My claw lashes across, catching the waterskin and not her. The impact rips it from her grip. It spins away end over end, a wide arc of water spraying from its mouth, glittering briefly in the firelight before slamming into the far wall with a wet, heavy thud.
Silence falls like a dropped rock.
Mih-kay-lah gasps, stumbling back from the force of my movement. Her hand clamps to her chest, eyes huge, and dark, and shocked.
No one else moves.
The cavern holds its breath.
The only sound is the soft, steady drip… drip… drip of wasted water running down the stone.
Haroth is half up, hand on his weapon, caught between instincts to attack, defend, or demand. The other females stare with open mouths, mouths that were just drinking, just swallowing.
To them, it looks as if I have attacked a Daughter.
“What is the meaning of this?” Kol’s mental presence booms in the mindspace with such force, I wince. He rises from his seat, and his presence swells, heavy as a fast-approaching dust storm.
But somehow, I can’t even look at him.
I cannot.
Mih-kay-lah is trembling. The skin along her bare shoulder shivers. Even so, her chin tilts up, stubborn. She stands her ground.
“Sarven,” Kol commands again, the word cutting across all minds. For I have just done the unthinkable. One of the worst crimes on Xiraxis.
I have wasted water.
I plant myself between Mih-kay-lah and the spilled liquid, between her and the stone where it drips. My chest heaves. My dra-kir hammers against my ribs like a caged spine-striker, throwing itself at its prison.
I lift one shaking claw and point at the dark streak running down the wall.
“Death,” I project, the thought loud, raw. Then, I drag my gaze back to her. My mouth fumbles for the Een-gleesh. “Noh.”
The sound tears at my throat. It is too small for the urgency in me.
Mih-kay-lah flinches.
I realize I am roaring the word, not speaking it. My posture is full threat. Bared teeth, flared nostrils, every line of my body screaming attack to a female that does not hear mind-speech.
I force myself to breathe.
In. Out. Again.
I force myself to breathe, to unclench muscles that want to tear the waterskin to shreds.
“Noh,” I rasp again, quieter, taking a small step toward her. My eyes scan her face, her lips, her chin. Searching for any sign of a droplet. A shine. If even one drop slid past…
My Een-gleesh fails me. The phrases I practiced are useless.
“Mih-kay-lah…” I grind out, then give up on the complex human word forpoison. “Bad,” I snarl, pointing. “Bad.”
“He’s projecting death!” Jus-teen’s voice slices through the heavy quiet. She bursts from the direction of the sick alcove, eyes wider than I have ever seen them. “The water. Don’t drink the water!”
Her mind has finally caught up to the storm I have been shoving into the shared space since I left the spring.
The shock in the cavern shatters.
The females’ mouth-sounds tumble over each other, loud enough to make some of my brothers wince.
