Chapter 31 · Down into the Furnace

"Hold still, or I'll carve the heresy out of you myself," Vesper spat, her blade pressing into the soft skin beneath Lucian's jaw.

They were plummeting. The wind screamed past them, a violent roar that threatened to rip the lungs straight out of their chests. Lucian didn't blink. He couldn't—he was too busy feeling the jagged heat of the Cathedral's holy furnace rushing up to meet them like a hungry mouth.

"Do it," Lucian choked out, his voice barely a whisper against the gale. "End it now, Vesper. Or we both burn."

She didn't pull away. Instead, she tightened her grip, her knuckles white, her chest pressed hard against his as they tumbled through the air. Her breath was hot, frantic, smelling of ozone and copper. For a second, the terror in her eyes flickered into something else—a desperate, jagged kind of hunger.

"Why aren't you begging?" she yelled over the wind. "You're a broken man! A cripple! Why the hell aren't you screaming?"

Lucian let out a sharp, dry laugh that sounded like breaking glass. "Because I've already been through hell, sweetheart. This is just a homecoming."

Then the impact hit.

They didn't hit water or stone.