“Zarrah!” he shouted as she crawled after Petra, trying to knock the soldier in his path out of the way to reach them. There was nowhere for Petra to go, for his companions would catch her on their way down. “Zarrah, let her go!”
It was as if she didn’t hear him, her bloodied face a mask of desperate determination as she reached for Petra’s throat.
The soldier slashed at him and Keris parried, knocking the man off-balance. A punch to the jaw sent him stumbling off the edge, revealing Zarrah atop Petra, strangling her.
Then Petra rolled.
No.
Memories flashed before his eyes. Of himself diving and reaching, Otis’s clothes brushing his fingers as he fell to his death. Of Serin just out of reach, his plunge setting a nightmare into motion.
Not her.
Keris dove forward, the bare skin of her arm slipping through his grasp as she dropped from sight.