Page 44 of Crave
For a heartbeat, he rested, just feeling the i’lva pulse through them and between them while the rock sang softly.
Finally he sighed and looked at the other being. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to save more of the dust of where you came from.” There wasn’t anything left of what they’d collected since he’d burned it all on escaping with their lives.
Kinsley spun the ring on her thumb once before slowly slipping it free. “Should I… Would you like this back, Roxy?”
“Memory together forever,” the rock said. “Enough.”
Her lips trembled. “Yeah. Memories are enough.” She gazed at Sil. “This is your first song. Maybe you want to keep it.”
He took it from her. “I do.”
She blinked rapidly. “Oh. I thought, maybe…”
“I want to keep it…on your finger.” He eased the sung stone onto the off-center digit of her left hand. It was a lesser Earther finger, as far as he could tell, except it had one great meaning among those of her heritage.
Maybe putting the ring on that finger was a reminder that together they could be stronger.
Her eyes glistened. “I love you, Sil.”
A rough grunt from behind them made him swivel around on the stool. Kinsley squeaked, clinging to him.
Mag glowered in the doorway. “Why would you leave like that?”
Sil sighed. “I wanted to prove myself to my apex—and to my brother. So I sought a fortune.”
“And did you find it?”
Resisting Sil’s hold, Kinsley jolted to her feet, as if she would guard him. She faced off against the apex. “He didn’t need to. He figured out how to sing pure trash into something amazing.”
Sil gazed at her, the ichor running hot and sweet in him, simmering with the i’lva.Shewas amazing.
Mag grunted again, obviously less enamored, which was fine because Kinsley was already claimed. “You disobeyed your apex?” Now he was growling. “And risked your lives for a song?” His volume rose to an unnecessary roar. “Brother, you matter more to me than any fortune!”
Sil flattened his antennae in shock. “Since when?”
Mag recoiled. “Since…always. Since our shell cracked around us and I knew I’d always have my brother with me.”
“You knew that?”
Mag’s voice dropped to almost nothing. “Didn’t you?”
Kinsley took a step to one side. “Apparently that could’ve been a little clearer.”
Sil tugged at her hand, apexes not being known for their appreciation for questioning. But to his even greater surprise, Mag inclined his head to the much smaller Earther.
“But you showed him.” The apex went to one knee, bringing himself to Kinsley’s level. “My gratitude to you for keeping him alive and bringing him back.” He clacked his tusks lightly. “In a few more pieces than when he left, but that’s what bone menders are for.” He gestured at her ringed hand. “And that is the first orc-sung stone in almost a thousand years?”
This time, she did not offer to relinquish the ring. “It is.”
Mag stood up again to his full height, which was more than any other orc, and looked down at her. “I trust you grasp its true value, not in rare molecules or galactic credits.”
She didn’t waver. “Holding tight with all my stubby Earther fingers.”
With a huff of acknowledgment, Mag turned back to Sil. “There was never a time when you were less-than in my echoes. I will be sure to make that clearer from now on.”
“Maybe I had to prove it to myself as well.” Sil held out one of his unbroken arms.
Mag peered at him a bemused moment. “Is this an Earther thing?”
