Page 126 of Rok's Captive
I find myself reflecting on their fascination. They see only her femaleness, this rare thing they have heard of but never witnessed. They do not know how truly remarkable she is beyond this simple fact of her existence.
They did not see her face death without flinching.
They did not witness her attack Tharn to protect me.
They cannot comprehend the gift she gave in accepting me into herself, in sharing her water.
This last thought sends a wave of possessiveness through me so strong, it makes Tharn glance sharply in my direction. I know what most of my brothers are thinking. They wonder if they, too, might claim a female, if Jus-teen’s arrival heralds a change in the endless sameness of our lives.
Kol has said nothing of how we will proceed once we find these other females. He is cautious, as a leader must be. But I can sense his curiosity, his calculations.
I am not certain these other females will be as receptive as my Jus-teen. I am not certain they should be. The thought of my brothers bonding with them brings a complexity of emotions I do not fully understand.
Each time we stop to rest, the others gather around Jus-teen, their questions coming fast and eager. She answers with patience I would not possess in her position, explaining concepts that must seem as foreign to them as our world must have once been to her.
“Do all females produce water from their eyes?”
“Why do you wear these different hide coverings?”
By the third rest period, I find myself wishing, with some guilt, that they might each find a female of their own—if only so they would leave mine in peace. The thought surprises me with its selfishness.
In the dark, when the temperature drops and Jus-teen curls against me for warmth, I can sense the weight of watching eyes. The interest of my brothers grows with each passing solmark, until our camp buzzes with anticipation like a hive of stinging mites.
Their questions become more specific, more personal.
“What did her water taste like?”
“How did you know she was yours to claim?”
“Will the others let us claim them, too?”
By the fourth sol, relief washes over me like cool water. We have arrived. We stop as a group, looking out over the dust. The Silent Valley—a vast area of dust that even the most fearsome predators do not tread.
And there, in the distance, something reflects Ain’s rays back at us—a gleam of unnatural smoothness amid the rough terrain.
Jus-teen straightens beside me, her hand finding mine in an instinctive gesture.
“Oh my goodness…it’s them,” she vocalizes, her thoughts coming scattered, filled with relief and anxiety in equal measure. “It’s the ship.”
Chapter36
JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THINGS WERE LOOKING UP
JUSTINE
The moment I see the glint of metal in the distance, something in me breaks loose. I’m moving before I can think, my feet carrying me forward in a stumbling run through the shifting sand.
“Jacqui!” I call out, my voice swallowed by the vastness of the desert. “Jacqui!”
Behind me, I sense hesitation from the Drakav, their confusion rippling across my mind like disturbed water. They didn’t expect this sudden burst of movement, this desperate sprint toward the unknown. But I can’t slow down. Not now. Not when I’m so close.
After a moment’s pause, I sense them following. Rok’s presence stands out most clearly in my mind, a mixture of concern and protectiveness washing over me.
“Be careful,” his thoughts reach me. “This Valley holds much danger.”
I don’t slow. I can’t. Every cell in my body is driving me forward, toward that glint of metal, toward the hope that everyone is still alive.
As I run, a terrible thought grips me: What if I’m too late? What if the bus is empty, nothing but a metal coffin baking in the relentless sun? My imagination conjures the worst images—bodies withered from dehydration, or worse, nothing at all, just an abandoned shell with no clue as to what happened to the others.
