A bird swoops in from above. It attacks his upraised hand, knocking the egg away. I watch with slow-motion clarity as Pashov leans outward, trying to catch the egg?—
—Only to lose his grip on the wall entirely.
Then he falls backward onto the canyon floor, and I’m screaming. This is my worst nightmare come to life, all over again.
I can’t lose him again, can I?Please, no.
Farli, Harrec, and I all rush forward, but we won’t be in time. Pashov lands on his back with a sickening crash, and then lies still.
A sob escapes my throat, and I fling myself to his side. “Pashov! Pashov!” I run a hand over his face. His eyes are closed, his body still, and my world feels like it’s ending all over again. I grab the front of his tunic and shake him, terrified. “Pashov!”
His eyes open.
Pashov gives me a slow smile and cups my face, pulling my mouth to his for a kiss.
What. The.Fuck.
I rear back, both relieved and shocked, even as Farli and Harrec break into laughter. Pashov grins, too. “It is not so big a fall,” he tells me.
My fear gives way to blinding fury. He thinks this is fuckingfunny? I curl my fingers into a fist and punch him in the shoulder.
He shrugs it off, grinning. “Do not be mad, Stay-see?—”
Not be mad? He just risked his fucking life for a fucking egg and I nearly lost my mate again and everyone’s laughing and this is funny to them? I punch him again, and then I can’t seem to stop hitting him. They’re not hard hits—my hands are small and my strength is crap—but I need to get it out of my system before I start screaming and grab a knife and castrate him for being such a dick in this moment.
“Stay-see,” Pashov soothes again. “It is all right.”
“It is not fucking all right,” I say, punctuating my words with slaps. “You’re an asshole.” I jerk to my feet and turn my accusing stare on Farli and Harrec, who are still laughing. “All of you are assholes!”
Chompy belches at me.
That does it. I am out of here. I feel frustrated and terrified and full of anxiety and I don’t see the humor in this at all. I’m about to start crying, actually, and the last thing I want to do is get all blubbery in their faces. So I turn on my heel and leave.
“Remember to keep your fingers on the right-hand wall to find your way home,” Harrec calls after me, amused.
I shoot him the bird and continue marching away.
“Stay-see?” Pashov jogs after me and grabs at my arm.
I shrug his touch away. “Leave mealone. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“You are mad?”
Oh, understatement of the year. “I am fucking furious.”
PASHOV
My mate has used the human curse word more times in the last few minutes than she ever has since I met her. I know this ‘fuck’ word. It is a very angry one. She has only used it a few times in the past—once when she sliced open her finger while dicing roots, and once when Pacy was being born.
I…I remember that. Delighted, I jog after my mate. I want to share this with her.
But Stay-see is marching away, her little back stiff with anger. Her shoulders are shivering—no, wait. That is not shivering. She is crying. She is hurting.
I turn back to Harrec and Farli, who are equally mystified. “What did I do?”
Farli shrugs, the nests in her arms. “She is worried you hurt yourself.”
“Pfft. Over that small drop?” It left me winded and made my ribs creak, but I have fallen from much worse. It is nothing to panic over…
