For a second there, you’d hoped maybe he was bluffing. Maybe he was trying to trick Vincentius into letting you go.
But, nope.
He really doesn’t seem to care.
“That settles it, then,” Vincentius says, squeezing your neck harder as he lifts you into the air, dangling you over the edge of the railing. “Pity. I had hoped to use this little sorceress for myself. But if you won’t give in, I’ll just destroy the source of your power!”
The source of his power?He’s got it all wrong!
Black spots appear at the edges of your vision.
You stare at Hot Book Guy, hoping maybe he’ll change his mind. Maybe he’ll come to your rescue.
But—to your shock and utter horror—he lets out a low growl, unleashing the torrent of wind gathered around him.
Horror, because although the shock causes Big Blue to loosen his grip, it also sends you plummeting toward the ground.
Now you’re really in trouble!
You can barely catch your breath enough to scream. Your stomach lurches, rising into your throat as you plunge into freefall.
How many seconds before you hit the ground?
But before your early end can come up to meet you, a dark figure leaps from somewhere above, golden light streaming behind him as he dives after you.
Hot Book Guy.
He’s come to save you, after all!
Maybe this was all just part of his plan.
His definitely very stupid plan!!!!Aaaaaaaah!
You scream as you plummet, but he catches you in his arms, leaping off the side of a nearby building as effortlessly as if he’s done this loads of times.
And maybe he has.
But when he glances down at you, he’s not smirking. There’s a look of pure determination narrowing his eyes. And something else there, too.
Something—that looks a lot like concern.
From up above, a blue flash of lightning blasts down at you. Hot Guy dodges, leaping between the adjacent buildings as Vincentius steps up onto the balcony rail high above.
“Hang on tight, human,” Hot Guy says, and before you can figure out what’s happening, he lets go.
You gasp, wrapping your legs around him and clinging on for dear life as he gathers glowing, golden light all around you, flinging a gust of wind up at Vincentius.
It can’t possibly connect, but somehow it does, and Big Blue goes tumbling, letting out an angry yell as he falls. He grabs the bottom of the balcony ledge with his fingertips, but another gust knocks him off and he plummets, crashing into a second balcony several-dozen floors below. The entire building shakes, and a cloud of dust rises as he lands.
You cringe. A victim of his own tricks.
He may be a bad guy, but you didn’t expect to see anyone actuallydietoday.
Then again. He might not actually be dead.
He doesn’t seem like the type to let a multi-story fall take him out.
“Bastard,” Hot Book Guy mutters under his breath as he leaps through the air, your head still spinning from the height as he jumps from window ledge to window ledge until at last he lands on the lovely, amazing, beautiful, very solid concrete sidewalk that you will never, ever take for granted again.
