Page 125 of The Weaver

“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 betthatwas 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 isfreaked?” 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 henopesright 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.

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