Page 54 of Their Fierce Little Monster

My heart slams into the back of my throat, and I scream as I lunge forward, “Lian!” I shove myself to lean over the stone parapet, dread twisting inside me that I’ll find him splattered at the bottom.

Instead, he’s standing on a narrow ridge sticking out of the wall, which is used for planters, that runs the full length. Right now, several of the flowers are lying smashed in the gardens all the way down. He’s about a foot below the lip’s edge, chest to the wall, head tilted back, wearing a mischievous smirk.

“Aww, you really care for me,” he purrs.

Fury grips my chest. “You asshole! I actually thought you fell to your death. How could you do that? Something’s very wrong with you!”

“Yeah, I’m not denying that.” He reaches up, grips the top of the parapet with both hands, and hauls himself up with muscles that bulge in his arms. I hate that I can’t stop watching them flex under his skin. Then he’s back up there, crouching before me, arms resting over his bent knees. “The most important thing is that you really care about me.”

I roll my eyes even as my heart still thumps rapidly in my chest. “Don’t read too much into it. I just happen to be a decent person who reacts to someone falling off a balcony, like a normal person. But I don’t care about what happens to you specifically.”

He grins again, and it’s all teeth. “If that’s the case, then you’re too stiff. You should live life a bit more. Take risks, Dawn.” He’s rubbing his chin. “I get the impression that you don’t get enough.”

“Trust me, I get enough.” My thoughts fly to Insy and me sneaking down into the dungeon to see Kazak and how close we were to getting caught.

Lian stares at me intensely, and I do my best to act nonchalantly, like his presence doesn’t have a single impact on me. Which is a humongous lie, considering the longer I spend in his company, the more a frenzied desire spikes through me. I suspect he knows exactly the effect he has on me, and I tell myself that I can use this to my advantage, get him on my side, and maybe he’ll take out Corvin, followed by Kazak eliminating Lian, and then we’d almost be free.

Geez, look at me, already planning how two monsters are going to die. Settle down there, killer!

“Then prove it to me,” he dares, extending a clawed hand, palm up. “Join me up here.”

“Of course, because I’m an idiot.”

He shrugs and lowers his arms. “Then you’ve just proved my case. And I get that it’s a long way down, so you’re scared.”

I narrow my eyes at him, irritation flaring across my chest. “You’re the one who’s scared.” All right, not my finest comeback, but he has this way of getting under my skin.

“Just assumed you’d enjoy seeing the most incredible view in the universe.” He glances over his shoulder as if he doesn’t have a care in the world, almost dismissing me.

“Fine, I’ll bite. What kind of view, seeing as you’re making such a dramatic deal of it?”

His attention swings back in my direction, his gaze almost possessive at how deeply he stares at me. “The kind you’ll never forget and will be telling others about for years.”

“Right, and that’s available if I just step up there with you?” I find myself pushing onto my tiptoes, sweeping my gaze across the landscape. Sure, the city is phenomenal, but the best in the universe? Those are big words.

His hand reaches out to me once more. “Let me show you. You can trust me.”

“I don’t trust you, but you’ve got me curious. And, well, if you were going to kill me, you would have done it by now.”

“That’s my girl.”

I can’t believe I’m even reaching over to place my hand in his when I know he’s wild, reckless, and insane. No one can say I don’t take risks now.

He draws me up with ease as though I weigh nothing, and suddenly the world around me spins as I join him. The world in front of me drops away, and the distance is so far that I swallow hard.

My pulse races, but before I can overthink it, Lian, who still holds my hand, leads me to walk behind him to the edge of my balcony. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” he tells me as he suddenly hops down onto a ledge where my balcony ends with a wall. A sliver of panic grips me. “Now come down here with me.”

I nibble on my lower lip, trying not to stare at the distance I will fall to my death. “Why am I doing this, again?”

“Because you’re brave,” he tells me with that cocky grin. He releases me and scrambles up onto the parapet on my neighbor’s balcony. Then he offers me his hand once more.

“And if I slip and fall?”

“I’ll dive after you so I can break your fall.”

I half laugh because he’s deadly serious. But I’m curious about this so-called view, and I’ve gone up on roofs back in the village plenty of times, so I accept his help. Without thinking, I slowly climb down onto the ledge, holding on to my dress to avoid flashing him. It’s not the best outfit for scaling a building.

With my face closer to the wall, I shuffle sideways to where he towers over me. He leans down, his hands slipping under my armpits, and he scoops me up swiftly. Next thing I know, I’m pressed up against the full length of him, our bodies flush, and I come up to his neck in height. Suddenly, I feel tiny and instantly forget the danger, and when I tip my head back, he’s staring down at me with those bronze eyes.