Gilded Serpent by Danielle Jensen (top 10 novels txt) 📕

times she’d had to stop to warm his hands and feet, his skin icy against her overheated flesh. She had given him two more doses of narcotic, but she was terrified to give him any more. Too much was lethal. Would stop his heart. And every time she held her fingers to his throat to check his pulse, she swore it was weaker.

She had to cross now.

It was almost more than she could manage to lift Marcus up and fasten him to the line, her body shaking with the effort. The wind howled in her ears and her fingers were numb from being exposed to the cold while she worked. Knotting his harness to hers, Teriana started forward, bracing her feet against where the vertical side ropes were wrapped around the foot cable, Marcus sliding down the overhead line.

Due to its length, the slope down to the midpoint was more dramatic than that of the other bridges, making Teriana feel as though she were climbing down a ladder rather than walking across a bridge, Marcus’s weight threatening to pull her loose with every step.

The wind gusted, sending them whipping from side to side and forcing her to cling to the cables, her bottom pressed against the foot line until the swinging ceased. Her heart thundered, sweat pouring down her forehead and into her eyes, her mouth so dry she could barely swallow.

She reached the midpoint, which was alarmingly far beneath the cliff tops, meaning she was now faced with a climb. And she had almost nothing left to give.

The wind struck.

The bridge swung to the side, then snapped back in the other direction. Again and again, causing Marcus’s body to slam against her, nearly knocking her loose. A sob of terror tore from her lips as the wind battered her with no respite, making it nearly impossible to climb.

Finally, it eased, and Teriana clambered forward, locking her feet against the cross ropes and dragging herself up by the cables with Marcus’s limp form trailing along behind. Up and up she climbed, breath coming in ragged gasps, her side stitched with cramps. Up and up … then, as she pulled on the right cable, it suddenly gave.

A scream tore from her throat as she fell forward, losing her grip on the other cable. She slammed against the foot line, barely getting her arms and one leg around it as her body swung around, back hanging above the river raging three hundred feet below.

Frozen in place, she hung there, the wind blowing her from side to side, Marcus unconscious and helpless above her.

“The Six help me. The Six help me. The Six help me,” she sobbed, tears running down her face.

Then a snap filled the air and the foot line jerked.

Tilting her head back so that she could see, Teriana stared in horror at the dangling ropes, the only thing holding the bridge in place the foot line. And if the two cables had already broken loose, what were the chances the third would hold?

Climb!

Arms and legs wrapped around the remaining cable, she climbed, the harness at her waist taut as she dragged Marcus with her.

The incline grew the closer she got to the other side, but she didn’t pause to see how much farther there was to go. There was no time. Hand over hand, her weight resting on the strength of her legs. But they were quivering, her energy nearly spent. Her hands ached beneath her mittens, grip weakening as she reached for the knots where the cables had been linked together, a fiery burn filling her shoulders. Her neck.

Her sides were cramped so badly she could barely breathe, but she was almost there. Almost to the edge. Tilting her head back, she saw the cliff’s edge was only an arm length away. Then another snap filled the air.

And she was falling.

The wind rushed out of her lungs as the harness around her body jerked tight, the rope attaching her to Marcus the only thing keeping her from plunging to her death.

She screamed as she flipped upside down, both of them sliding down the baggage line, the world a twist of whites and greys and blacks, wind ripping her hood back from her head as their momentum grew.

They slid to a halt at the halfway point between the two cliffs, the baggage line bowing beneath their combined weight as they swung back and forth.

She couldn’t breathe. Rapid little gasps brought no relief, nor the ragged sobs that made her feel like her body was being torn in two. Stars filled her eyes, and it felt again like she was falling. Falling into a darkness that she’d never find her way out of.

You’re hyperventilating. Calm down! Some reserve of logic filtered up into her thoughts, warring with her terror. You aren’t dead yet! Think of a way out of this!

Sucking in a deep breath, she held it, then blew it out. Repeated the process over and over until the stars cleared. Twisting so that she no longer dangled upside down, she shouted, “Marcus! Wake up! I need you to wake up!”

He didn’t move. Didn’t so much as twitch.

And part of her wondered if he was still alive, or if he’d frozen to death or if she’d stopped his heart with the narcotics. Whether she’d sacrificed herself to save a corpse. And with the thoughts, panic crept back in, so she shouted, “Get your head on straight, Teriana! Hop to!”

Her voice echoed through the ravine, chastising her again and again.

Reaching, she tried to pull herself up the rope linking her and Marcus together, but her mittened hands slipped. Grimacing, she pulled them off and tucked them in her belt, immediately feeling the bite of cold against her skin. She needed to move fast while she still had feeling in them.

And before the baggage cable, which was all that was keeping them from falling, gave way like the others.

Teeth clenched together, she heaved, pulling herself up until she was able to grab hold of