Palm of Destiny by Rebecca Segal Page B

know, hold on!” Opening his eyes, he focused on steadying his breaths. “Lie down on your stomach. Slowly… okay? Just go slow. It will spread the weight of your body over the area instead of putting too much pressure on one spot.”
Rosalie stared at him like he had officially lost his mind. Then she gulped and whispered softly under her breath. A prayer, perhaps, or words to steady her nerves. Nodding once, she started to lie down on her stomach. Elijah could see the tremble in her arms, and he was struggling to keep still himself. He wanted to go to her and help, but knew that he could ruin both of their chances of surviving this if he did.
“That’s good,” he called over to her. “Just like that…”
Breathing inward deeply, her trembling only seemed to increase as soon as she was on her stomach. “Okay,” she whispered. “I’m there. Now what?”
“Crawl to me…but slowly…don’t try to rush anything.”
Elijah was in a more stable part of the apartment. The fire hadn’t ravaged this side as much as it had on Rosalie’s. For one thing, the floor didn’t wiggle when he moved. And for another, there were very few holes in his immediate area. If Rosalie could make it to him, they would at least have a chance of getting out of there together.
“Okay…here I come…” Shifting only a little bit to her knees, just so that she could move easier, she started to make her way toward where Elijah was crouching. He seemed so far away. Her heart pounded hard in her chest, and she found it hard to breathe. Tears were running unchecked down her cheeks as the fear in her started to turn into terror.
Each time she moved, she felt the floor shift. She was scared that the next time it shifted, it would fall…and her with it. When she put too much pressure on one of her knees, the floor buckled. Letting out a scream, all sense left her and she scrambled forward without thinking. With eyes wide and glassy with terror, she suddenly launched and reached.
There was a moment where she felt nothing underneath her. In looking down, she could see the floor falling away, tumbling straight down and out of her control. She felt herself being sucked into the same void, and her heart beat loudly against her chest. Her scream was more of a shriek, and horror was written across the entire visage of her face.
And then, she stopped falling. Dangling now, her body at the mercy of gravity, she chanced a look upward. She saw Elijah there, hanging onto her one lucky hand with both of his own.
“Grab the edge,” he said between clenched teeth. “I can’t…grab the edge!”
With wide eyes, she awkwardly swung her other arm toward the edge of the floor that seemed solid. When her fingers latched onto to it, a sharp breath of relief shot out of her. Dizziness threatened to overcome her, the shock of near falling to her death, but Elijah’s hands were trying to pull her up. She helped him to the best of her ability, shaking and barely able to properly control her muscles.
By the time she was finally safe and onto something solid, she broke down in harsh sobs and buried her face into Elijah’s chest, grabbing onto his body with all of her might. Her whole body shook, and her fingers clutched at him. She felt instant relief when his arms wrapped around her.
“I got you,” he whispered, holding her tighter. “I won’t let you go.”
Somewhere in the time between her falling and him catching her, there was emotion. Passionate and unhindered by thought, it was nothing less than love. The way that his heart had jumped straight into his throat when she had fallen, and the loss that he had felt…there was no denying what it was. He swallowed hard, one hand moving to gently cup around the back of her head as his eyes closed. Yes, he loved her. He didn’t know how it had happened, or why, but none of that really seemed to matter at that point. She was safe in his arms where he could do his best to protect her.
“Thank you,” she managed