The akadim’s eyes widened. He was about to fall off the cliff. He hissed, trying to pry Rhyan’s hand away.
“MINE,” Rhyan growled. “She’s mine. Now move.” He tossed him to the side, and the akadim scrambled for the wall—just barely escaping with his life.
He bared his teeth, his eyes drawing my body as his nostrils flared, sniffing out my scent. But finally, he lowered his head, and turned, walking toward the dark of the tunnel.
“Our turn,” Rhyan said, and tugged on the rope, pulling me closer.
“There’s no other way?” I asked, my heart thumping.
“What do you think?” he asked, leading us around the bend.
“It doesn’t look safe.”
“Safe enough.” Rhyan walked up to the cliff’s edge and stepped forward, his boot landing on the first wooden board. The entire structure swayed.
I stood in place. If that bridge broke and we fell—we were both dead.
“Rhyan, wait—wait!”
“Lyr, I said come.” He tugged violently on the rope, forcing me forward.
“I’m just—I’m scared.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t have all day.”
I shook my head. “Is that how you got me here before? You carried me across this?” Gods, I didn’t want to think about that. The idea that I could have plunged to my death unconscious.
But Rhyan shook his head. “No. We were on this side already.”
My eyes widened. He had no idea what he’d just revealed. There was a way out, located past his alcove. And if I wanted to escape, that was where I had to go. I had to go back down the tunnel we’d climbed, get back to his alcove.
“You could take me back to your room,” I said. “Leave me there.”
“I said, let’s go!” And suddenly he was in front of me, his eyes flashing with violence as he grabbed my waist, and hauled me over his shoulder.
“Rhyan!” I was bent over him, my ass in the air, and my face up close with the red shard, sheathed to his back.
He stepped onto the bridge and it swayed again, just as there was another wall-shuddering groan from the mines.
My stomach lurched. I had nothing to hold onto, nothing I could do like this, with my arms behind my back, my body bent. I was completely at the mercy of the bridge’s structural integrity, and Rhyan.
I squeezed my eyes shut, praying I didn’t hyperventilate. Praying more we didn’t fall. Every sway, every groan, had my stomach tightening more painfully.
There was another shudder from the walls and the bridge shook. Rhyan paused. I dared open my eyes, praying we were at the other side. I nearly vomited. We were only in the middle, and Rhyan had just loosened another floorboard.
I watched it fall, spinning in midair until it thunked onto the head of an akadim with short red hair.
Rhyan continued forward as the bridge swayed again. I started holding my breath out of fear, gasping when we finally reached the other side.
I practically moaned in relief when he set me down. He just shook his head, like I was being completely ridiculous. Then he tugged me past half a dozen daywalkers, waiting to cross the bridge. Each one leered, sniffing and baring their teeth.
Suddenly I felt the claws of one of the akadim scratch down my back before grabbing my ass, hard. I yelled out in pain.
Rhyan turned. “Who touched her?”
None of the akadim confessed. Rhyan stepped forward, keeping a firm grasp on my leash. And I realized that whoever had touched me, had done me a favor. His claw had clipped the part of the rope near my hands. I could feel a loose thread. I quickly tucked it into my palm, drawing on it before anyone noticed. Another tug, and it started to give, unraveling even further.
When Rhyan finished berating them—allowing them to live this time—my fingernails dug into my palm, holding onto the loose threads.
