Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
Ahmya looked out over the valley from her perch astride Rekosh’s hindquarters.
She remembered the first time she’d seen Kaldarak. It had been wondrous and magical, like a fairytale village with its treehouses and rope bridges, backed by an ancient temple and a shimmering waterfall, where rainbows danced on the mist when the sun hit it just right.
But it had also been terrifying. A new, unknown place, populated by giant, spiky spider-beings who might not have been so accepting of a bunch of shadowstalkers and humans.
The terror had long since passed, but the beauty of Kaldarak had only grown.
Placing her hands on Rekosh’s shoulders, Ahmya clenched her thighs on his hindquarters and lifted herself higher to peer past him, ignoring the aches and pains in her body. Despite the distance, she could see the thornskulls gathered on the main platform. She could even make out the humans standing amongst the vrix.
We are home.
She settled back down and smiled as excitement rushed through her. She couldn’t wait for this new beginning, this new life with Rekosh. “Will we be living in your den or mine?”
A thoughtful hum rumbled in Rekosh’s chest as he followed Garahk and the other thornskulls down the path into the valley. “Nalaki may offer us a den for a mated pair, as she did for Ketahn and Ivy. But I would rather live in your den than mine, kir’ani vi’keishi .”
“Why mine?”
“Because it is made for your comfort and is where you grow your flowers. And because I want to be wrapped in your scent.”
Ahmya blushed, but her smile widened. “Will you make us a fluffed silk bed? I don’t think you’d fit on my little pallet.”
He chittered. “Anything you desire, you shall have. Only the softest silk to cradle you, my nyleea .”
Ahmya slipped her arms around his chest and brushed her lips over the back of his shoulder. In a soft voice, she said, “As long as I have you, I don’t need anything else.”
He purred, settling his lower hands over hers and squeezing them gently. “You will have me always, Ahmya. Always.”
“This is still strange,” Urkot said from beside them.
“That they are finally mated?” Ketahn asked, turning to look at them from ahead before chittering. “I say it was overdue.”
“No, not that. The way he is speaking.” Urkot tilted his head as he regarded Rekosh. “He has given so few barbed words since yesterday that I fear he must have taken a blow to the head.”
“They must have knocked all those needles right out.”
Rekosh chittered and shook his head. “I thought it was fluffed silk in my skull, not needles.”
Urkot thumped the ground with a leg. “Who could guess what was lost in that fluff? We will never know, as those needles have been replaced by soft, tender words.”
“He sounds like Ketahn,” Telok said from behind.
“What?” Ketahn and Rekosh demanded simultaneously .
“It is true!” Urkot swung his gaze to Ketahn before returning it to Rekosh. “Perhaps it is a trait of weavers?”
Rekosh let out an exaggerated huff. “We do not sound alike.”
Telok let out a huff of his own. “You speak to Ahmya like Ketahn speaks to Ivy.”
“There is nothing wrong with the way I speak to Ivy,” said Ketahn.
Ahmya chuckled at their playful banter.
Rekosh’s mandibles were raised in a smile, and she could feel the warmth and joy radiating from him. He and Ahmya had been through so much to get to this moment, but they hadn’t let themselves be broken. They hadn’t relinquished their happiness.
“Do not heed them, Ketahn,” Rekosh said. “These two are simply bitter because they have only rocks and trees to speak to.”
With a chitter, Urkot bumped a foreleg against Rekosh’s. “Sharper, needlelegs, but not enough so to pierce my hide.”
“I know of little that could, stoneskull. For now, I shall hold my barbs for my enemies.” Rekosh glanced at Ahmya over his shoulder. A loving light gleamed in his crimson eyes. “My time with my wife shall be filled with sweet words and smiles.”
Warmth spread through Ahmya, and her heart fluttered at the possessive way Rekosh said that human word. She’d never tire of hearing it.
After a brief trek across the valley floor, they reached the wide stairs that wound up and around the trunk of a huge tree, leading to the village.
As they climbed the steps, Ahmya pressed her body against Rekosh’s warm back, resting her cheek against his hide, and tightened her embrace. She didn’t cling to him due to fear of heights or falling, but in anticipation, in relief, and because finally, they were home. Together, and as mates.
Rekosh stroked her hands with his thumbs .
Thornskulls called out in greeting as the party traversed Kaldarak’s bridges and platforms. The air was literally abuzz with excitement, thanks to the countless chattering vrix gathered at the city’s heart.
Ahmya again peered around Rekosh as they approached the central platform, where Garahk and his mate denned. It was crowded with colorful thornskulls, a sea of summer and autumn. At the front of the group were several familiar faces.
