“But notrotten, burning corpses,” I point out.
He hums, neither confirming nor denying. Then he starts to tug me away from the wall. “Come on.”
I resist, trying to yank my hand from his. “There are a few more cracks—”
“Leave them. You need to eat.”
With a sigh, I relent and let him lead me through the snow, because Iamweakened. I’m tired and feeling empty. Yet instead of heading toward the front of the ruined castle, he veers us to the right, toward the back. “Why are we going this way?”
“Just going for a walk, Queenie.”
“A walk?”
He looks over with a smirk. “Yes. A walk. I thought you’d be familiar. Isn’t that what you royal ladies do in your spare time? Take a promenade around your different palatial rooms or through your gardens?”
“I loathe walking.”
Dommik laughs. “Sure you do.”
“I thought you were going to make me eat?”
“I am. Now stop needling me and just walk.”
An irritated sigh escapes me, but I stop trying to pull from his grip. “Fine.”
Together, we walk behind the ruins of the castle. I haven’t been back this way, so I eye the crumbled structure, the gaping walls and the missing roofs. My tutors had paintings of this castle, of what it supposedly looked like before it was destroyed.It was once quite beautiful. Now, it looks like a husk. A skeleton with all the guts and life scooped out.
Dommik and I walk in silence as we pass it by, and after several minutes, we’re still walking. Still silent. Though the tension starts to leave me the further I get from the bridge. The further I get from Cauval.
I feel myself physically decompress, all my squeezed muscles and rigid bones finally going loose. I let out a sigh, and Dommik’s thumb grazes over my hand.
Above us, the gray-hued sky darkens, not quite night, not quite day, but stuck somewhere in between. I eye the edge of the world at our right, wondering how many people have tipped over into the void.
Dommik notices me stealing glances, so he starts tugging me toward it. I instantly snap my grip, trying to pull him away. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Come on.”
My mouth pinches.
“Trust me, Queenie.”
I hesitate, but then for some strange reason, I let him pull me toward it. We go right up to the end, and then Dommik actually sits down.
Sits. At the edge of the world.
“Get up!” I hiss in fear.
He laughs and then pats the snow beside him. “Sit with me.”
I feel my eyes nearly bug out of my sockets. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Scared of heights?” he teases, looking up at me.
“Of course not.”
He continues to stare, while I bristle, his face utterly calm but thoroughly challenging. “It’s okay. If you can’t do it…”
I press my lips together tightly. Yet because my ornery streak refuses to back down from Dommik’s provocation, I carefully sidle forward and settle onto the snow beside him. He reaches over and uncurls my legs, making them untangle until my feet dangle over the edge of the world.
