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The column shifted.
Every muscle in my body stilled. For a moment nothing happened, and I turned to meet Lira’s worried eyes which had doubled in size, the clear blue of them reflecting the cerulean light drifting in from high windows.
Then the column tilted.
Oh, fuck.
I should have jumped, but I realized that would leave Lira on one side of the temple and me on the other. The hesitation cost me.
The column groaned and began to topple. I gripped the edge of it, but my fingers slipped. The chasm below suddenly seemed endless, the sharp rocks like a million daggers waiting for my demise.
“Sai!” Lira screamed, but I couldn’t spare the attention to look at her.
The column gave another groan, and my grip slipped. For a moment I was suspended in air, falling, and everything I’d never finished or achieved crossed my mind.
I wished I could embrace each of my siblings once more, spend a day with Shaan, tell each of my team members how much they meant to me, have an afternoon with Neia watching the rain fall together, and Lira… Oh goddess, if I could go back… the things I would say to her, the truths of my heart I’d spill out, the changes I’d make.
Lira uttered a note that echoed against the walls of the temple and reverberated through me. Wind so powerful it could fuel a typhoon swept through the chasm, the eddies almost painful. Lira leaped, wrapped her arms around me, and with the help of the gust, rushed us over to the other side. We landed with a thud, Lira’s cheek cracking against the stone floor as the thunder of the column landing echoed in the distance.
“Lira,” I shouted before helping her sit up.
She sat but kept a palm pressed over her face. “I’m okay.”
“That hit sounded bad.”
She brushed a thumb over the thick line of her lip and wiped a trail of blood away.
“Shit.” I yanked my bag off and pulled out a cloth infused with healing magic. “Can I?”
She nodded, and I wiped over the cut on her mouth that oozed dark blood. She winced at the contact, and I gentled my touch until her body relaxed and the magic had time to seep in and reduce the pain. A sigh whooshed out of me. “This is going to bruise.”
Lira lifted her chin, and her skin grazed my hand holding the cloth against her cheek. “Better than you dying.”
Her mouth was so close to mine, our noses nearly touching. We both still took in heavy breaths, and she felt so intensely close. Our bodies nearly met on every plane as we huddled together in the massive room. Lira leaned closer so that her breath grazed over my lips, and my heart tripped.
My face drifted towards hers, like metal pulled by a magnet. Lira reached her hand up and rested it on mine over her cut. Our fingers touching sent a spark through me. It was strange to know that it was the Atalla connection that made everything about this woman seem so right. The sheer pleasure of sitting there hearing her breaths after we’d nearly fallen to our deaths was enough happiness to fuel me for months.
I lowered my face so that our noses touched, and Lira jerked back, jumped to her feet, and wiped around the edges of her swollen cheek. “We should find the map before any other disasters happen. I don’t want to stay in this temple much longer.”
I hopped up and grabbed my bag, but it took me a moment to find something to say. “Right.”
Lira released a shaky chuckle, turned, and began walking across moss-riddled tiles. I shouldn’t have assumed anything had changed for her. She’d come to terms that we were Atallas, that we needed each other for this task, but it meant nothing for her beyond this job. The grief of that ricocheted through me and I wanted to scream and hear my voice and misery echo off the walls of this cursed chamber. I trudged after Lira instead.
This was who I was.
Sai, prince of darkness.
Sai, full of useful skills and magic.
Sai, one good night.
And nothing more.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
NEIA
Never hadmy heart raced like it did as I traced my fingers along the rugged edges of the Rakshasa’s cave. Elisa stepped behind me, so close she grazed against my back. Orman followed behind her.