Nalaki, daiya of Kaldarak, stood foremost. Two little white broodlings and a larger reddish brown one were huddled beside her legs, while two more ochre broodlings clung to her back and hindquarters. Ivy stood beside Nalaki, holding Akalahn in her arms, with a huge smile on her face. The other humans were clustered around them, a few of them waving.
When Rekosh strode onto the platform and came to a stop, he crouched and helped Ahmya dismount. She’d barely settled her feet on the ground before she was swept into a tight hug.
“You scared the fuck out of me!” Lacey rasped. “When we heard those things howling, we went back to look for you, but you were just gone, and… I shouldn’t have left you. I shouldn’t have gone back without you.”
Ahmya hugged her friend back. “It’s okay. We’re okay. Rekosh kept me safe.”
Lacey drew back and firmly cupped Ahmya’s face. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
There was true fear in Lacey’s green eyes, and Ahmya’s heart hurt for her.
“I can’t make any promises,” Ahmya said with a smile. “But I will try.”
“I will always be her shield,” Rekosh said. “I weave my words into a bond.”
She looked at her mate. His crimson eyes bore as much conviction as his words .
“My turn!” Callie announced, slipping past Lacey to steal Ahmya into her own embrace. “You had us all so worried.”
She eased back and ran her large brown eyes over Ahmya, frowning. “What happened ?”
Ahmya knew what Callie was seeing, considering her blanket-turned-dress didn’t hide much. Scratches and deep purple bruises covered her skin, and there was a silk bandage wrapped around her forearm where Rekosh had dressed her stab wound.
“It’s…a long story,” Ahmya said. “But I can say that I helped defeat the Queen of Ash and Bone.”
“The what?”
“Let’s just say there were some loyalists of Zurvashi who strung up her remains thinking that she would come back after a few…sacrifices.”
Callie’s eyes widened. “ What? ”
An alarmed murmur swept through the surrounding vrix as the thornskulls picked up on that name—Zurvashi.
Now standing beside his mate Nalaki, Garahk raised his arms, hushing the crowd. In a booming voice, he declared, “The Blooddrinker Queen is no more. We have slain her followers, and made her into dust.”
Callie’s black brows furrowed as she looked from Garahk to Ahmya. “What’d you do?”
Ahmya grinned. “Set that bitch on fire and sent her back to her grave.”
A laugh burst from Callie as she drew Ahmya in for another hug. “Badass.”
When Callie stepped back, Ivy stood before Ahmya, eyes brimming with tears. A sob escaped her as, holding Akalahn to her chest, she clutched Ahmya in a tight, one-armed embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Ivy said, voice thick. “After losing Ella… I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you too.”
Ahmya’s chest constricted, and tears burned her eyes. They were all still mourning the loss of their friend, who’d been taken from them three months ago.
Taken by Zurvashi.
Only Ketahn and his sister, Ahnset, knew what had truly happened, and neither of them had been willing—or able—to describe Ella’s death. But having seen Zurvashi in the flesh, Ahmya and the other humans knew the woman’s end had been horrific and cruel.
What Ahmya had done to Zurvashi’s remains hadn’t taken away her sorrow, but it eased her grief a little to know that Ella would be remembered fondly while the reviled Queen of Ash and Bone was slowly forgotten.
“You didn’t lose me,” Ahmya said softly.
“I’m glad you’re both safe and back with us.” Ivy sniffled and eased back. She offered Ahmya a smile, then chuckled as she wiped her eyes. “I’m also a hormonal mess right now.”
“You just had a baby. There’s also nothing wrong with crying.” Ahmya grinned and peered down at Akalahn, who was wide awake and alert. His violet eyes were bright against the black of his skin, curiously taking in the world around him.
Ketahn whisked Ivy into his arms, making her yelp, and clutched her to his chest. He leaned his head down and nuzzled her face. “But I do not like when my heartsthread cries.”
Ivy laughed and pressed a kiss to his mouth as she curled her arm around his neck. “I missed you.”
“And I missed both of you,” he said after lifting his head, turning his adoring gaze to Akalahn.
Ahmya watched Ketahn stride away with his mate and broodling until Will and Diego approached her.
Diego shook his head as he looked Ahmya and Rekosh over. “Looks like you two had fun out there.”
“Maybe a little,” Ahmya said, pinching her finger and thumb close together .
“You’ll swing by soon just so I can check everything out, right?”
Ahmya nodded. “I will.”
He grinned. “I would have a much less eventful life if everyone knew how to have fun without getting hurt.”
“I don’t think anything could be more eventful than helping to deliver a human-vrix hybrid baby. I bet that was an experience.”
Will laughed. “Yeah, that was something.” He gently nudged Ahmya’s arm with a closed fist. “Good to have you back, Ahmya. You too, Rekosh.”
“We are glad to be back,” Rekosh replied, tapping his foreleg against Will’s calf.
