Black Moon Draw(60)

“Depends on the command.”

“As I thought. You need another lesson, and since I swore not to dismember you . . .” The Shadow Knight shoves me off the roof.

My screech stops short as I hit the extent of the sheet. Heart slamming into my chest, I grip my lifeline and stare down at the bay below.

“If it comes loose, tell me quickly,” he advises.

You’re such an *. I’m facing the wrong way to see his expression, but he sounds a little too amused shoving me off the roof to be an act of necessity only.

These lessons of his leave much to be desired. Is this how he trains his foot soldiers? How is anyone left alive to fight?

From the rooftop, he begins swinging me back and forth. I close my eyes, not about to throw up in the middle of my idea for rescuing us and pray he doesn’t drop me.

At first, nothing happens, not until I’m swinging out far enough to reach the same level as the Shadow Knight. I open my eyes at the sickening sensation of free falling before the sheet catches me and glance towards him. He’s focused and balanced atop the roof, his stance wide and the muscles of his arms straining.

The heavy tower starts to swing shallowly at first and then farther.

“Bringing you up!” he calls.

No argument here.

The Shadow Knight pulls me back to the top of the tower and steadies me on the swaying tower.

“We may succeed,” he grunts, hanging onto the chain with one hand to keep his balance.

“If we don’t fall or get crushed against the next tower over.” I grip his tunic, not liking our precarious position at all. He’s sturdy-footed enough that I almost believe he’s immune to any sort of human weakness. We gaze at each other too long, as usual, his intensity making me want to wilt.

“Do not give up yet, Naia.” He turns his body until my back is to the chain. “Hold onto the chain. I shall fetch more.”

I release him with a nod and wrap my arm around the chain. With no hesitation, he lowers his center of balance and moves towards the edge, lying down on his stomach. He’s reaching for something beneath his perch – wooden beams maybe? – and then lifts his body up and over with control I’ve only seen watching the gymnastics portion of the Olympics on television.

Incredible. His sheer strength makes me shiver and his otherworldly agility causes my blood to light on fire.

He lowers himself until his belly is facing the sky and then drops, disappearing from my vision. I’m not about to venture close enough to the edge to see if he’s made it and wait.

Moments later, an arm reappears. I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding and kneel. Looping one leg through the chain, I stretch out with my body to help him. He tosses an armful of sheets over the rooftop. I snag them and draw them back, then sit on one hip as close to the edge as I can get in case he falls.

He’s too strong to fall. I should know better. When he hauls himself up onto the roof once more, I inch away to give him space. He moves around me and sits close enough for our thighs to press together.

“Tie the ends together,” he says.

We sit and fashion a longer rope.

With some dread, I realize what exactly comes next. He’s about to toss his battle-witch off the roof again. We finish up and crawl on our knees to the edge. The tower has lost some momentum but is still swinging.

“Ready?” the Shadow Knight asks.

I don’t think it matters whether or not I am.

He double-checks the ties at my waist and stands, pulling me with him. The impact of our bodies meeting jars me more than I’m expecting. There is something here that wasn’t there before, when I didn’t realize I’d started to like him enough to sacrifice my life for his.

“You really need to learn not to manhandle a woman,” I tell him, pushing his hands off me. “It might be acceptable here, but it’s not where I’m from.” I take a small step back to put distance between us. “In fact, from here on out –”

He takes a step towards me and I instinctively move back.

My foot hits air and I tumble gracelessly head over heels off the roof. I don’t have time to scream this time and grunt when the sheet snaps tight around me and I hit a sudden stop.

“You learn slowly,” the Shadow Knight calls. “Obedience, witch.”

I mutter a few curse words. Hanging a good fifteen feet below the tower, I decide I’d rather not curse him loudly and risk he leaves me here. He’s got a really weird sense of humor, barbaric, one I don’t comprehend completely.

The first two attempts to swing me end with my sheets colliding with the tower and jolting me. My eyes go to the ocean below and I start to feel sick.

“Have you no sense of rhythm!” I shout at him.

“Mayhap you can show me rhythm when we are through this,” he responds.

“Not without your man parts falling off!” I twist to glare up at him. I can’t see him beyond the roof and brace myself for another jarring. It comes and I grit my teeth. Please hold! I’m not ready to die! I will the sheet.

“You will not die, Naia,” the Shadow Knight calls, his voice firm. “I will not let that happen.”

“If you want to do me a favor, stop reading my mind,” I retort.

“You believe . . . me capable?” he returns, grunting as he begins swinging me in concert with the swaying tower.