The lake churned below us, cold and waiting, like some monster ready to devour anyone who stepped wrong.
I kept my eyes glued to the trail. I had always trusted the forest floor beneath my feet, but this thin strip of stone above open water made my stomach twist. When my foot slipped on a patch of pebbles scattered over slick rock, my toes skidded toward empty air. I slapped a hand against the cliff and pressed my cheek to the cold stone, willing the spinning in my head to stop.
“It’s a long way down,” a sneering voice said from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder. I’d been so focused on what was in front of me that I didn’t notice who had been sidling up behind me.
It was Dorian, the last in line. Hindered by the chain, Baron and I were moving slowly enough that everyone else had pulled ahead.
“Nervous?” Dorian said with a leer, then continued in a low hiss. “It would be a shame if someone fell.”
“Leave me alone, Dorian,” I said, loud enough that Baron could hear.
“Don’t touch her, Dorian,” Baron snarled. “If you do, you’ll be lashed within an inch of your life.”
“I won’t, I won’t,” Doian said immediately. “I’m just worried she would slip is all. A fall from this height wouldn’t kill her. Probably.”
I inched forward, focusing on Baron’s back. Whatever I did, I mustnotlook down and I also didn’t want Dorian to press any closer. My palms sweated despite the cold air. Every time a rock skittered off the edge and splashed faintly into the water below, my knees nearly buckled.
“Move faster,” Dorian hissed behind me, too quiet for Baron to hear. His tone slithered with malice. “Or I’ll move you myself.”
I swallowed hard. Baron glanced over his shoulder, frowning when he noticed how close Dorian had drifted, but before he could say anything, we reached a jutting curve where the stone bulged outward and forced us to hug the cliff wall. The path narrowed to the smallest point I’d seen yet.
I slid my hand along the rock, fingers numb and heart pounding high in my throat. It was only a few more steps. Just a few?—
A sudden force slammed into my back.
This was no accidental bump. It was a shove.
I let out a scream as my foot slipped off the edge and the world dropped out from under me. I desperately clawed at the air, at the rocks, atanything, but my hands found only emptiness.
I tipped forward, weightless.
Baron shouted my name—raw and panicked—but it was too late. He hadn’t reached me in time.
And then I was falling.
I expected to be jerked up short by the collar around my neck.
This was it. It was the end. I would die by hanging at the top of a mountain, tethered to a gargantuan man.
But I didn’t feel the sharp snap of my neck breaking. I just kept falling. And falling. Down, down, down I went, the wind howling in my ears. I screamed in terror as I continued to plummet to the ground for what felt like an eternity, but my breath was swept from me, my cries lost to the wind as I fell. I couldn’t get my bearings as the world spun around me. I covered my eyes with my hands and prepared to die. The arms closing around me were surely Death’s.
Frigid waterexplodedaround me as I struck the lake, the impact knocking every thought from my mind.
The coldness of the water made my limbs go immediately rigid. I couldn’t kick or paddle. No matter what instructions I tried to give, my body refused to obey. Panic screamed in my head. I’d never been a strong swimmer, and now even the instinct to survive was locked beneath the shock freezing me from the inside out. The sudden thought of death at the hand of Dorian snapped my frozen limbs into motion and I clawed upward anyway, chest cinched tight and lungs aching for air.
I broke the surface with a choking gasp. The chain between Baron and me yanked downward, its weight a merciless hand atmy neck. I wouldn’t be able to stay up long. I’d survived the fall only to drown.
My pack was pulling me under again and I shrugged it off, looking desperately for land. It looked close and yet forever far away. Would I be able to swim the distance?
There was a burst of water beside me and Baron’s head popped up too. He was gasping for breath just as I was, his eyes wide and panicked. We had to get to shore soon or this wretched chain would drown us both.
Baron spluttered, his lips shaping words I couldn’t process. The cold was thickening in my skull, dulling everything around me to a sluggish blur. I tried to inhale again—another frantic gulp of life—and my head slid beneath the water again.
I struggled up again and even though I still couldn’t understand what Baron was mouthing, I didn’t need words to take his meaning.
He struck out for the shore and I did my best to follow, but the closer we got, the more my limbs froze up. I couldn’t swim any longer.
