My glow answers without asking my permission.
Light builds under my skin, brighter between my thighs where the flesh is already heavy and hot. The glow there pulses in time with my dra-kir, broadcasting my condition in a ridiculous, golden strobe.
My pouch has become a signal flare.
I try to angle my leg to shade it. There is nowhere to move.
Dim, I tell my body.
For the love of the dust,dim.
It does not dim.
Her scent is everywhere now. Skin and stone-dust and a faint tang of firebloom from the coo-keen. And underneath, there’s the quiet, sweet scent that belongs only to her.
It gets under my tongue, coats the back of my throat.
Mih-kay-lah stops moving.
I feel her gaze drop. Straight to my glowing lap.
I brace myself. I expect her to jerk away, to shift closer to Kelvan to put distance between us, to make the little sound she makes when someone bites into a raw heart with enthusiasm.
Instead, she vocalizes, “Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.” She pauses. “It’s actually really helpful. Good light.”
She shifts her basket, leans in slightly, and uses the pulse of my traitorous member to inspect a crack in the floor.
The dust might as well strike me down where I stand.
She is using my arousal as a lantern.
“Flashlight,” she mutters, lips pressing together.
Another human word I do not know.Fla-shlaight. But from her tone, I gather it is some kind of useful tool.
I want the stone to open and swallow me. At the same time, something slow and foolish in my chest preens.
My member is useful.
It serves my female. It is a very bright, very helpful member.
“Yes,” I manage, keeping my eyes fixed firmly on the opposite wall. “Flash… laight.”
“Handy,” she whispers, stepping carefully within the circle of gold.
Handy. I am almost sure that is their word for claws.
If she touches me now, I will fall off this ledge and die with gratitude.
“Hold,” Kelvan sends suddenly, sharp in the mindspace.
The stone under our feet vibrates.
A low, grinding groan rolls through the chamber, deeper than any of us. The sound of weight changing where weight should never change.
Every muscle in my body locks.
“Back!” Zan projects, his mind-speak snapping like a struck spear.
