Page 43 of Tharn's Hunt
"Ooh," she breathes as flames leap to life, casting dancing shadows across the cave walls.
The sound she makes pulls my gaze to her face, and my dra-kir gives a strange, tight thump.Her eyes reflect the firelight, turning them from water-blue to something deeper, richer. Her mouth is parted, and I watch the movement of her lips, the shape of them. The curve of them. The fullness that only her lips possess.
Jah-kee is pleasing to look at.
The thought is like a smooth, round stone in my claw. I turn it over and over. I have never thought this of another living thing. A kill is a kill. A brother is a brother. There is strong, and there is weak. There is threat, and there is prey. There is no...pleasing.
But Jah-kee...
Ain's light.She is a new thing in my world. A new thing in my head.
I cannot pull my gaze from her. From the light on her face. From the way her small hands gesture as she vocalizes. I try to listen to the night, to the fire, but the only thing my ears find is the sound of her voice.
My focus is broken. She has broken it.
"What are these stones?" she asks, leaning forward to examine the firestones more closely. "I don't think we have anything like this on Earth. This is like a camper's dream."
Her meaning is clear in her wide, curious eyes. Her interest is fixed on the firestones. Not true stone, but something else. The hardened lifeblood of things that lived and died. When struck, they bleed not water, but fire.
I select one of the smaller firestones, dousing it with sand before holding it out to her. She hesitates only briefly before accepting it, turning it over in her hands with careful movements.
"It's warm," she says, those water eyes bright as she looks up at me.
Taking the stone back, I demonstrate again how to strike it against another to create spark and flame. Bleeding fire for her.
Her face lights up with understanding. "Instant fire. God, my sister would love these. Justine's always been the one with survival skills. Me? I once set my hair on fire trying to light a gas stove."
She mimes something that might be flames rising from her head, then laughs at her own gesture. The sound catches me off guard. So bright and clear, like water tumbling over stones. It makes something warm unfurl in my chest, a sensation as strange as the fact she is here with me.
I realize with a jolt that I want to be the one who brings her joy like that. I want to be the reason she is happy.
It is not like my life as a hunter. My purpose has always been to track, to hunt, to provide meat. Protect the clan. To survive. The happiness of another being has never been a goal.
Until now.
I don't know when her presence became comfort rather than duty. When her safety became more important than the hunt itself.
No. Her safetyisthe hunt now.
The thought is a simple, hard truth. Like stone. Like bone.
She continues vocalizing, pointing to various aspects of the cave, asking questions I cannot answer but feel compelled to try anyway. I show her the small water source at the back of the cave. It’s barely more than a seep between rocks, but her reaction is like watching a rare spine-flower unfurl its petalsafter a storm. Her smile when she cups her hands beneath it to catch the precious drops is a heat that radiates. It makes my skin hum.
It makes the air in my lungs feel thin.
It makes my dra-kir beat a wrong, stuttering rhythm.
"This is perfect," she says, drinking deeply before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Thank you. For finding this place. For..." She gestures vaguely, encompassing the cave, the fire, perhaps our entire journey together. "Everything."
I tilt my head, accepting her approval though I don't deserve it. Not when part of me secretly,selfishlywishes to extend our journey. To keep her to myself a little longer before returning her to her sister-female.
Because Jah-kee belongs with her sister-female, with her own kind. And I belong with the clan, with my brothers, with the life I've always known.
Don't I?
The glow beneath my skin pulses, as if in answer to my unspoken question. It illuminates the space between us, casting everything in soft golden light.
Jah-kee's eyes widen slightly as she notices it. She points to my chest, then to her own skin where no such light exists.
