Page 33 of The Delver
He opened his mouth, paused, then snapped it shut with an audibleclack. His hand returned to her arm, and he guided her away from the others, toward the back of the chamber. Once there, with his large body blocking her view of the thornskulls,he tilted his head forward and closed his eyes. His shoulders rose and his chest expanded as he took in a deep inhalation.
“I did not yell,” he said finally, calmly.
“You got all snarly with me. That’s the same thing.”
And it had surprised her. Urkot had never raised his voice to her before, especially not in anger. This…this wasn’t like him.
She frowned as she studied him in the crystals’ glow. He was tense, and she felt faint tremors coursing through his arms.
This wasn’t rage. This was…fear.
For her.
There was something he was hiding, something that pained him deeply, and her presence here had triggered it.
Her indignation disappeared as swiftly as it had come.
“I’m okay, Urkot. Everything is okay,” Callie said in a soft voice. Leaning forward, she touched her forehead to his headcrest. “I…just wanted to see you.”
He released a heavy breath through his nostrils. “You can see me in Kaldarak.”
Callie chuckled softly. “I wanted to see you now and bring you food.”
“Ah, Callie… Hard-headed female,” he said gently.
She smiled and pressed her head a little more firmly to his, nudging it as she settled her hands on his chest. “Takes one hard head to know one.”
CHAPTER 8
Urkot chittered.He couldn’t argue with her, not any more than he could deny how right it felt to have Callie so close to him, headcrest to forehead.
For vrix, this was amongst the greatest displays of trust. Such closeness, with mandibles within easy striking distance, was reserved only for the most meaningful relationships. And she had initiated this. Despite her small, fragile body, despite his size and strength, she had been the one to enter this vulnerable, intimate position.
I…just wanted to see you.
For someone to have made the journey here just for him—to see him, to feed him—and for that someone to be Callie… How would he ever be able to express what that made him feel? How would he ever explain how light and energetic his spirit felt, how full?
Even if he didn’t have the words, he could no longer remain silent. He could no longer hold it all inside. He would not waste these opportunities.
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Callie, I?—”
A faint tremor coursed through the ground beneath his legs. His fine hairs stood on end. Insides tangling into knots, he hissed.
Callie’s brow furrowed. “Urkot? What’s wrong?”
“Must go,” he replied, snatching Callie off her feet and drawing her against his chest.
As he spun toward the chamber’s entrance, the reverberating sound of cracking rock rent the air, louder and more unsettling than a thousand bones snapping at once.
The cave floor buckled.
Urkot’s stomach lurched, and he stumbled despite having all six legs on the ground.
He heard the thornskulls shouting, and he glimpsed them scrambling to right themselves. The tremor became a deep rumbling, and the knots within Urkot pulled taut, sinking low.
No! Delver, please! Not here, not now.
Not her!
