Page 18 of The Weaver

Humans were small to begin with, and Ahmya was smallest of all. Would her body be able to endure the ordeal?

That uncertainty sent a shiver across Rekosh’s hide. He only barely resisted the urge to reach for her, wrap his arms around her, and draw her against his body, to shelter her in his embrace. Instead, he tucked the bundled dress beneath his arm, accepting that the moment had passed.

For the first time in a long, long while, he was tempted to pray. He was tempted to beg the Eight to see Ivy and her broodling through this, to keep them safe and unharmed. Because Ivy was part of his tribe. Ivy was his friend, his family, the mate of a vrix who was Rekosh’s brother in all but blood.

And if she did not survive this, if humans could not birth vrix broodlings, it would mean Rekosh could not claim his Ahmya…because he would not risk her life.

But if all went well, if Ivy and Ketahn’s broodling was birthed without complication, it would mean…

Everything.

It would mean that despite all their differences, vrix andhumans were destined for each other. That they were meant to be.

He clenched his fists.

“Ivy and her broodling will be fine,” Rekosh said, meeting Ahmya’s gaze as she looked up at him. “She is strong. Ketahn is strong. Their little one will be strong too.”

CHAPTER 4

Ahmya satatop her pallet with her legs crossed and a blanket on her lap, running a wooden comb through her hair. A soft morning breeze blew in through the open window, carrying the scents of the jungle—moist earth, potent vegetation, and fragrant flowers.

Every day was surreal to Ahmya. She woke up each morning upon a bed of fluffed silk and cloth, in a home high above the ground on a ginormous tree, in a village where she lived alongside spider-like aliens, and wondered to herself if she was dreaming. How could any of this be real?

When she’d left Earth aboard theSomnium, ready to start a new life on Xolea, she’d certainly never imagined anything like this. Humans had never made contact with other intelligent lifeforms, had never found evidence that such beings even existed. And yet, here Ahmya was, one of seven survivors out of the thousands who had been on theSomnium, living in the jungle with the vrix.

The vrix, who humans could procreate with.

Even after everything, after all the wondrous, terrifying things Ahmya had seen since awakening on this unfamiliarworld, that was the most staggering discovery by far. Not that humans could mate with the vrix, but that they couldbreedwith them.

Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible. Humans and vrix were so different from each other.

Diego guessed it was due to the injections the colonists had been given before departure. They’d been told all those shots were supposed to build their immune systems, amplify their resistance to toxins and diseases, and help their bodies adapt to their new world.

Apparently, the injections also allowed human bodies to adapt to alien sperm.

Setting the comb on the small wooden table beside her bed, Ahmya drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. She was going to see Ivy this morning. Despite the screams and cries having continued well into the night on the day Ivy had gone into labor, she and the baby had thankfully survived and were perfectly healthy. Exhausted, but healthy. It had been an immense relief for everyone.

They’d already lost one friend. They hadn’t wanted to lose another.

The next day, Callie, Lacey, and Cole had waited until the evening to visit Ivy, giving her and the baby—Akalahn—time to rest. Ahmya hadn’t joined them. There’d been an anxiousness within her, roiling and overwhelming, that had bordered on panic throughout the day. She still wasn’t sure where it had come from or why it had stricken her so suddenly…

You know why, Ahmya.

It’s because you’re next.

“I’m not.” She flipped the blanket off her legs and pushed herself to her feet.

You are, and you know it.

“Stop it. I’m not…I’m not having spider babies.”

Ahmya had to admit that the thought petrified her. She’dalways been afraid of spiders, and she was still creeped out by any and all insects and arachnids. Though the vrix were definitely not spiders, she could not ignore their many, many arachnoid traits. She’d grown comfortable around them over time, but to have sex with one?

You mean to have sex with Rekosh?

She glared, cross-eyed, at the voice in her head. “No more from you.”

You know you’re curious. You have been ever since you heard Ketahn and Ivy mating. All Ivy’s pleasure-filled cries, Ketahn’s guttural grunts and growls?—

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