Page 88 of The Delver
“We will rest here,” he declared, wiping his hands together to brush off the dirt.
Callie glanced back toward the shaft—the very open shaft. “Is it safe?”
“Yes. We will hear if spiritstriders come…but I do not think they will swim.”
“Because they can’t see well?”
He nodded. “Their clicks will not help them in water.”
She didn’t have the heart to bring up the many Earth creatures that used echolocation in the sea to great effect. Maybe it wouldn’t work the same for the spiritstriders because they hadn’t adapted to using it underwater?
Callie set her bag down and strolled toward the nearest steaming pool. “So…you’re saying we’re safe-safe for now?”
Urkot approached her slowly, head again tilted. “We are.”
She bent forward and held her chilled hand over the water. Pleasant heat radiated up from the surface, and it felt so nice, reminding her of just how cold the water below had been.
Callie grinned, hopping in place as she yanked off her boots and tossed them aside. “Good, because I am getting in this water.”
CHAPTER 22
Urkot raised a foreleg,blocking Callie from advancing. “Wait.”
She looked up at him beseechingly, sticking out her bottom lip in what the humans called apout. “But why?”
“It is hot. Maybe too hot.”
She turned those longing eyes toward the steaming water, and her shoulders slumped. “I know you’re right. But God, it might be worth losing a few layers of skin just to feel warm again.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “No, it wouldnot. Bad Callie.”
She laughed and gave his shoulder a playful shove. “Not literally, Urkot. I just mean that I really, really want to get in.”
His mandibles sagged. He’d seen her shivering, had felt it, and had hated his sense of helplessness in those moments. If they had been on the surface, he could’ve made a fire to warm her, but understone, he was limited to his body heat and the luck of finding a place like this.
She’d told him how much she loved going to the hot springs in Kaldarak’s temple, where she’d enjoyed the warmth and the quiet, where her troubles had melted away. This place was even quieter, even more serene. No vrix around, no animals, only stone carved by the Shaper himself, touched by none besides thegods. He knew it could not eliminate their troubles—only the touch of the sun would do that—but this was a much-needed respite.
Urkot swung his leg in front of him and lowered it toward the pool. Pleasant warmth flowed into its tip when it entered the water.
“Urkot!” Callie jolted forward, grabbing his leg and halting it. “What the fuck? So it’s okay for you to risk getting burned but not me?”
He chittered and took her hands, lifting them from his leg. “Yes. My hide is thick. Tough. Yours is soft and thin.” Bringing her hands to his mouth, he nuzzled them. “Calm, female. I will not be harmed.”
She pursed her lips, grabbed his mandible, and tugged his head down. “Better not be.”
Callie pressed her mouth to his before she released him.
“Maybe I will risk more,” he said with a purr. “It is worth it for the kisses.”
She gave him a droll look, but it cracked when the corner of her lips quirked. “If you want a kiss, all you need to do is ask.”
Urkot dropped his mouth over hers, capturing the back of her head with one hand to hold her in place. He relished the softness of her plump lips and her gentle whimper. When he opened his jaws and slipped out his tongue, her lips parted to allow it entry. He swept his tongue inside, curling it around hers, tasting her with a low rumble before he withdrew.
He tipped her head back and stared into her dazed eyes. “Or take.”
“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “Or you can do that too.”
With a trill, he let her go and shifted his attention back to the pool. He lowered his leg deeper, ensuring that the temperature was safe below the surface. The water reached partway up the second segment of his foreleg before he touched thebottom. Though it was hot, it wasn’t scalding; it seemed quite comparable to the water in the temple.
