"Tula is fine," Yamanu grunted. "I've got you both. Just?—"
A roar shattered the night. "Areana!"
The voice was male, powerful, filled with terror and rage, coming from the plateau above them.
Navuh.
Had to be.
Heavy footsteps pounded across the wet stone. Moving fast. Too fast. Yamanu strengthened his shroud, extending it wider. The guards wouldn't see Navuh running toward the cliff edge, would forget the brief moment of him rushing to his mate and roaring like a wounded lion.
The shroud wouldn't work on Navuh, though. He would see Areana dangling over the edge, held by a stranger.
Areana's face went white. "No. No, no, no?—"
The footsteps didn't slow. Didn't stop. They hit the cliff's edge with a final slap of wet stone, and Yamanu heard the sound of a body launching into open air.
Navuh had jumped, diving after his truelove mate without hesitation, without thought, seeing only that she had fallen, and following her over the edge.
"No!" Areana's scream was worse than anything Yamanu had ever heard before. Raw anguish that seemed to tear itself from her soul.
The scream must have reached Navuh mid-dive.
Yamanu heard the change—a shift in the sound of air displacement. Navuh must have been aiming for the open water beyond the rocks, where an immortal might survive the impact. But Areana's scream had drawn his attention. He'd twisted toward the sound, toward the cliff face.
The trajectory change would be fatal even for a powerful immortal like Navuh.
"Navuh! NO!"
Areana thrashed in Yamanu's grip, trying to pull free, trying to follow her mate down to his death. "Let me go! Let me GO!"
"Stop!" His fingers dug into her wrist. "You can't help him!"
But she was beyond reason, fighting with desperate strength. Behind him, Tula was sobbing, still dangling in the harness.
And below?—
The sound of impact was wet and final. Not the splash of water, but bone and flesh meeting stone. Navuh had hit the rocks.
Areana went limp in Yamanu's grasp, a broken keening sound escaping her throat.
"Areana." Yamanu forced his voice to be steady. "Your sons need you. Annani needs you. Climb up. Grab my arm with both hands."
Something in his words penetrated. She grabbed his forearm with her free hand and pulled herself up until he could grab her properly.
"On my back," he commanded. "Arms around my neck."
She obeyed mechanically, wrapping herself around him, still making that terrible sound.
Above, guards were probably still milling around, confused and unsure, just the way he made them feel. In their shrouded perception, Tula had jumped and vanished. No one else had been there. No reason to look down. No one could survive such a fall anyway.
Yamanu unclipped his ascender and clipped his rappel device to the rope. No time for a controlled descent. He had two women to get down: one clinging to his back, one dangling below.
He pushed off and began rappelling as fast as he dared. The rope ran hot through his device, the friction heating even through his gloves. Their combined weight made control difficult, but immortal strength compensated.
A hundred feet.
Two hundred.
