154 Too Close to Call

RETH

"Reth, you're shaking!"

She stood between his feet because he'd hurriedly put her down when he'd realized he was still standing over the hole. He was terrified of losing his grip on her, of accidentally dropping her as all the strength went out of his limbs in response to the tidal wave of adrenalin that flooded him when she'd almost dropped to her death.

Straight to the rocks.

There would have been no way her fragile human body could have survived that.

He'd never intended…

He'd seen an equine fall from a cliff to rocks below, once. The image of Elia tumbling to her death that way rocked him. A wave of nausea hit him and he swallowed hard and backed away from the hole, stumbling slightly, then catching himself.

"Reth! Reth, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm just… recovering," he said gruffly. He sat down on the stump and put the heels of his hands to his eyes. "Elia, that was—"