Page 82 of Faeling
No!
“Witch,” Ulrich wheezed.
Ravenna bared her fangs at him, legs wheeling, and something sprang from her back. Iridescent purple membrane unfurled from her shoulders and began beating at the air.
With Ulrich’s gaze on her, Vallek moved.
Faster than a snake striking, Ulrich flung Ravenna off the cliff.
Her scream echoed through the humid air, bouncing off the inside of Vallek’s skull.
NO!
“My king, you’re free of—”
Hormhím’s blade smashed into Ulrich’s face, cleaving it in two. Hot blood spurted across Vallek’s chest as Ulrich’s body teetered backwards, his ruined head leaking brain and blood. Unseeing eyes gaped at him, hands grasping and spasming in the last throes of desperation.
The force of the blow knocked Ulrich off the cliff, and he fell backwards into the mist below.
“Ravenna!”
Hefting Hormhím, Vallek leapt after her.
Mate mate mate don’t die don’t be dead mate—
20
She fell.
Hard.
Her poor wings fluttered madly to break the fall, but it was just too much.
Ravenna hurtled down into the deep gorge, the layer of mist passing over her like a veil. A sudden, cool shock of air that had her dreading—I’ve died.
Her own scream echoed in her ears, dulled only by the furious buzz of her wings. She instinctively threw out her arms, magic gathering in her palms.
From one blink to the next, the stony ground raced up to meet her. Her magic bounded off the ground, buoying her at the last moment. Her whole body groaned with the change in momentum, and she went careening to the side, rolling through the air until the ground caught her.
The breath punched from her lungs, and starbursts dominated her vision. She could do nothing but spread hermouth wide in agony as she felt one of the delicate bones in her right lower wing break. Her right wrist sizzled with pain, and her ribs creaked ominously.
Don’t break don’t break don’t—
—the sea rose up to meet her—salt burned her eyes—one more punch—an agonized howl on the wind—
She skidded to a stop on her side, cheek and shoulder oozing blood from her myriad of scrapes. Ravenna coughed and gasped, desperate for air, but her lungs refused to expand.
For a long, horrible moment, she could do nothing but lay still and shiver, body frozen in shock.
A wave of nausea crashed against her stomach. She’dfallen.
That bastardthrew her off a cliff!
It was her outrage that warmed her blood enough to finally begin moving. So, so carefully, she rotated her ankles then twitched her knees. She’d just gotten to her hip when—
A greatwhooshand then not far away, a body smashed into the stone. Loose gravel leapt into the air with the impact, and blood splattered across the canyon floor.
Ravenna screamed though she hadn’t any air to, fresh horror biting down on her like the maw of some wild beast. The body lay in a horrible lump of broken flesh, blood leaking from a wicked wound cleaving the head in two.