Diego slipped his arm around Will’s waist and drew him close.
Cole snickered. “You should have seen how freaked out Telok and Urkot were.”
“He is speaking of us?” Telok asked in vrix.
“What is freaked ?” Urkot asked simultaneously in English.
“It means you were so worried you were acting wildly,” Callie said.
After Rekosh translated Callie’s explanation, Telok folded his lower arms across his chest. “I was not acting wildly.”
Lacey snorted. “Telok was so grumpy. Like far grumpier, bossier, and snappier than normal. And that’s saying a lot.”
Telok narrowed his eyes on her. “What did she say?”
“That you are sweeter than cloudfruit and more beautiful than the most vibrant suncrest blossom,” Rekosh said.
“Why must you spin words from nothing?” Telok demanded with a low growl. “I know that is not what she said of me.”
Lacey sauntered forward to stand in front of Telok. The black and green vrix lowered his arms and shifted his spear aside as he looked down at her, an uncharacteristic uncertainty creeping into his stance .
Smiling as sweetly at Telok as she had in Ketahn and Ivy’s den all those days ago, Lacey pressed a finger to his chest. “Maybe…” She slowly grazed that finger up, trailing it along his scarred neck, until she turned her hand and held her fingertip beneath his chin. “You should learn my words so you can understand me.”
A shudder rippled through Telok, who visibly tensed. He let out a harsh huff, grumbled something that may or may not have been actual words, and withdrew from Lacey abruptly. He strode away without looking back, his posture maintaining that tension until he was out of sight.
Lacey blinked, her hand hovering in the air briefly before she let it fall. “Is it me? Seriously, what is his problem? Everyone else teases him and it’s fine, but I do it and he nopes right out of here.”
“Oh, I have a few ideas,” Cole said as he combed his hand through his hair.
Diego hummed. “Probably best not to take it personally, Lacey.”
Lacey crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched her nose. “Kind of hard not to.”
“Hey big guy,” Callie said, poking Urkot’s shoulder. She waved in the direction Telok had fled. “What’s up with him?”
Urkot glanced at Lacey and chittered. “Telok is Telok.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “That’s sooooo helpful.”
“Anyway!” Cole stepped up to Ahmya, threw his arms around her, and swept her off her feet, causing her to squeak. “Welcome home!”
Ahmya laughed as the world twirled around her. “Cole!”
Their spin halted abruptly when one of Rekosh’s hands clamped down on Cole’s shoulder.
Eyebrows shooting up, Cole lowered Ahmya onto her feet and retreated, displaying his palms placatingly. “Easy, man. We’re just friends. ”
Rekosh curled an arm around Ahmya’s waist and drew her into the shelter of his body. “And she is mine .”
He wrapped his arms securely around her. Even his claspers brushed her hips possessively. Smiling, Ahmya leaned back against him, folded her arms atop his, and tipped her head back to look up at her mate. Those crimson eyes, once so frightening but now endearing, gazed down at her.
Cole laughed. “It’s about fucking time.”
“Yes,” Rekosh said. “It is.”
When he broke eye contact with her, Rekosh looked out at the crowd around them, at all the faces that had become so familiar, and lifted his mandibles in a smile. She felt a soft purr in his chest.
“Kaldarak. My friends, my family,” he called in vrix, his voice deep, smooth, powerful, confident. “I, Rekosh tes Loshei’ani Ul’okari, have taken Ahmya Hayashi as my mate. I have conquered her. I have claimed her.”
His eyes dipped, meeting hers and holding them. “My little flower, my heartsthread. My nyleea . My wife. My everything. And before all, I give myself to her until all the world unravels around us…and even then, I will find some way to keep our spirits stitched together.”
A chorus of cheers rang out from the thornskulls.
Tears gathered in Ahmya’s eyes as happiness bloomed within her, so radiant and warm. When she’d boarded the Somnium , she hadn’t dared hope that she would find such happiness. She’d never thought she would have such deep, devoted, fervent love.
But it had found her. Yes, it had come at the bottom of a mucky pit in the rusted wreck of a spacecraft that had crashed on an alien planet, but it had found her nonetheless. And now that she had it, she was never going to let go.
She reached up and cupped the side of his face. He nuzzled her palm without looking away from her .
In slow but clear vrix, she said, “I, Ahmya Hayashi, have taken Rekosh tes Loshei’ani Ul’okari as my mate. I have been conquered. I have been claimed. And I am loved.”
With a growl, Rekosh spun her and lifted her into his arms, clutching her close as his hard mouth pressed against hers.
The cheers from the thornskulls swelled, punctuated by them thumping their legs on the platform and making all Kaldarak shake with joy.
All that pounding couldn’t match the thrilling thumps of her heart as she returned Rekosh’s kiss.