I shove through the men, heart hammering in my ears, and leap off the cliff’s edge. The wind rushes up, freezing the air in my throat. Vane is falling and falling, his back to the ocean below. “Don’t,” he mouths. It reminds me of the same warning he gave me back at the lagoon before he finally gave in to me. When he told me not to run. When he tried to save me from himself. But I don’t need saving. Not then and not now. Is he worth it? the shadow asks. Worth it and more, I tell it.
