Page 61 of Damned and Broken Gods
Andthenshe dropped Joe.
He fell in silence, but Mahira’s scream was loud enough for them both. She dove, her thunderbird cutting through the air like a bullet, eating the distance between her and Joe.
“Help!”
Vick?
He fell, arms and legs flailing as if trying to catch the air.
I looked down at Araz. “Araz! Save him!”
The wind snatched at my voice, and for a moment I thought Araz didn’t hear me, but the blaze in his eyes told me he had. “You promised!”
The next moments seemed to pass in slow motion.
Araz looked ahead, then below, where Vick had vanished into the clouds. Falling, picking up speed as he hurtled toward death.
And I was still safe. Still held tightly. Heat at my back, Zarael wrapped around me like an impregnable force.
Surely the danger had passed.
Araz must have concluded the same because he shook his head, his lips pulling back in what I imagined was a growl before he dove through the clouds after Vick. I waited, heart battering my ribcage, eyes scanning the clouds below.
Mahira’s bird burst through with her and Joe on board.
Araz? Where was?—
“Forgive me,” Zarael said.
“What?”
The vortex holding me in the air vanished. I remained suspended for several heartbeats, and for a split second I doubted what had just happened.
Then gravity confirmed it, snatching me from the air and pulling me down.
Chapter 21
No One Gave Me A Parachute
LEELA
My scream was pushed back down my throat by the rushing wind as I hurtled toward the clouds below. My heart jumped into my throat, belly curling into my ribs, eyes streaming, teeth rattling, and the needle-sharp awareness that I was going to die piercing every inch of me.
No one was close enough to save me. There would be no last-minute reprieve.
Nani’s face filled my mind, her dark eyes lit with laughter, followed by Pashim’s gentle smile.
Oh god, Blue…
Don’t die…
I’m sorry, Blue.
I’d failed them.
I’d fucking failed them all.
Araz…I wouldn’t get to say goodbye to Araz. But he’d be free now…
