Page 41 of Claim
He’dlefther.And why?Because he couldn’t ask for help.
They landed hard.Too hard.She’d seen the ichor slicking him, felt the way he limped.She wasn’t sure how he could go on.
And now they were stuck in these dead caves.This had always been plan C, if she couldn’t just waltz out with him after paying his price with the sung stones, and if plan B—blowing up the improvised explosivesthenwaltzing out—had failed.Fleeing into the old mining tunnels was fine, Teq had insisted, because their hurried scans had found multiple exits even though they didn’t have time to map the whole complex, and Mag was an orc even before he was apex.
Now she had to trust he would find a way out, no tricks, no credits, just making their way through the deep dark.
“Why?”she whispered.“Why didn’t you tell me?Why did you just leave?”
He was silent long enough she might’ve been angry or afraid, but shefelthim searching for an answer the same way he was searching for a way out.Nothing like mining his own hidden depths while they tried to save their lives.
“I thought I had to,” he said at last.“It was my obligation, my debt, my mistake.”His words faltered even though his quick steps, urging her along, never slowed.“I thought…even though I was hatched as apex, I would never be enough.I might be the biggest, strongest orc, but there would never be enough of me to go around.Sacrificing myself to Illgattoa, that was all I could do.”
“But you know that’s not true, right?You didn’t need to be more; you needed to share more.”
“I have seen the light.”
She snorted, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her laugh.“Really?Now you have a sense of humor?”
“Maybe first I had to stand in this dark with nothing.I think I was afraid to hold onto my dreams too tightly because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough.”His fingers tightened around hers.“I won’t make that mistake again.”
Although she wanted to stay mad—better than being terrified—she squeezed back.“I think you should know.Amma told me, in confidence but it’s not really only her secret, that the royalixir that marked you as apex wasn’t the formula from your homeworld.She didn’t have what she needed so she got as close as she could, but she said it wasn’t real.”June let out a slow breath.“You made yourself apex.”
She held on tight, wishing she could see his face.
For a heartbeat, his silence echoed in the dark before he said quietly, “I always knew, or not always, maybe, but once I truly understood how much we’d left behind.”
She gusted out a breath.“And you accepted it?”
“Many of our old ways were lost when we left our world.But our apex… I thought if Amma believed it was vital, then it was.And I just hoped that with the royalixir, even if it was wishful thinking, I’d somehow find my way in the place I’d been given.”
“Maybe being apex isn’t about unchangeable fate, but being willing to go with the flow and find new ways.Which you did.You decided to join the Luster—”
He grunted.“And that wentsoright.”
She spoke over him, “And you found a way to keep flying until you got there—”
“Got myself abducted by aliens,” he grumbled.“If you hadn’t saved me—”
“Right?Because that was your best choice of all: contracting with the IDA for Earther brides.”She held her breath, waiting for him to counter, wishing again that she could see him—and thinking maybe it was better that she couldn’t.
When he stopped abruptly, she stumbled onward a step until he reeled her back.
She clutched at him.“What is it?What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.We are lost in the dark heart of a dead moon, and everything is right and good and wonderful.”
Angled against him, her fingers spread over his bare chest, she felt his pulse—not a dark heart, as she’d once feared, but one secretly shining with love for his crew, even where there was no light.
“I found my way here because you saved me,” he murmured.“Not just here in this cavern, but the i’lva—you are my guiding light in the darkness.”
“Mag,” she whispered.
And though there was no light, when he drew her up closer, she tilted her face to him and his mouth descended on hers with unerring aim.
And a light flared, bright as a star on her closed eyes.
“Ah, meebu,” he murmured.“I’ll never let you go again.”
