Chapter 35 · The Abyss Answers

"Get your hands off me!" The words ripped out of my throat, then vanished into the roar of rushing air.

I wasn't falling anymore.

I slammed onto jagged black stone. Pain shot through my ribs. Ozone burned my nose, mixed with the stink of old rot, and every breath scraped my lungs raw.

"Sia!"

Kane's voice shook the cavern.

I rolled onto my side, coughing. He was already moving. Dust clung to his coat. His golden eyes burned through the dark, wild and furious.

Then he lunged.

"Kane—wait!"

Too late.

He caught my wrists and pinned them above my head. Cold stone pressed into my back. His body blocked out the cavern, all heat and hard muscle and barely controlled rage.

"Are you hurt?" he demanded. "Are you bleeding?"

"Get off me!"

"Answer me."

"I'm fine!"

His grip tightened.

"You call that fine? You dropped through a death trap."

"And whose fault was that? You almost let me die!"

"Almost?" His face lowered until his breath touched my mouth. "You think I'd let you disappear? Not after I finally found you."

"Found me? You tackled me into the Abyss!"

"I caught you."

"You slammed me into a rock!"

"You're alive."