Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Worst that can happen is that we die,” Natalie agrees. “Hopefully we’ll be high enough that a fall will be an instant death.”
“Thanks for that,” Colleen says sarcastically.
“You’re welcome.” Natalie gives the rope at her waist a tug. “Shall we go up, Chalath?”
He gives Colleen a triumphant look and slides an arm around Natalie’s waist, and I make a mental note that the talk with Harlow needs to be sooner rather than later. “I can carry you if you hold on to me,” he tells the human in his arms.
She pats his chest. “Just don’t drop me.”
Chalath climbs like he was born to rope ladders, and Natalie’s arms remain linked tight around his neck. I watch them disappear up, and then Noj’me gives her partner Colleen an expectant look.
“Okay, fine, we’ll go up,” Colleen grumbles.
“I can carry you,” Noj’me says to her, flexing all four arms. “I have no trouble climbing. You can hold on to my front.”
To my surprise, Colleen blushes and demurs. “I’ll climb, I’ll climb.”
They head up, Colleen whimpering with every rung, and then it’s just me and Rem’eb at the bottom.
Our eyes meet.
He cups my face in his hands, holding me close. I gaze up at him, waiting for him to say something. To tell me that he’s changed his mind. That he doesn’t want to do this after all. I know it’s selfish to want, but I can’t help myself.
Rem’eb leans in, presses the gentlest kiss to my forehead, and turns toward the ladder.
I can’t be disappointed. I can’t.
Stepping in front of him, I gesture at the ladder. “Shall we go, then?”
Chapter
Thirty-Two
REM’EB
The interior of the Great Oracle—or the “ship” as Tia’s people call it—is foreign to me. The surfaces are icy cold and frosted over, and when Harlow touches them, lights blink and flare. I eye the place in wonder, noting that Set’nef and Tal’nef look equally as baffled as me. It smells—and looks—like metal here, but I catch smells of other things, too. The floors are slanted, with several ropes anchored along tilted walls so visitors can move around, and there are muddy footprints on the metal floors. My breath frosts inside, hanging in place now that we are out of the wind.
Noj’me makes a choked sound of pure joy, her expression rapt.
I look over at Tia. Her face is carefully blank, her eyes puffy. The resonance song in my chest is lighter now, and I imagine it is melancholy at the thought of leaving her. Is this how Gar’duk the Forge felt when his mate was made to go behind the wall again? Is this how every male in our village feels? How can they endure it?
A strange voice speaks out as we enter and Harlow speaks back to it in her strange language. The Oracle. It must be. Something that looks like a metal arm descends from the ceiling and poises, waiting. I glance over at Noj’me, but she does not seem surprised by any of this. She nods, expression eager.
“May I go first? To get the Oracle’s words?” Noj’me looks at me, then at the brothers.
I nod. I should watch her, to see how the deposit of the words happens. It was explained to us while we traveled—the Oracle will let out a thread of bright red light and it will touch the eye, but we will not feel it. The light will shine into our minds and we will fall asleep, and when we wake up, we will have the new words. It seems like nonsense to me, but I trust Tia, and she trusts her tribesmates.
Harlow gestures at a mark on the floor, and Noj’me pulls on the ropes before sliding her way over to the center of the tilted room and bracing her feet. “I am ready,” Noj’me declares, her expression radiant. “Fill me with your words, Great Oracle!”
I look over at Tia again. I cannot take my gaze from her face. I want to memorize every line of it, the small upturned nose, the smiling lips that are so soft against mine when we kiss, the sweep of her dark lashes. I should think of what I want to say to her when I have her words. I want to say something wise. Something that conveys everything I feel for her. Because resonance has faded away over these last several days and…
I yet feel the same when I look at her. Just the sight of her smile makes my spirit light. I am forever entranced by the curve of her hips, the way she walks, the sound of her laughter. She is soft, and gentle, and caring. She is also brave and determined, and a hard worker. She is clever and curious, seeking answers like the loom. Truly, any chief would be proud to have her as a mate.