Page 124 of Dance of Thorns

“Hang on,” he growls.

I shake my head, holding him tighter. “I don’t want to hang?—”

“I need to show you something first.”

He pulls away and takes my hand in his. He leads me out of the library, into the living room, and then out to the stone veranda high above the ocean below.

“Bane!”

My heart jumps into my throat as he casually steps up onto the stone parapet at the very edge of the veranda, whichimmediatelydrops away on the other side. Bane’s face is calm as he turns to offer me a hand.

“Come here.”

I pause, then take his hand, letting him pull me up next to him. A terrifying and yet familiar and comforting feeling sizzles through my veins as I glance down at the dark abyss below, at the bottom of the rocky, jagged cliffs.

The air suddenly feels colder, and a violent shiver tightens my muscles as my spine snaps straight.

My toes curl against the stone. My breathing slows and turns shallow.

I feel numb, and it all feels like it’s hitting my senses through a wall of gauze as I slowly lower my gaze to the plunging abyss dropping away inches from the edges of my toes.

Everything is quiet and still.

All I can hear is the sluggish, heavy thud of my heart echoing inside my head.

“Bane—”

“Do you still want to?”

There’s a flat, distant edge to his voice, devoid of any emotion. Like he’s removed any trace of the pain that comes with asking that question.

Do I still want to jump.

Do I still want todie.

The world around me slows to a crawl. I can hear the wind swirling around my ankles and teasing over my skin. I can feel the weight of every thought that grins lasciviously at me from the shadows. Taunting. Prodding.Daring.

Do I want to die.

I draw in a shaky breath, staring into the jagged rocky blackness far below.

“Why…”

“Just answer the question,” he whispers.

I turn, expecting to find his eyes on me. Instead, I tremble a little more when I see he’s looking down into the darkness too, like he’s waging the same battle.

Like he’s got the same demons taunting and daring him to just take one last step and be done with it.

“If you go…” Bane murmurs. His gaze is still down, staring into the blackness, as he nods his chin up and down. Then he turns his head, his dark eyes glinting in the moonlight as he looks at me. “Then I go.”

I drag in a broken breath. “Why would I go?” I whisper.

“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, looks back down past our toes again. “But if you go, I’m coming with you.”

A shiver ripples up my back as his hand finds mine. Our fingers entwine, and I squeeze tightly as a vicious tremor wracks my body and I stare back at the drop.

The whole world shrinks to the head of a pin.