will be over.”

Morell is pressed against my back. His right hand is painfully gripping my hair. His left hand is pressing the dagger to my neck.

I saw the blade when he pulled it from the sheath at his side.

I saw it, and I knew.

My eyes close.

I don’t think I need to be stabbed through the heart with a magicked dagger to die.