Page 82 of Doyle

“A good person.”

He made a sound deep in his chest. “Kind. Soft-spoken. Sweet. And yes, she wanted to be a mom of many. Probably the perfect missionary.”

Tia had also relieved the tension in her hands, regripped the cable. “So, completely different than me.”

He stilled, not sure what to say. “Um?—”

She stiffened. “Please forget I said that.”

“Tia—”

“For the love, Doyle! Just... Let’s get off this cliff. The fumes have gone to my head.”

Right.His too, because the answer stirring in his head was...Not different at all. And yet yes, completely different too.

Tia was bold and outspoken and determined and a visionary.

But, just like Juliet, beautiful and brave.

“Forgotten.”

He eased them down another step, not sure why that word landed in his head. Except—“Why did you say you were the forgotten sister?” His question seemed lost in the breeze.

Or not.

“I told you—I was the second choice.”

“That’s not the same as forgotten.”

She moved her hands down the cable. “Yeah. Um. Okay. It feels like the same thing. After my sister was rescued, my parents... they were overwhelmed with relief and... anyway?—”

“You felt forgotten.” He glanced down. Twenty feet, perhaps.

“She slept in their room for about three months. And I would lie in my bed, terrified that I’d be kidnapped next, and I... Anyway, it was a long time ago.”

And in his mind, he saw a terrified young girl, wide-eyed in the darkness. “No wonder you refuse to be afraid.”

She let out a laugh, bold against the darkness. “I’m plenty terrified now, Spider-Man, so let’s get moving.”

The urge to kiss her again shook through him.

Later.

Maybe.

For now, his descent plan was working, because his next step hit slick and wettened rock where the tide had crested earlier. Except his foot slipped and his knee slammed into the rock.

He held in a grunt, even as Tia yelped, stiffening to help him get his footing.

Then his other foot slicked off, and his weight slammed them into the rock face.

Her legs gave out.

And then they were sliding, The cable shredded the gauze as he tried to kick out from the rock, to slow their ascent, to stop them from?—

Tia screamed, and they dropped into the churning ocean with a deafening splash.

Cold. Stinging. Chaos.

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